From my opinion - I agree with the thoughts on listing something as RETIRED when it is not. An item is either retired (no longer produced or sold by the maker) or it is available.
However, since this point on "RARE" pops up every now and then - let me address why I use the Marketing Phrase "RARE" in my Ebay sales.
I believe the seller can look upon a market and decide if his or her item is rare in following ways:
1) Is it listed for sale on ebay - a lot ? This is subjective and you can argue the number of what is a lot - all day.
2) I believe if the figure is not seen quite a bit and is an old production it meets that marker of "rare" - To me if the item is older production then the production number is less in todays production numbers - therefore ... RARE.
3) RARE can be the type of figure or range from King & Country - some figures there are high demands and thus makes them "RARE" in the secondary market.
4) A marketing term - RARE - is in essence an item which there is not a lot of - something highly valued. Agian this gets back to point #1 - but, marketing terms are just that marketing terms. One man's treasure is another man's junk. It is very subjective term - unlike RETIRED which states a fact.
Anyway - there you have an explanation of where CAPITOLRON stands on his listings !
Cheers, Ron