No you're absolutely right -- it's a great point and I was imprecise with my response. The key is really to differentiate a "how much is my collection worth I kinda want to sell it" request from a more formal "I'd like an appraisal" request.

I conflated the two but they really are separate requests and are to be treated distinctly.

The former (which is much more common) is what most dealers hear. It's a request from folks who happen upon a collection and want to sell it and turn it into cash (or gold or silver or whatever near-cash equivalent they desire). That's where a call to a dealer isn't so much a request for an "appraisal" (in the formal definition) but more "how much money can I get for this collection now". It's implicit that the number the dealer offers is what they'd pay for it, which also happens to be the number the dealer believes it's worth. I don't have any moral qualms about that.

(Side note -- speaking of "not wrong just low" -- one of my favorite old-school dealers who's been doing this for 40 years and is appropriately salty lives by the mantra "I like to pay on the low end of fair".)

The second type of request - which is for a formal, written, insurable, usable-in-court Capital-A "Appraisal" is where there might be more potential for a conflict of interest, but if we as dealers are clear this is the job we're being hired for then we're going to issue a valuation which is based on published price guides (and the appropriate disclaimer that is is retail replacement value, not necessarily the price a dealer will pay).

Hope that clears it up - and thank you for the comment.