These are my opinions based on my experience as 
the unofficial HUMAN KEEP-TRACK system (some of 
you may remember me when I filled each time 
Cels.org went off-line).  And as I too live on 
the Pacific coast maybe I can shed some light on 
this topic.

Even if a Japanese dealer updates very late at 
night or very early in the morning, the chances 
are that someone in the eastern time will catch 
it before someone in the pacific time 
(obviously).  Of course, someone living elsewhere 
may grab some new cels before the ET people, but 
the ET people will still have a better chance at 
the remaininig cels.  So nevertheless I think the 
disadvantage for PT people does exist.  But it 
really just has been this case for the last few 
months or so (and it may flip-flop later on).

Of course, this doesn't apply to those who sleep 
odd hours or check the computer like zombies.  So 
I guess it's only those with normal or working 
lives on the Pacific coast who are losing out.

Someone (japester?) said that you just have to 
check the computer more often.  I completely 
disagree.  I don't think many people check for 
cel updates as much as I do (human Keep-Track 
system, remember?) but I still normally catch 
updates long after they have been posted.  Since 
I'm asleep and awake at typical hours (sleep 
before midnight and awake at 7 AM--ugh, more or 
less), it may very well be because of my time 
zone that I'm not catching good updates in time.  
If someone checks for updates just once or twice 
a day BUT at the right time (odd hours), I think 
they will do much better than I would just 
checking every waking hour of my day.

Not that it matters because I'm broke and haven't 
ordered anything in ages.

Now that someone mentioned it, I suppose it does 
seem more often than not (recently only) that the 
better bargains are updated quite late at night 
(past midnight PST) and/or very early in the 
morning (5-7 AM PST).  These do seem to apply to 
the more recently active dealers (e.g., Taro, 
Anime Game, Mandarake, Animaxis).  These 
particular dealers usually have more inventory 
and naturally are more likely to have some 
bargains (as well as nice cels that people want) 
at their updates.

Other cel dealers who have updated at times 
advantageous for Pacific coast collectors are 
more likely to have only a few cels or mid-to-
higher prices at each update (e.g., Anime Time, 
Nichibei).

Anime Chaos is the exception, definitely, but 
even Nick just made a surprise update very early 
Monday morning (I think) filled with (in his own 
words) "Mostly cheapies..."  So once again, I 
guess the bargains go to the early birds.

Also, keep in mind that Cels.org can be 1-2 hours 
behind on a dealer's actual update as well.  So 
anyone using that as a measuring tool would be a 
little misled.

So is the system fair?  Probably not.  Will 
dealers care about this?  Probably not.  So what 
can you do?  Drink beer.