[fred bear]

I'm not the greatest debater, so hopefully I don't sabotage what I'm trying to say here, but you ask "who decides what's moral?" I'm trying to decide how best to make this argument. Obviously there's the religious side. But even if one doesn't subscribe to religion, there's a natural law that we can know based off our own intuition. We know that it is wrong to lie, steal, kill, hurt someone else without cause, cheat, etc. Go way back, and I believe it was Aristotle who in his writings claimed that temperance was one of the greatest virtues of a moral man. So anyways, to bring this back to cards, I believe it's outright theft to monopolize a product, mark it up, and then sell it. Is it capitalism? Yes. Is there a "law" against it? No. Is it the right thing to do by your fellow man? No. So is it moral? No.

These people are not collectors. They are opportunists who's sole purpose is to take something that someone else wants/needs (depending on product/service) and cheats/steals from you.

I highlighted the part that's tough for me, personally. You will always have situations which conflict with someone else's definition of 'right' or 'just'. Even in my example, the 'right' thing to do may be to leave a box and just give three to my kids and leave one for someone else instead of taking it for myself. It's not clear.

What if I find a $100 card that I need to complete a set in a dealer's $1 bin. Do I tell him the mistake? Why do guys search dollar bins at a show in the first place? I know lots of guys who do it - "to find deals". There's unfortunately, no clear right or wrong answer in most of these situations.

I know I try to do what I can. Start by being helpful, right. Pay it forward when you can.

But I don't judge, I don't discriminate, I don't bully. Like I said, there are bad people in the hobby. Watch out for the ones who are cheating and stealing for sure. A guy who picks up a $20 blaster because people are paying $125 (or more) on ebay is just not necessarily a bad person by my definition.