My experience is much the same as Markmotown's, and going over $50 for a machine is something I really try not to do. $40 tends to be my limit. Prices around here seem to not have moved much for a while.

The prices are set by the buyer and the seller. Most of the time I buy from older people or second hand shops tends to be cheap. In the other hand if the seller is young or an antique shop tends to be more expensive. I personally don't have a price limit, but I tend to leave the seller happy, and don't bargain much, that said I run away from "ultra rare smith corona", "perfect condition" and such sellers. In general I wouldn't say that the typewriters are more expensive, but there is more people capable to ask 200 dollars, and more people able to pay it too. But cheap typewriters are still there. After all a Olympia SM 3 "tastes" much better if you pay 20 dollars instead of 150 dollars... anyways always they would be idiots with lots of money or greedy speculators.

Pricing to a great degree also depends on the market. In Toronto prices have in fact gone up - a lot - to the point that I rarely see machines that are in my sub-$50 price range. The reason why prices in my area have skyrocketed is fairly straightforward: first, there are a growing number of those who are flipping machines for a profit, buying them cheap, giving them a quick spit polish, and then selling them for ten times what they paid because it's now a "rare and restored" machine; and second, the new generation of collectors in my area are willing to pay what I consider to be a stupid amount of money for a machine - mostly because they are impatient or don't know better. Of course the tumble-down effect of this is that sellers see these elevated prices and expect the same for their machines.

Prices have definitely gone up, both online and in stores. It is not always easy to score the bargains: one has to not only have patience and scour the earth on multiple venues, but out-hunt and have better luck than some very avid collectors. The amount of time, effort, and gasoline that it takes to pull this off should be considered. If you enjoy the hunt it can be very worthwhile. But if you factor in all the hidden costs, the bargains are not always as cheap as they seem. I should note, that although typewriter prices have risen, as far as objects, they are still cheap. Even the higher-end typewriter models (not counting rare antiques) are cheaper than the crappy guitars.