Well, since the subject of selling cels at an 
unset price has been brought up, I am looking for 
reactions to this situation that has preyed on my 
mind for a few days. 

I rarely sell any of my cels from my gallery to 
people who make offers by email. Most of the 
reason for this is that they usually want to buy 
the ones I can't part with .

I think I have taken four offers from "strangers" 
in the three years I have collected, each time it 
was because I needed the money and because the 
person seemed genuinely in love with the cel. Of 
those four times, once I found out it was sold 
privately for a good sized profit and twice the 
cel has ended up on ebay within a very short 
period of time. That is the case right now. I 
can't tell you guys how much that breaks my heart, 
and I realize that it is somewhat 
unreasonable....but it seems to be such a stab in 
the back to see it happen. 

The reason is this... In these cases the buyer has 
gone to great lengths to assure me that the cel 
they want will be their favorite treasure, they 
would never sell it on ebay and couldn't imagine 
ever selling it at all. The prices I have let them 
have the cel at were more than fair, in other 
words I knew I could sell them for more (sometimes 
much more) on ebay myself but I just liked these 
people and trusted them. So to find that they end 
up selling them, making a profit that could have 
been mine, is so upsetting.
Not to mention that I wouldn't have sold those 
cels under normal circumstances so I wouldn't ever 
have had to see what they were worth in "ebay 
money" , but I caved in to the line I was given 
about their total need to own and treasure that 
particular cel.   

After the first time it happened, I swore that 
nobody would get my cels again to do that 
with...but I did do it again anyway. Now that it 
has happened yet again, I really don't think that 
I can ever let someone buy from me through offers. 
If I can let go of a cel, I think I need to put it 
on ebay, but not sell to people who beg the cel 
from me by using the words I want to hear. Because 
now I just don't believe it. I know that there is 
every chance that I will see that cel on ebay for 
a lot more than I sold it for, and it feels like a 
betrayal.

How do others deal with this? I don't think I have 
seen this discussed before, but I would like to 
know if you sell cels that you wouldn't normally 
sell because of the way the person approaches you. 
And if you end up seeing them sell them for much 
more, in a very short time...does it bother you?

I know what some of you are thinking.  
Please don't tell me that I sold the cel so it's 
their cel to do what they please with, things 
happen and people have to sell their cels, etc. I 
know that. It is the principal that I am trying to 
deal with. My track record of feeling burned in 
these deals is pretty high, so I must be doing 
something wrong! Do you accept offers based on the 
person's assurance that they have no plans to ever 
sell the cel? Would you want to have a chance to 
buy it back if they needed to sell it? And do you 
feel like a fool if you find that they did sell 
the cel for a profit soon after getting the cel 
from you? 

Kathleen