I must not have any goodies anyone else cares for, because I hardly get any feedback with questions and inquiries about my cels.
I think though if I were asked, I would be pretty much like JWR. I acquire my cels from very visible and common places, so I don't mind giving out any sources unless the seller otherwise wished to stay anonymous. I don't have any super secret supplier so there is no reason for me to hide where I got a cel from.
Oh, no one's ever asked me, either, and I've received a grand total of two offers for cels in my gallery. ^_^ So we're in pretty much the same boat.
I love a lot of cels in your gallery, CM!
Well, in my cel commentary, I tend to include where I bought my cels or sketches: Yahoo Japan, E-bay, Private Collector, specific dealers, etc, in addition to character name, series, and episode IDs. I generally don?t include the names of collectors that I buy from or their galleries to protect their privacy. This is mainly because some collectors have very limited offer periods and some collectors prefer to sell very few items from their collections, so I?m not sure if they would like to be bothered with random offers and inquiries when they aren?t expecting them.
Sometimes, if a collector asks me a specific question about a series or if I think they may be new to collecting, I will send them a more detailed e-mail about what prices to expect for a series and where the best places to look for these items (even if I do collect from the anime). Prices for some series are already quite expensive and if new collectors start bidding on auction sites indiscriminately or overpaying for cels from dealer?s sites, this decreases my ability to buy these items at a reasonable price (as I tend to worry more about item price than competition). Additionally, the only way that I was able to acquire many of the nice items in my collection was due the kindness of veteran collectors. To me, it just seems natural to pass on helpful information to other collectors who ask nicely.
However, I am one of those collectors who doesn?t like to give out too much information about the prices for my collection. This is mainly because I sometimes receive e-mails inquiring if I?m selling particular cels, but they hardly ever include the price that the collector would be willing to pay. If I wanted to do direct sales for items from my collection, then I would certainly include these exact prices on a sales page or put them in the Rubberslug Shop. For the time being, I just make a note of the collectors who have asked about a particular series or cel in the event that I do decide I am no longer enamored with them. I?m also very leery about giving out personal pricing information due to auctions that I?ve won where I?ve received e-mails asking about my max bid for internal bid wars. Apparently, there are a lot of deputy computer problems within the last few minutes of an auction where a bidder wasn?t able to place their bid and they need to know what my bid was for a comparison (because clearly my bid wouldn?t have been high enough for me to win the auction. *lol*).
So, aside from a few grey areas, I think I?m pretty candid with where I find my items. As for the timeframe, well, I need to work on that as I don?t always update in sequential order, nor do I include witty banter or information about a scene in my comments section. *shrug* I guess I need to get more commentary assistance from Welcome Consumer, Sensei, Tex-chan, and Klet. ;o)
Edited Feb 24 at 3:45 PM
I used to give those vague answers about my sources when asked back when I first started collecting. Now it depends on who's asking and how. If it's rude I don't give out anything. If it's someone who's polite I'll give up sources. But like everyone says most of them are well known. I don't like discussing prices with anyone though, that's just not my nature.
I do not mind tell anyone..... If someone asks me where and how much I got a cel I will prob tell them .... I think many people ask me these questions b/c they want to know how much a markep price is when they are offering.... I work in academia, so I live in a community that almost all my information is in public (including my salary!!!) so I am used to it ;)
But if the seller ask me not to tell when I buy a cel, then I will not tell anyone :) (but I have never encountered thie situation before).
