Well, dibs is highly dependant on a lot of things 
for me.  For instance, I have one cel right now 
that a number of people have asked me about 
recently.  Now, technically I gave one person 
dibs on it because she was in fact the first 
person to say "Hey if you ever sell..."  
BUT...I've also had a lot of close friends ask 
about this cel as well.  Friends that have done 
some enormouse favors for me...  So it's a toss 
up..do I be fair to this dibs person, whom I dont 
know _that_ well, or do I give my good friends a 
shot at it first?  Usually in cases like this I 
just wont sell, or put it on Ebay..that way 
everone gets a fair shot.  In the event of an 
emergency, Id have to say dibs go out the 
window.  In some cases when you are desperate for 
money, I think it's actually in your own best 
interest to offer the cel to whoever is willing 
to pay the most for it.  This might sound assy 
coming from me, but it's how I feel _in some 
cases_. Now, if we're talking other about easier 
situations, then I almost always keep my dibs 
promises.  There are even some cels that in 
serious money times, I would still keep my dibs 
promises.  I get sort of tired of people getting 
made at sellers or dealers for selling for more 
money that they paid.  Sometimes it's because 
they're gouging, other times you dont know what's 
going on in that person's life.  Perhaps they 
need the cash big time.  

Id have to say in 95% of the cases on my cels, 
the dibs stand.  There are only a couple of cases 
when I wouldnt hold to that.  I mean, if I bought 
a cel from someone for like 400$, and they told 
me to only sell it back to them....but then I get 
an outside offer of 1000$.  Im sorry, but at that 
point I think it's every man for himself..and Id 
take that grand in a heartbeat.  I think 
your 'dibs-ee' would understand that.  

Also, I think in about 80% of the cases 
around...'dibs' is simply a term you use to get 
someone off your back about a cel.  It's almost 
never worked for me.  Only with close friends has 
this term really meant anything.  When I hear it, 
I just think "Yeah, right, thanks for your 
time."  Most of the time, people dont mean 
it...hell, half the time I dont mean it, but 
that's only because all my cels pretty much came 
with their own pre-dibs contracts, ahahah! ^_^  I 
think each of them has someone in line for them.