I was watching Storage Wars on AE the other night and the fellow found an old Nintendo game. He swore it was worth $30,000 because he had seen one like it on Ebay for that much!! Too funny. So they took it to the game store and the clerk had to break it to him that his game wasn't even worth $10 much less $30,000.

Another fellow had found old concert posters. The appraiser was quick to point out that any bends or foxing of the edges greatly reduced the value. The same is true with books and dust jackets. They have to be in absolute pristine, perfect condition to garner top dollar. Even true first editions are not worth those inflated prices, unless they meet a lot of different criteria.

-amanda from seattle

My dad runs into this a lot at his store as well, when people want to have him buy their books or oddities from them. They all think their stuff is worth so much... and the truth is, there's also the matter that something might be valued at a certain amount, but then you have to find a buyer who has that amount of money and wants to part with it in order to purchase your item.