Sellers can ask for what ever asking price they want. It's just that it really jacks up the prices elsewhere.
Only if you actually pay for it.
There was a guy just a couple of weeks back on eBay, listed an Otari MX-80 with 16-track heads for $12,000!!!!!
The thing was used, though apparently the heads "looked good"...etc...etc.
So I sent him a message and said that at most, the deck was worth $3k...maybe a couple of bucks more if someone was obsessed about the 2" 16-track heads.....but that MX-80 decks go for around $2k, and the 16-track heads don't add $10k more value.
Of course, he didn't like my message, and he asked me to make him an offer.....to which I replied that I already owned a nice MX-80 and wasn't looking for another on.
Anyway....a few days later I saw he dropped his price from $12k to $8k....which was still ridiculous, but at least he's reevaluating his perspective, and when it sits like that for another month or two, he will realize that he's not going to get even $8k and
if he wants to sell it the price will need to come down more.
Just like this other guy from Texas who's been trying to sell an MX-80 for $4k for the past year. I sent him a few messages telling him he was NEVER going to get $4k, and I was suggesting he part it out and I was interested in some of the parts myself....but he felt if he parted any of it, he would never sell the rest (possibly true)...but he refuses to drop his price, and the thing just sits there.
So....it's not the sellers, it's the buyers who actually drive up prices. If shit don't sell for anyone at some inflated price.....they'll come down eventually
if they want to sell it.
Buyers just need to be patient and wait them out.....