I almost never bid on something if I know someone 
else is interested in it. It takes away from my 
pleasure in the cel if I know I deprived a friend 
of it when they wanted it. Depriving a stranger is 
one thing -- that's just business. But a friend? I 
can't do it.

That being said, I can't say that I'm aware the 
favor has ever been returned. ^_^ I'm often 
"sniped" by friends on auctions. I'm on a very 
limited budget, so I'm a fairly easy mark, I 
suppose. But of course there may be cases where 
others backed off a cel because of me and I'm just 
not aware of it. ^_^

I do get "cel karma" returned in visible ways, 
though -- people email me to let me know of cel 
updates I might be interested in, and often people 
agree to give me first crack at a cel I like if 
they decide to sell it. Then there are the other 
tangible rewards of reaching out to others -- I 
almost always have a friend to turn to to help me 
bid on YJ, or help translate something, or just 
give me a kindly ear to listen to my problems.

I guess the bottom line is that I do what I have 
to in order to feel good about myself and how I 
treat others. And if I get something in return, 
great, but that's not the goal. To me, it's not 
just about the cels you get, it's also how you got 
them.

__
The Lizzard