Inherent value (or; The Nerve Of Some People)

For a couple of decades, in my informative youth, I work in the collectibles market.  Most precisely Comic Books.  Yes, for some that may seem juvenile, but spend a little time with me discussing "the Good Old Days' (IE; heyday of the 80's and early 90's) and you'll probably understand my love for the medium!
However computers have a finite amount of storage capacity, and my long winded oratory on the subject could quite possibly over load all of the Internet.
So, my point is in reference to bikes.  Yes there IS a correlation.  See, what we do here is not so far removed.  We are dealing in the aftermarket.  This product has already seen it's lifespan after purchase through to it's conclusion.  At which point exchanging hands from it's original owner has become, in affect...collectible.
OK, perhaps I'm stretching the analogy a bit, but you get my point.  Rather I'll focus on the worth of a bike.
Yesterday, whilst wheedling away the hours on a stubborn Specialized I received a series of phone calls in reference to our purchasing policies.  Three calls, from the same source.  Our policy is simple, we must SEE and INSPECT a bike before assigning it a value, and will NEVER give even a BALL PARK figure over the phone.
Why?  Because; #1 A bicycle will never retain it's full purchase value. (sometimes it may increase, but more often will decrease) Age has NO bearing on condition, IE: "It's in GREAT shape...for it's age"!
Rust is Rust.
A failed part is a failed part.
A flat tire is a flat tire.
See where I'm going with this?
#2 Once an amount is spoken over the phone, most people seem to think it's written in stone and can't understand why the bike they said was in PERFECT shape is no longer worth the $____ you quoted just because the tires are bald, the tubes are shot, the cables are rusted, the paint is all scratched, the cables are rusted, and the derailleurs are bent.  To be fair, we don't want to waste a persons time coming all the way here, spending their gas money only to find that our assessment differed from theirs.
Bringing us back to yesterdays phone call.  The young man, after confirming the fact that we did buy bikes, and reluctantly accepted the fact that I could not "give him a ball park" apparently talked some friends into bringing him here from Palm Harbor to sell his "perfect condition" DK BMX.
Upon arriving he was NONE to happy to find out that the Inherent Value of his bike was about $10.00. To the point of belligerent.  In affect BOTH wheels were shot!  Over sized hubs, and expensive to replace, the would have cost US $100.00+ for a set...and that's the CHEAP ones, to top it off the paint was heavily worn, grips were shot.  In the end, with today's economy it would have only sold for about $80-90 anyway.  Hey after 4 years in the same spot, we pretty much know our market.  Well he just couldn't understand why I wouldn't pay him $100.00 for a bike I would have to invest a total of over $200.00 in to sell for less then half (sounds like Reaganomics!)
So in the end, I sent him in search of a pawn shop.  The morale of our story?  The true Inherent Value of ANYTHING is determined by how much the average person will pay for it.  You want a GUARANTEED value?  Currently it's about  $.09 a pound at your local scrap company.