Do you ever feel like you're the 'evil' collector?

[hgeek23]

I don't know if I've gotten there yet. I have relatively little $ to spend at any given time so it's not like I can snipe anyone or pick and choose very well. I do hope to get there though
I have, I'm sure, annoyed others with redundant questions and probably very insultingly low offers, since I'm yet to fully appreciate all the pricing considerations.

[moonrabitt]

my collection is really low key, so I don't really have much competition.
Though I did have a certain collector that would constantly ask for one of my items, each time I would kindly say no.

I think talking smack to a collector just because they have something you have is just moronic. What if they had won it? would they think it's reasonable for you to harass them? People that do that kinda stuff just have issues. At the end of the day, the person with the most money wins, (sad but true), and it used to frustrate me when a certain Yahoo Japan buyer would buy the Gundam Seed Destiny Op sketches and hide them from the world (Wish I had that much money back then).
And still there are buyers who buy whole lots for cheap and sell sketch individual. Even though I would love to own those sketches, I could not let myself buy them with that amount of markup.

If reminds me of the bachelor pad episode last week. There was a blond chick (and the guy) who had to chose who would stay in the game (for $250k) they could either chose the other blond girl(who was her best friend) and her guy (but risk losing), or chose the brown haired girl and the other guy (and since that couple was hated they had a higher chance of winning). She did not chose her friend but chose the other chick and her friend was being spiteful and said "she is not my friend anymore...blah ...blah" ....was is the lesson? You should not "use" friendship in positions like this. People have a hobby they LOVE....how can a friend be messed up and hate on that?

[Keropi]

Anyone ever had those moments where someone announces that they are looking for "so and so" sketches/cels from a show. You are also interested in the same show or scene. Later you end up getting those cels/sketches from said show or scene. Then the other person is unhappy with you because you got it and they don't.

It's like by announcing it they are asserting their rights to get it. It's like planting a flag on a newly discovered continent and announcing your claim.

[moonrabitt]

Anyone ever had those moments where someone announces that they are looking for "so and so" sketches/cels from a show. You are also interested in the same show or scene. Later you end up getting those cels/sketches from said show or scene. Then the other person is unhappy with you because you got it and they don't.

It's like by announcing it they are asserting their rights to get it. It's like planting a flag on a newly discovered continent and announcing your claim.

LOL the best scene!!!!! I'd like to now lay claim to all SM and DBZ cels ever because They are only mine

j/k-thought that is funny....XD
=========
though one of my most hated moments is when someone wins an auction (let's say a lot of sketches) and then they resell the sketches (one at a time) for a really inflated price...(lets say the whole set of maybe 40 sketches cost $70...now they resell each for like $40 each).....and its funny when they say "each cost me a bunch" specially when you where watching the same auction lol

[hgeek23]

yes, the reselling is particularly annoying. I have a new eBay alert on specific kinds of cells. every morning I wake up to an email listing a bunch of new cell auctions for ridiculously inflated prices.
There is a site of a Japanese collector who had xxxxx (withholding the name of the anime because it would be too easy to know who I'm talking about if I included it) Genga. He also posted on yhj. This same Ebayer purchased 60 dollar genga sets and now has them on Ebay for 300 dollars. I once asked, out of sheer curiosity and before I found out where he got them "where do you find such great looking genga? Yhj?". He responded with a "not yhj, I've got my sources"
There was a bunch of yhj auctions on xxxxx genga I was bidding on and the auctions closed early because someone contacted the seller and offered to buy all 10 lots (comprising a full sequence of 30 genga). Well, I'd have settled for just one of the genga to put on my bro's wall but now they've all disappeared into the abyss. this is the kind of "disappearance into the abyss" that you are all talking about and I really feel your pain on this one.

Only thing though is that being a free market proponent, part of me just says "well, that's how he makes some extra $" who am I to complain? So in the end it's not the worst thing ever I guess. (Edit: see post below)

[hgeek23]

although truthfully, after just posting what I posted, i'm amending it to say that the collector I just mentioned provides a service, kind of like an importing service. otherwise less savvy buyers (like myself not too long ago, and to some extent i still am) would not be able to buy the genga. He, being the only competition should be able to charge what he likes. So all in all I feel that while he may make me cringe a bit, I guess I support what he does because it is just like any other business, he's not running a charity after all.

