Cels Forum

I agree. . . There is no question about when to mind your
own business if someone is being intentionally dishonest. I
realize that the phrase goes "let the buyer beware", but
that doesn't let sellers off the ethics hook.

Also, Ebay is the worst domain of the "I meant" when it
comes to things like this. Example? I picked up a cel off
Ebay from a series I'm very familiar with - the description
read that the cel came with a "matching background". It
looked right, but something was itching at my brain about
it, so before I paid, I checked the cel in the video. (I
should have done this first, but like I said - I knew the
series very well.) The background offered was close to, but
definitely NOT, the actual matching background. When I
called the seller on it, they said they never meant to
claim the background was the one seen in the video, but
that it matched the general feel of the cel - ie, it went
well with the cel - and was, by that logic, a "matching
background". Needless to say, the seller and I had some
working out to do with each other and fortunately we
managed to find a happy medium.

Lesson of the above tale? Always write to the seller and
ask them very specifically and directly about the cel's
description, so that there can be no "misunderstanding" -
even if you feel like you're being redundant. (Or better
yet, ask someone who knows the series better than you do.)
In this case, I would write to the seller and tell him that
he really needs to state if the background matches or not.
If he refuses to state this openly, you could write to the
high bidder and tell them yourself. They just might thank
you for it!! (I was thanked by a high bidder who was bidding
on Miyu TV episodes being offered up on Ebay. I knew they
had to be fansubs and found that, not only did the high
bidder not know the tapes were fansubs, she didn't even
know what a fansub was. She retracted her bid when I
explained it to her and turned him in to Ebay authorities.)

If you want to make your trading circles better places to
trade in, you have to get involoved. I'm not advocating
that everyone slander anyone they see making the tiniest of
mistakes, but silence about dishonesty will help no one.
Nothing is more powerful than knowing exactly what you're
doing. But second best to that is knowing that if you start
to fall into someone's fraud, you have a circle of other
knowledgeable people who will warn you away from the
dishonesty.

Many Sharp Smiles,
--Drac