[Delphinus]

Hmmm, interesting thoughts.

See to me the real reality of the capitalist system is that something for sale, is only worth what someone will pay for it. That doesn't mean you can set the price to whatever you want. If you set the price too high then the only people who will pay it are likely those who don't know better, and well .. that's not going to be everybody and it's not going to be all the time. Generally speaking, with the exception of maybe livestock, most equipment are depreciating assets. Thus if you had possession of it, used it, you should expect to have to suffer some depreciation on the resale value. That's only fair. By using an item you remove value, unless you go out of your way to add value somehow. "Adding value" can be a subjective thing. In Brad's case I'd say he added value by taking on an undefined "complete package", enumerating the item list and then reselling each at market values. That's the thing, parting items out generally nets you more in the end because it's more work.

But the flip side, if you apply blatant ethics of scouring for deals and then reselling at higher prices, then you're going to eventually gain a reputation and people won't deal with you. That too, is a reality of the "capitalist system". Capitalism doesn't mean chaos, it simply means the market is self-regulating.