I agree with your basic premise, "The bottomline 
is still money. He [Sato] helps you because he 
wants your money. He knows that overseas people 
are willing to pay a high price for cels there 
and he is banking on that to earn him a small 
fortune."

Although it is true he does put up the initial 
cost of purchasing the cel, how does that put him 
at risk? He currently sells cels on Yahoo 
Auctions [U.S.], and some of those I would wager 
are from ppl who failed to pay. He still makes a 
sizable amount of profit anyway you look at it.

Additionally as I mentioned in my previous post, 
yes he might be flooded with email requests, so?! 
For the "service" he is charging ppl for in the 
U.S., one should at very least expect just that, 
"service". Perhaps I am expecting too much for 
Sato to actually notify me if I am outbid prior 
to the auction closing, but truthfully I don't.

Also it was previously mentioned I too email him 
when I get outbid, but thus far in my experience 
with him... he only informed me after much delay 
I got outbid [well for which of my six 
auctions?!]. Even if he is swamped with requests 
it is still his DUTY [part of the job] in 
providing a service to keep track of his 
correspondences.