Advice for people new to cel collecting.

"- don’t offend other collectors with terribly low offers for cels. Do your research before making an offer. Somehow the saying “Go big or go home” rings very true here. "

This is an interesting thought and I've talked to alot of people about this... When peeps have offer periods or say they are looking to liquidate or lighten their load I generally always lowball... It has a lot to do with how the market is. It will go through hot and cold periods, throughout your collecting life. So what may be an excellent price now two years ago was terrible.

So when it comes to offers I will lowball, but will specifically say in the e-mail please counter offer, I am not being mean or rude I am just being frugal (cheap ^_^).

Prices have been all over the place, sometimes cheap sometimes ridiculous! A Garlic Jr. Cel just went for $150+ on Mandarake today, and a year ago that wouldn't have been a blip on the radar.

I mean of course $10 is never a good offer unless it is for a Tennimon cel, or Daa, Daa, Daa... But if you start high you have nowhere to go if the owner wants more... leaving you basically SOL.

Another strategy is to just ask... Introduce yourself, and just be honest... Hey I am really interested in this piece hypothetically what would it take to pry it from your hands and give it a new home?

Then there is no misunderstanding on any side ^_^;; I think the key is just to be courteous and if they say no keep an eye out for a sequence mate you might get lucky ^_^

I agree, i think any interested buyer can offer what THEY value it at, everyones value is there own, which often works in peoples favour, what I consider a bargin might be expensive to someone else...

Did you see that teen gohan cel that went recently on Mandarke for $1400? But teen gohan seems to always sell very well...

I think there’s a bit of a misunderstanding as to what I was talking about and I feel like I need to clarify, even at the risk of pissing people off. I’ve lost count of how many times people have offered me $100 for bank cels or cels with elaborate backgrounds. Cel value, plus deputy service charges,,,,comes more than $100 when we’re pricing a cel. Not to mention artistic value of a cel, which I know is a concept very far off for some. For me that shows that those forks are either a) super new and ignorant or b) trying to make a bargain and unserious. Honestly, for me that raises a red flag and it never even crosses my mind of doing business in the future.

Also we’re not talking about when someone opens a gallery for offer. Then you can “lowball”, as you much as you want. We’re talking about when you see something in a gallery and you really, really want it. It’s two very different scenarios. It’s important to understand that when approaching a collector.

I think it’s also it depend greatly on the collector you’re dealing with. I like the idea of communicating beforehand as it might give one insight as to how much value a collector puts into their collection and what would be acceptable. I personally am a tough cookie to crack as I really value each and every cel in my possession and prying one out that’s not for sale is extremely difficult.

Or it just goes to show everyone has a different budget for buying cels, i think its good to remember to shop within your means, anyway each to their own :)

I don't know, lowballing never really raised any red flags with me only if they are rude and pushy about it when you say no.

Because I understand the want to get something at a decent or bargain price. And value is different for everyone, would I pay more for an original BG? Maybe, but with the technology the way it is I can have them made for myself pretty easily so dependent on the piece maybe.

And Original Matching BGs have their own pains I can't tell you how many times I have gotten a piece in that showed no BG bleed and the seller never said anything and it doesn't show in the scan at all! So I am of two minds of it... 1-the BG could potentially be ruining the cel, 2-the BG is stuck so if I ever get a sequence mate it is impossible to reuse as it was in production.

But I digress... yes some research is needed, but Sailor Moon in particular has been all over the place lately... Some things are going astronomically high for no reason and others are selling at less than I would have expected! So it really is a crapshoot as to what the person has paid for the cel... You never know if it was bidders fervor that got them and they overpaid but to them at the time did not. Or if they got it at a bargain price... I've gotten somethings for like $20 or less because at auction they were mislabeled or the dealer had it mislabeled. So maybe if someone asked I would triple what I paid for it, but I might not.

What this comes down to is always personal value, and I find the thanks but no thanks response is best when I get a lowball offer... If I am not okay with selling the piece, if I would think about it I will give a ballpark of what I paid and let them know they would have to sweeten the pot to pry it out of my hands. However this will not stop me from ever dealing with that person again that is a little extreme. I personally keep a folder of all the offers I have received from various collectors and if I ever look to open the gallery for offers (which I haven't done in 8 years) I contact them first, which is the courteous thing to do.

I've talked about this with other collectors and it is a 50/50 split, 2 of us think start low end high, and the other 2 are start high. So even among us it is not a sure practice to go either way, we are either one way or the other on this issue but no in betweens so I don't know if we can even give advice on it if the community is so divided on it.

Maybe the best advice then would be to say hey! XXXX I am interested in XXXX what would it take to pry this from your hands, trade? $$$$? Let me know I would love to hear from you! ^_^