As someone pointed out, it's true, he can't rip 
you off if you decide not to pay for his price. 

What I don't understand, is if he was going to go 
shopping for bids, why he didn't take the time to 
put the thing up for auction at Animanga, Yahoo, 
or even ebay? 

As for the Taro thing, as a buyer, this is 
something I'd like to know. I hope that the 
person actually has the item, and it's not in 
transit, when I put my money down. Who knows what 
could happen. Three percent of mail is lost each 
year. Plus, if that's his source, I'd rather shop 
there and save him the hassel of having to post 
the cel up for sale later. :) 

Anyway, it's little things like this that builds 
up someone's reputation. It's an important thing 
to consider when you go shopping on-line. There's 
no guarantee that when someone takes your money, 
he isn't going to run, or isn't buying something 
from Kmart and then marking it up a thousand 
fold. It would be great if everyone tried to be 
fair and honest, but the truth is that there are 
people just out to make a fast buck, and as 
William Gaines pointed out, you make the most 
profit selling things you don't actually own.  

It's good to hear though, that he came through 
with your transactions, and that you're willing 
to stick up for him. Makes me think a little 
better of him.  

As for the whole ebay thing -- I'm not completely 
sure people should set their prices at that 
level. As seen earlier this week, a guy was 
willing to pay up to $3000 for an OAV Ryoko cel. 
Most people thought that he was crazy -- or 
drunk -- but then again auctions make people do 
strange things. If you use this cel as the 
gradient for the prices of all Ryoko cels, you 
wouldn't be able to clear you invetory. It would 
also make Nick and Yann millionaires. :)