Protecting Your Source

i tell because quite frankly i dont care who knows we all have the same internet and i just happen to be on it more

In my own case , there are not many secrets. The usual sources are used. YJ , Ebay, dealer sites such as asylum , nechibei , anime link , milkacow66 , ect.

The only thing I'm cautious about would be items gotten from friends offer periods. Those around know who had what and will ask it I got it from X and I will say I did but not discuss what I paid.

I think a lot who are hesitant about disclosing such are either afraid of causing unintended problems for who ever sold them the cel / artwork or afraid that someone else might buy some other cels that they might have their eye on but are holding off till they can afford them.

I honestly do not keep secrets about my cels. I will freely tell you where I got it, how I got it, and how much I paid for it. (unless, of course, the person I got it from would prefer to be kept mum). I frankly don't care because I feel that we should all help each other. Apparently, for example, people were reluctant to share midori's site to one of my friends and since it is okay to give out the link in private I saw no reason why she should be missing out on cels. In thanks she will not buy any cels I am going for. My point is if it wasn't for the more generous or helpful collectors I wouldn't have been able to find wishlist cels of mine. I dislike some of the tight-lipped attitudes that can be apparent among some. (I do, of course, understand why many would not share how much they paid for a cel; financial information is a personal and private manner. I just happen to be very open about that) We were all just starting out at one point in our lives and I'm sure tips from veterans were something you were thankful for. There's always going to be competition and trying to avoid it, while understandable, is just silly. As far as I'm concerned we are all collectors here and if we don't help each other out it's going to be a very sad community indeed.
Just my 0.02.

I definetly agree with what Sletia said. Keeping all of your links because you're afraid of competition is kind of silly - people will find out regardless. It's also good to communicate about what cels you want, and what cels others want, because that lowers the price of cels for EVERYONE.

I'm lucky to avoid a lot of questions regarding my purchases. I'm not keen on giving out info and rarely, if ever, perhaps never?, ask others about where they got their purchases. If the cel description doesn't flat out say "I got this from ---" or "thanks --- for selling this to me" then I assume it's none of my business. Unless the person is a close friend, I don't make a habit of exchanging information. I can understand feeling the urge to ask, or sending feedback with a question, but don't feel offended if that person declines to share such info.

If it's a popular site or common knowledge, then it should be just that, common knowledge. You shouldn't have to tell anyone if "everyone can guess where you got it." If someone updates with a cel I've never seen before, I assume they got to it before I did (if it's something I'm interested in). Knowing the source after the prize has sold doesn't do much good either.

This is just my personal feelings. I'm a private person by nature and just prefer to keep things to myself. Kudos to those who share but I don't think my personal urge to keep things confidential is in effort to handicap newcomers. There's threads dedicated here and on Beta about cel dealer sites, deputy services, all the basic Celluloid 101. If someone doesn't want to take the time to do the research, why offer shortcuts? As Sletia said, we all started at square one and doing a little homework in this hobby seems reasonable enough.