"I emphasized to him several 


times that I DO NOT HAVE A PRICE IN MIND SINCE I 


NEVER PLANNED ON SELLING IT EVER, BUT THIS WILL 


NOT BE CHEAP SINCE I LIKE IT A LOT, AND IF I 


DIDN'T NEED A LOT OF MONEY RIGHT NOW I WOULD NOT 


BE HAVING THIS CONVERSATION WITH YOU. He ended 


offering me less than I paid, which was not all 


that high given that I got it at one of the Taro 


sales. I wrote back to him and said that I wasn't 


sure what constituted ANYTHING YOU WANT ANYTHING 


ANYTHING TAKE MY FIRSTBORN in his state, but up 


in the Northeast our cost of living is a little 


higher than that ^-~.  He promptly counteroffered 


with $35, and I just ignored him from then on."




I am nodding my head in understanding, Alex, 
believe me.  Fortunately, I've never had anyone 
say "I would die if you didn't sell me this cel" 
and then turn around and make me a low offer.  
What I have had happen a lot that can get 
irritating is when someone asks me what I want for 
a given cel, and I politely email them back and 
say "Well, I don't have a price in mind, which is 
why it's up for offers [or in some cases, not on 
the sale page at all].  Truthfully, this is 
because I'm attached to the cel and not really 
wanting to sell it [which might be a lame reason] 
unless someone offers me something that I can't 
refuse."  The person then emails me back saying, 
"Can you please tell me how much it's worth?" or 
"Can you tell me how much you want for it?"  It's 
like they didn't even register what I told them in 
the previous email!  I have a few moments of 
rolling my eyes and/or venting to my fiance about 
it, but I always end up writing them back 
politely, repeating what I said before plus doing 
everything in my power (of language) to make sure 
they get the message this time.  I also say, "If 
you haven't been collecting cels for long, you may 
not really know what to do about cels up for 
offers" and then go about telling them what I 
understand most of the etiquette to be.  I usually 
get a nice response or don't really hear back from 
them, but I've never had a rude encounter with 
someone on email over a cel before, and I plan to 
keep it that way.




I have had a few offers that were low given what 
the cel would sell for today (not to mention lower 
than what I paid for it ages back).  The cel below 
is one such cel that I bought 3 years ago on ebay 
at a price the seller herself had marked down (she 
lost about $100 on that cel, and I was the only 
bidder--it was one of the more expensive cels I 
bought at that time, and I wondered if I was nuts. 
 Now I know that I was really lucky).  Someone 
offered me something that was pretty reasonable 
for a newbie, which I'm pretty sure she was (it 
was over $100 for starters), and I politely told 
her, "I'm sorry, but I love this cel, it's marked 
NFS and will always be marked that way, and 
unfortunately I paid more for it than your offer.  
But I appreciate your interest in my cels all the 
same, and thank you for your email."  It was a 
nice experience, and I hope that she has since 
been able to find a great cel of Ferio that makes 
her as happy as this cel has made me.  




So in short, newbies often don't know what to 
offer, so blasting them is really pretty mean, 
since we were all newbies once, and we all made 
some mistakes with other collectors without 
meaning to.  What makes this community so nice to 
be in (so much so that I will probably check back 
fairly often even though I'm quitting the hobby 
and keeping about 15 cels out of the 50-60 I own) 
is how friendly and helpful all the collectors 
are.  Especially the ones who have more cels than 
God, many of which are so fantastic you just get 
stars in your eyes seeing just one such cel in 
someone's gallery.  These people (like you, Cindy! 
 ^_^) have really enlivened my experience, and I 
wish you guys all the best in finding those 
ultimate dream cels.  If I had them myself, I'd 
probably sell them to you (unless you want Ferio, 
hee hee hee, or the MiroSan slap cel, which 
another wonderful collector was willing to sell to 
me for what I suspect is somewhat less than she 
paid--I did return the favor, however, which made 
me feel really good about the transaction both 
ways).  ^_^  That's the beauty of this community.




Whew!  That's my long 2 cents... : P




Kaerra




PS. Getting back to the original post, I would 
suggest you email the person who made the offer 
explaining why your husband reacted as he did and 
apologizing for the harshness of the tone.  
Hopefully they will understand your side and brush 
it off and you can all move on without any regret 
or anger on either side.