If you also look, many of the items that used to fetch a lot of money like Complete Book of Necromancers, Menzoberranzan, Code of the Harpers, etc all sell for a lower price than usual. Also you must understand that the only reason D&D collecting is still alive is to you old timers who played this game back in the 70s and 80s. After you guys go out, who will get your collection? Probably most likely only me. There are very few young people who play rpgs now or collect it.
Active Collector It is hard to ignore the overall economy in determining the wherewithall of collectors. The markets have lost some 30% from its max some 3 years ago. I think this goes a long way in affecting collectables markets. On the other hand, Ebay as a company is one of the most consistent and growing companies since the recession began. It would seem as though more folks are getting access to computers and checking out Ebay. A large portion of earlier pre-Ebay RPG collectors IMO were more of the computer oriented crowd (OK..computer nerds). Computers have certainly gotten more user friendly the last few years and a lot more new guys are finding this collecting habit as a result of this access. I think prices are definitely down across the board (or corrected?) but as the big markets money come back my crystal ball says so goes the collectables. So go get them while you have a chance. The idea of Mike Kuo being the only one around after I die to buy my collection for $5 makes me shudder. But my crystal ball tells me the 30 somethings will have more cash when they are 40 something and will have even more cash when they are 50 something. By the time we are all 50 something there will be even more of us trying to buy the same few items, thus compounding prices. My crystal ball says there will be a place in entertainment history for RPG's fitting snugly between board/card games and the video game explosion so I wouldn't count out these collectables after we are long gone. Adam
It could be important WOTC is located in Northwest so maybe the material is more thoroughly distributed in that region. At one time, circa 1983, D&D could be found in any department/dollar store in any small town in the US. Nowadays you have to hit a game shop, comic box shop or larger book store in a larger city to see any 3rd Ed stuff.
Now if you want to discuss collectable D&D or other RPG purchasing I dont think anything can compare to Ebay these days. There are thousands of items closing daily with a majoritity of the items selling. Although I think many of these buyers are the typical 30 somethings rebuying nostalgia of D&D's days of wide popularity.