Would them be the days when the U.S. dealers hadn't got a clue what the records were worth and you could pick the rare beauties up for less than the price of bottle of Bud??
I've collected for 20 years+, and though I still trawl through boxes at venues and lists and sales tapes / CDs, I use ebay more than any other source cus you can fit it in to your lifestyle as and when it suits.
I also find a lot of the old school record dealers resent ebay because it has opened up the sources of such gems to the whole world, so they no longer have such exclusivity on acquiring the records as they once had.
Their loss is our gain in that aspect, but ebay, combined with the various price guides that have sussed up 90% of U.S. dealers, have pushed prices up on the more indemand items.
The dealers have, on the whole followed suit with their prices, and most have been quite happy to do so (how many times do you hear 'that fetched a lot more than that on ebay last month' or 'it's that price in Manships')
Can't have your cake and eat it unfortunately.........................