You have to understand that dealers see the world 
like this: If someone is willing to pay $150 for 
a cel, they are probably going to be willing to 
pay $250 for a cel, and once someone pays $250 
they will probably pay $500 the next time. A 
dealer figures if he/she goes to all the work of 
searching for the cel, getting the cel that 
he/she can just sit on it and someone new will 
buy it at $500 or an old collector will get 
desperate enough to pay $500 for it in fear that 
next time it will be $750. Or they will start it 
off at $1000 and a collector will be glad when 
they get it for ~only~ $750 when it is relisted 
at a lower price. I'm not saying this is a good 
or a bad thing, I try to be pretty neutral on 
this kind of stuff because I used to be a dealer 
and now I a collector (who only sells cels to 
fund my collection), so I've seen both sides of 
the coin.

Also, I don't even think we buyers realize how 
our spending habits affect the prices (especially 
those of us who like a particular character 
and/or series). I didn't realize what I was doing 
to GW cel prices until I noticed that cels of the 
same quality that I had purchased 2 years ago for 
$50 were now $300. Why? Because there were more 
people involved for one thing, people who didn't 
have any GW cels at all and were willing to pay 
any price to get a cel. Then there were older 
collectors like me who had been searching for 
this particular scene for years and  bid higher 
to make sure they get it. Also factor in the 
Japanse collectors who are just as dedicated to 
GW. Dealers/Collectors caught on to the high 
prices and many dealers/collectors paid higher 
prices to get the cels to meet the demand and now 
refuse to lower their prices. It's like a drug... 
you get the first two hits for free (and get 
addicted), but you pay $100 the next time and 
$500 the time after that. And you either have to 
quit the drug or pay the prices as they rise.

The only way to really break this vicious circle 
is to just not pay the prices. Of course, then 
less "fantastic" cels are going to appear because 
the sellers  will figure it's best to hold onto a 
cel instead of letting it go for less than it 
once would have.

As a GW collector it's been really difficult for 
me to see what has happened to the prices, but 
then again if the right cel comes along I can't 
say that I wouldn't pay a stupidly high price 
just to acquire it. Then again, depending on my 
finances that month and the current GW cel 
climate, I might just let it go.  But someone 
else probably will have the money that month and 
will buy it. And so, the prices will just 
continue to go up so that the dealers/collectors 
see just how high they can go. This same thing 
has happened to Fushigi Yuugi, Dragonball Z, 
Rurouni Kenshin... the list goes on and on.

What to do? I can't make a judgement and I'm not 
sure if there is an answer.

-m