My problem with posting "for offers" is that we have often been ATTACKED by people (via e-mail of course ^_^;; ) if we didn't accept their offer.
Casey and I are gladly done with "taking offers" because our financial situation has righted itself (Casey graduated and has a job! yay!) but we did often have to use that in the past when we were having trouble making the bills.
Anyway, the last time we took offers we just said "offers on anything in our gallery", which is what most people do. The way I have always looked at it is that we WILL take offers on all cels, but don't expect that those offers will be accepted (either because the we don't want to part with the item, or that the offer isn't high enough).
Well, this one guy made offers on several cels (and they were reasonable offers) but I basically said that those were not cels that I was willing to part with at this time. The guy ripped me a new one basically saying that if we really needed money than we should be accepting his offer to take the cels off of our hands. He also posted several rude messages that if those cels were not for sale that I should have "NFS" under every cel that I would never consider selling. I know some people go the whole NFS route, but considering I have almost 1000 cels it would be pretty darn hard to label the ones that are NFS, and even then I _MIGHT_ sell that cel to someone who I know would keep and love the cel forever (for example, an Aoshi cel that was NFS I ended up selling to a person who had it as her #1 wishlist cel and she had made kind offers over a period of several years-- it's in good hands). The guy was rude, overbearing, and had this self-entitlement thing that I absolutely had to sell the cels to him or else I was a "liar". Wow. I'm generalizing this as one "guy" but it was actually quite a few people that acted like this.
There is one other major thing that is very frustrating for the "seller" in the "offers" method. This is the "cheapskate" offer maker. For example, there are some "cel scavengers" who are trying to get the best possible deal on a cel. They will offer $15 for a $1750 Gundam Wing Heero Opening cel or $35 for a Mirai Trunks with an original background or $25 for an Eyecatch. Now, at first blush one might think that these people are just uninformed as to the actual value of the cels. Yeah, I used to think that.
But I sent these "buyers" e-mails explaining the actual value of the cels (or at least what I purchased them for, as value does fluctuate -- but not THAT much jeebus) and never heard back. Then, next time I did an offer, the same people were back with the lowball offers. I think what's going on is that they figure if you are really, truly, desperate that you will sell the cel for any amount. Frankly, we weren't living on the streets or anything and I consider my cels an investment... I'm not going to sell my "stock" at pennies to the HUNDREDS of dollars -- that's crazy.
So, those are my seller quibbles about the "offer" method.
My quibbles as a BUYER in the offer method is when you have no freaking idea how much a cel is worth. I know a lot of buyers are hoping that you will say "I'll pay $500 for the cel you paid $50 for!" but that's just not usually going to happen. In fact, I've shyed away from most offer-takings lately because sometimes I'm so out of the loop on prices that I have _NO_ idea what to offer. I don't want to insult the person with a $15 bid for a $1750 cel and have them think I am a cel scavenger, but sometimes the item up for offers isn't something very common so it's almost impossible to get a base price point for the item. For example, I don't collect Tenchi Muyo cels-- at all. Then someone put up a harmony cel of Ryo-Ohki that I really liked because it looks like my pet rabbit, Leo. The guy was kind enough when I wrote him to give me an idea on what he wanted. Other people I've written say a curt "make an offer" without any helpful guidelines or even a nasty "DON'T ASK ME FOR A BALLPARK!"... But I TRULY don't know what to offer, so usually I just let it go. In my opinion there at least needs to be a starting point... (now, my husband, who usually runs OUR offers, disagrees with me on this so I'm probably in the minority ^^;).
Another thing I really appreciate, as a buyer, is a seller who at least gives you a chance to outbid the higest offer. It may take a little more time and effort, but the seller might get a higher price if you let people eek it up bit by bit. For example, I DO usually lowball my first offer (maybe I shouldn't admit this) on a cel that I DO know the average value for. So, say there is a Mirai Trunks cel that I want and I know it's worth about $350 -- I might start at $250. What's horribly frustrating is that you find out the cel sold for $300, and the seller NEVER contacted you to say "hey, the current high offer is $300 ... are you willing to go higher?" I really think that's only fair and in most situations I would keep bidding up until I reached my "max". I've always felt that offer periods should basically be like private auctions.
That's yet ANOTHER problem, as a buyer, with these offer periods. You have to trust that the seller is being honest about what is going on with offers. I had, at least 4 or 5 times, been making offers on cels in various offer periods. The seller told me that "oh, someone has offered $250-- will you counter?" and then I didn't counter, or I did and suddenly there was a recounter -- was I willing to go higher? 2 weeks later the item appears on e-bay with a reserve of $300.00. I think what happened in most of these situations, especially as I got a bad vibe about the mysterious "second bidder", is that the seller wanted $XXX.XX for the cel and was "faking" the other offer person and trying to get you to meet the price they had in mind. When I refused they couldn't say "OH! that person backed out! I'll take your $250.00" because they really wanted $XXX.XX for it and won't sell it for what I offered. I'd MUCH rather have the seller say "I want $XXX.XX for it -- will you buy it for that?" just makes life easier because I would have probably just paid it. I don't like being screwed with
Anyway @_@ sorry for the long ramble. I can't believe I wrote so much. I should really get back to work @_@
*hugs to all*
Marisa[/list]
), so I really don't see myself taking the deep plunge into highly expensive cels for at least a few years. 
Besides, you might come across someone willing to pay the price tag, and then you end up with more money than you were looking for. Everybody's happy. 
