>>56971847In principle, the "ideal" relationship here is that the "investors" are not adding undue demand during release. There should be plenty of supply for people who want to buy it on release and during an appropriately timed print run afterwards. They're banking that, years on, people will have lost copies, a new market will rise, and these people can be sold to. The "value" is meant to come from scarcity rising post release from later demand.
Obviously, nowadays this is basically impossible. Investors are a market unto themselves and demand and supply are so fucked from multiple directions that anyone not buying for their personal ownership is adding undue demand on a scarce supply. But it is still possible that an "investor" isn't causing prices to rise during the main buying period.
Scalpers are always adding friction, no matter the circumstances. They can only get in the way of personal purchases and only exist because there is far too much demand for the supply and thus people are willing to shell out for far above MSRP. Their only real "service" is to people with more money than time, and thus can "afford" to "outbid" the rest of the market in exchange for not needing to make sure they've got their finger on the trigger before stock runs out.
