... Katie, you have once again asked a very perceptive question.

EVERYONE, whether the original seller or an interloper, who contacts the underbidders with an offer to sell another copy of the auction item is doing the same thing, which you have deftly identified:

>> Unless, of course, you ... use ebay to ferret out those that want the chip and sell it to them without having to pay the ebay fees... <<

Which makes the wailing by sellers over the contacting of underbidders by third parties more than a little hypocritical. As someone else (can't remember who) said, it's easy enough for a seller with more than one copy of a chip to tie up multiple bidders -- just offer a Dutch auction.

eBay may have a legitimate complaint about the third party contacts; the sellers don't. ----- jim o\-S