The Death of Hobby Shops?

I was talking to my Brother-in-law today and he was telling me that in the hobby shop that he goes to the owners trade him cards at a 2 to 1 price. He trades 2 base cards for 1 base card.

Now to me that doesn't exactly sound fair. I brought up this point to him and his response was "you get what you get". Well, that got me to thinking. Trading and buying cards online, seems to be an extremely popular method these days. Now I think I know why.

People don't want to get what they can get, they want what's fair. Sure there are those on Ebay and the trading sights that try to rip you off or vastly overcharge because they like the player or they think everyone else does.

Value can get a little hazy. But using Ebay prices vs. Beckett Prices one should be able to come up with a pretty fair solution and decide for themselves what they think is fair.

Is it really a bad thing that Hobby shops are dying and the internet community seems to be thriving? Personally, right now, I feel it isn't. I want what's fair, not what I can get! If I bring in base cards, I would like equal value of base cards in return, otherwise what is the point of Beckett Value...the pricing guides that all Hobby shop owners seem to use when they are charging you for cards.

I could be just ranting right now.

I could be just off my rocker.

On Saturday I'm going to his Hobby shop, buying a Hobby Box of 08/09 UD Artifacts. I may even trade in some of my card lot to fill out my need lists to complete my sets. Heck I might even try to trade in enough to get another Hobby Box of something...maybe 2009 UD Baseball!

But the fact of the matter is, if I feel I'm being ripped off...Well I obviously will not be happy. I'll probably never go there again. I'll start doing all my shopping and trading online and if the Hobby Shop Owner doesn't like that...well then he should be fair. There's a larger market out there than going to a specialty store.

I remember when I was a youngin' and Hobby Shops were the only place a kid could go trade and buy cards...I also remember being ripped off then. Maybe it was because I was a kid, maybe it was because they knew I had no other option, maybe it was because he was a dillweed. The point is I'm already a little jaded towards Hobby Shops because of past experiences.

So I guess the question I pose is... Is the death of Hobby Shops a bad thing? If they overcharge and underpay... If the Internet provides an equality... If you can get everything you want and need without feeling taken advantage of...Is it a bad thing?

Or am I way off base and overreacting?

Like I said I guess I'll find out on Saturday...I hope I am because I'd like to do business with these blokes, they are nice people and they do have a business to run and I would like to support them. But I will not stand for being taken advantage of.

Is this the way all Hobby Shops are?

What do you guys do? I notice most seem to go to target or walmart. I hope someone responds to this blog before I go. I'd really like to get some help here!