(Maybe I shouldn't reply to this, considering I'm 
actually about to make an offer. ^_^;)

I've never really considered myself an "oldbie" 
in this hobby. There's always something out there 
that I know little about. That said, I've still 
been around for a while and it wasn't all that 
long ago (relatively speaking) that actual *sales*
-- items with prices on them -- outnumbered things
for offer.

I've said it before, but it's worth saying yet 
again: Something has to be of a certain calibur 
in rarity or quality of shot to really be worth
"offers". IMHO, 80-90% of what is put up for 
offers lately does NOT fall into that catagory. 
(It's hard to judge offer periods on entire 
galleries, since there's no way to tell exactly 
what the owner is REALLY willing to sell.)

I completely agree with you on all counts about 
the sellers-to-be who don't really want to sell, 
and about the mysterious phantom offerers who 
supposedly offered insane amounts of money before 
vanishing -- the second of which only leaves me 
thinking: "Seems to me, if they vanished, then 
there's no current offer on the table anymore 
other than mine."

One thing though that you didn't mention, which 
intensely grates on my mood, is when offers are 
accompanied by the phrase: "Serious offers only." 
Maybe it's just me, but when I see that phrase 
combined with things that aren't worthy of being 
for "offers" in the first place, to me it reads 
as: "If you're not willing to pay more than it's 
worth, don't bother writing." This may or may not 
be the intent of it, but that's simply how it 
reads to me.

Which brings me to my biggest problem with the 
modern-day "offers". . . Inflated notions about 
what the items are REALLY worth. When things are 
put up for "offers", what makes it not worth 
anyone's time is when the owner isn't honest to 
themselves about what the items are worth. If 
someone isn't willing to accept an offer that is 
within the *current* value range for the given 
shot/series/character/etc, then why bother the 
rest of us? If a person overpaid for the item or 
bought at the height of a fad, how is anyone else 
supposed to know? I don't at all mind someone who 
turns down an offer with: "I'm sorry, but that's 
less than I paid and I was hoping to break even." 
But if this is the case, and the original price 
paid is signifigantly above the current market, 
it's best to indicate a minimum offer amount.

I flat out DESPISE "offers" that are actually 
private auctions. Put the item up for auction 
somewhere that I know for sure A REAL PERSON has 
placed a bid against me instead of sitting back 
and wondering if I was just "outbid" by an owner 
who hopes I'll increase my "offer".

That said, I want to note that I've always been 
of the opinion that *unsolicited* offers fall 
into a completely different catagory than someone 
putting things up for offer. Making an unsolicited
offer on something in someone's gallery, means 
you want the item enough that you're ready to pay 
more than it's current value in an attempt to 
talk the owner into selling. People who willingly 
post things for "offer" should not expect these 
kind of over-offers.

All things considered, I generally ignore offer 
periods unless something I want a LOT is offered, 
and then I'll usually only place an offer when I 
know the person who put the things up for offer 
is someone who is serious, polite, and someone I 
respect. Meaning those who get offers from ME, 
should know by default that they're getting a 
serious offer. . . But more often than not, I 
wind up feeling that I should tag offers I make 
with: "Serious replies only, please."

Many Sharp Smiles,
--Drac