Already you have a variety of responses since 
everybody has their own particular pet peeve but 
let me chime in. (*why do I get the feeling that 
eyes are being rolled*).

1) I'm usually pretty laid back about shipping of 
cels. I think a week is fine although I expect 
for other sellers as well as myself to send out a 
courtesy email about ETA. (Some of the dealers 
can't do that since they have such a volume 
leaving). E-mail should pose no problem for an 
individual seller -- a quick "will ship on 
Saturday" should be great. Of course, there is 
the complaint that if it takes much longer than a 
week, what are you purchasing priority mail for? 

2) As you've seen, what people consider major 
defects can be considered minor by others. For 
myself, missing paint and dented acetate are 
biggies. I try to list line fading, too, since I 
don't think that always shows up well in a scan. 

3) I prefer to deal with people I know from the 
forum and other places. On the whole, they know 
the drill (of course, I've had stellar service 
from other people). The nicest thing about buying 
from forum goers is reputation. I think we all 
work hard at building a good reputation as buyers 
and sellers. Even if you don't hear about a bad 
transaction on this forum, you can believe that 
the reptuation will spread in private 
correspondence and in chat. This can work in the 
reverse if you know that the person complaining 
tends to overexaggerate. And frankly, based on 
various reputations, etc., there are many reasons 
why I won't do business with someone regardless 
of how awesome the cel is. Except in extreme 
cases, I won't mention these examples to many 
people. (boy, I don't sound nice at all ^^;;;)

Perhaps the most important thing in a bad 
transaction is how the seller handles your 
complaint. I think that's a big deal and even if 
things go poorly, if the seller is really nice 
and fair about a just complaint, I wouldn't 
hesitate to do business again with this person. I 
might mention the problems to other people but 
will always follow up with he or she "was great 
about it though." 

(*laugh*) Now I'm running through my mind every 
cel I ever sold and wondering if I disappointed 
anyone. I tend to freak out over selling and will 
often e-mail people with "did you get it yet? is 
everything okay?" That, in its own way, can be 
annoying I guess.

Wendy

PS: on the issue of courtesy e-mails, I know I 
greatly appreciate when buyers e-mail me back to 
say they got it. Also, I think it's important 
when offered a cel or a price, to e-mail back to 
say you refuse (I know I don't always practice 
this but I try).