> On the other hand ... direct sales seem to work 
> better.  And it seems that when you have the 
> person make offers the better you get.

Maybe it's only me, but when I see the words "make
offer", I generally walk away. And I'll even walk 
away from cels that I *would* have spent a lot to 
get. . . If the seller only had enough spine to 
put a *price* on it!

First, making an offer on something takes TOO 
MUCH TIME. Days becomes weeks and sometimes 
becomes "Did the person not get my e-mail or just 
not have the decency to write back?"

Second, it's no longer taking in e-mails, picking 
out the best offer and rolling with it.(What
"make offer" really means, IMHO.) Now it's more 
privately run **auctions**, with the highest bid 
broadcast on a webpage for all to see. People 
still call it offers, but it's NOT anymore.

Third, maybe this is fine with someone you know. 
But if you don't know the person? On Ebay or YJ, 
I can see who is upping my bid. With these new 
private auctions (oops, "offers"), you see NOTHING
and know NOTHING except: "You're outbid, wanna 
pay more?" What's to stop a dishonest person from 
only *saying* you've been outbid? Nothing. Other 
than running into the person who *did* outbid 
you, you can't know you weren't just screwed.

Which leads to: "Offers" just leaves a bad taste 
in my mouth. One of the bigger reasons I don't 
get involved is because how "offers" are run now 
leaves me feeling *USED* by my fellow collectors 
who are blatenetly interested in nothing more 
than pimping out their cels for as much as they 
can get. I understand people wanting to get back 
what they paid on a cel. But private deals are 
supposed to be one of the *FUN* elements of cel 
collecting - and these "make offers" fiascos are 
anything but fun. They're tiring.

They're also completely overused. IMHO, a cel has 
to be a certain calibur to be worthy of "make 
offers" - the type that is so rare it's impossible
to accurately price it because equivalent cels DO 
NOT SHOW UP. But lately every miscentered, line 
faded, eyes-closed cel of EASY to find characters 
gets "make offer" slapped on it. It's *pathetic* 
and IMHO, makes the seller look pathetic.

I'd love to see these silly personal auctions go 
the way of the dodo. 9_9  I'd much rather see 
people be *honest* about what their cel is worth 
when trying to sell it. I'd *love* to see people 
not constantly out to wring every damn dime 
possible from their fellow collectors when they 
do sell something. . . And if neither of those is 
possible, at least show enough balls to be honest 
about what you're doing. Don't cutely call it
"offers", post your note as: HEY! I'm running a 
personal AUCTION on my homepage. ~_~

Many Sharp Smiles,
--Drac