Jim, you raise some interesting points about the 
idea of "taking offers" which I'd like to address 
(in a more philosophical turn not specific to 
this case).

First off, I don't agree that a range should be 
provided. I think the burden should be on the 
person making the offer as to what he or she 
thinks the cel is worth and/or what he or she 
would be willing to pay. They should educate 
themselves about what things cost. 

Secondly, part of the problem "taking offers" 
generates is that people are not selective enough 
about what should fall into this category -- 
usually it should be for cels in the following 
cases:

1. the current market is wildly fluctuating and 
it's very hard to price it.
2. the cel is extremely rare (and I mean rare in 
the case that it's hard to price because there 
just aren't many examples out there).
3. The cel is worth more to the person selling it 
than the current market and opens it up to the 
general public to see if it's worth that much to 
somebody else. 

Therefore it's =very= hard to even give a range. 
When I see "taking offers" on a nice cel, I know 
that it means the offer should be high since it's 
not a run of the mill cel. When I see "taking 
offers" on a b-grade cel or something just as 
common, I totally ignore it because it's not 
appropriate (and not worth the hassle of making 
an offer).

(On a sidenote, since I am talking so general, I 
don't think the incident that prompted this 
discussion was an inappropriate case for taking 
offers). 

In reality when I've had to make offers on cels 
(which I really =hate= to do but sometimes I've 
taken a stab at it), I run to everybody I know 
and ask them what they think ^^;;

Interesting topic though!

Wendy (avoiding work).