I should also mention the argument of established bands releasing limited vinyl.

Autopsy released "Horrorific Obsession" in January through Peaceville. My girlfriend and I bought copies thinking it might sell out in preorders given how big Autopsy is, this being the first studio release in 13 years, and it would only be in 1000 copies.

Well I saw it for sale from Peaceville at least 3 months after that and it might have been available for longer. Also the songs were included in the 2009 reissue of severed survival on digipak. Not sure, but I doubt this release is heavily sought after because it's sold out, there are other outlets to finding this.

Also if band releases limited vinyl edition it's because vinyl, while reemerging, is not the most mainstream format anymore. A 1000-2000-3000 limited vinyl release by any well established act is for the vinyl nerds who prefer to own music on the format. Most people will settle for the CD and not often to the vinyl editions reach high prices these days.

Job For a Cowboy or Dream Theater release vinyl editions with at least 2000 copies and they're very common. GISM released both their LP's between 3 and 5 thousand copies yet both fetch at least a couple hundred easily on the secondary market, even when there's at least 3-4 of each on ebay at a time.

I can't possibly emphasize searching and asking around before giving up/resorting to eBay enough. I'm not by any means a dedicated collector, but it's pretty amazing the number of limited releases I've stumbled across in obscure little distros by well-liked underground bands that I figured have been long gone. Even if the particular distro you just emailed doesn't have it, I've found that many distros are extremely helpful and a few have even asked around and directed me to other other distros that may help me.

I also agree with mentalselfmutilation's thoughts on owning particular limited releases. Again, I'm not by any means as active about collecting as some on this board, but there are some pretty rare releases out there that I'd be thrilled to own. But if I never do, so what? I'm pretty happy with the stuff I have on the shelves and in boxes now and I'm much more interested in checking out bands or enjoying the bands whose material I do have, rather than boasting about how I paid x amount for band y's cult release limited to 50.

I really hate how the limited versions of albums are imports, aka, costing way too much. I think Deicide has been one of the worse with limited numbers as the Scars digipak is STiLL available, as is the Stench boxset. They even say it contains the very limited Black Night cover(every store ive been at has had it).