[zerospace]

although truthfully, after just posting what I posted, i'm amending it to say that the collector I just mentioned provides a service, kind of like an importing service. otherwise less savvy buyers (like myself not too long ago, and to some extent i still am) would not be able to buy the genga. He, being the only competition should be able to charge what he likes. So all in all I feel that while he may make me cringe a bit, I guess I support what he does because it is just like any other business, he's not running a charity after all.

Alright... a bit of a rant here:

Allow me to politely disagree... I personally loathe people who buy from YJ and Mandarake for the sole purpose of reselling on eBay at huge markups. Why? Because pretty much everyone who has access to eBay also can have access to Mandarake and YJ via deputy service if only they knew about these sites and deputies. These people aren't performing a "necessary" service -- they're simply controlling information (by telling someone who contacts them on eBay "oh I have my sources" and not revealing them) and profiting from others' ignorance (or, perhaps in a few cases, laziness -- some folks, I realize, probably don't want to deal with a deputy, but in effect, they already are if they buy from these people).

Not that this practice is unheard of or even new in the cel community, it is still something I truly despise. In fact, I despise it so much that I absolutely refuse to support anyone who does it at all. I don't knowingly buy from dealers or resellers if I see that they've been buying on YJ simply to resell, and I won't sell anything to these people either. I've seen it often enough where people in the cel community who say they hate this same practice will buy artwork from these resellers if the reseller happens to end up with something they want, effectively supporting the person and the practice. Ugh! It's a personal choice, but I stick to my guns.

*whistles* Anyhoo.... sorry for the rant, but this is one of those things that still bugs the snot outta me no matter how I attempt to justify it

[hgeek23]

I personally don't buy from them because a) I hate being gouged b) can't afford to
But still, what if the guy is unemployed and this it's what he does to make a living? Ask zerospace, after the yhj auctions ended I was chatting with her, pissed to high hell, damning the jerk but I still, for him it's a business.

just over a year ago I was a complete noob, just trying to finish a frantic search to find my brother some artwork as a gift. I had no clue as to even the existence of cels and genga. Without the help of "the last true saiyans" collector I'd have been completely lost. But At that point if I'd have found the gougers auctions I'd have maybe bought the cheapest one possible. Few people are fortunate enough to bump into some one as helpful as sensei, zerospace, or "the last true saiyans" (don't know his screen name. For those people the gouger provides a service, right?

Edit: ha, zerospace, didn't realize it was you who wrote the last message, lol

[cutiebunny]

It's like by announcing it they are asserting their rights to get it. It's like planting a flag on a newly discovered continent and announcing your claim.

This used to be a big problem for me back in 2005. When I first joined RS, there were a couple of members on the site that would, on a weekly basis, claim that the Sailor Moon cels on YJ were their wishlist items and expected everyone else to stay away from them. If they found out that you bid (and won) the item, they'd conspire to jack up the price of another cel just to make you suffer. I can't stand people who expect that others will give them whatever they want on a weekly basis simply because they made a post about the item first.

It's because of this that I'd never announce what I'm going for. I might let a good friend know, or, as I have done in the past, seen a couple of cels that I knew another collector would also want, and offer to split up the auctions in order to keep prices low for both of us, but I don't publicize items that I'm interested in on a board or elsewhere. My experience has been that the second I do so, other deputy service IDs will also bid for that same item.m And it's also because of my previous experiences with certain collectors that I will wait years until I update with something. Hopefully time will help to erase any memories of that item and how I purchased it from any possible RS/Beta users.

[hgeek23]

And it's also because of my previous experiences with certain collectors that I will wait years until I update with something. Hopefully time will help to erase any memories of that item and how I purchased it from any possible RS/Beta users.

People really get that upset?

[cutiebunny]

People really get that upset?

Yes. Some people take things very personally here.

[hgeek23]

Wow.

[AR-99]

Sad to hear about, but I'm grateful for the knowledge.

[moonrabitt]

And it's also because of my previous experiences with certain collectors that I will wait years until I update with something. Hopefully time will help to erase any memories of that item and how I purchased it from any possible RS/Beta users.

People really get that upset?

Some people are Insane. They will look at your wishlist, then try to bid against you in auctions, then try to trade items to get your stuff lol Which is why some older collectors don't put up a wishlist at all, or make theirs narrow...

[hgeek23]

Just wondering, what's the point of a wish list?