"Most other boards that discuss auction issues stop these "person specific" threads immediatly and won't reopen them until the originator of the thread proves that the parties under discussion have been invited to the board to participate."

What and where are these "most other boards"?

....perhaps you've found a collecting community that won't wait for a delayed response from a seller on a 3-day eBay auction. ...chippers are kinda different that way. Many are former coin collectors, some are former sports card collectors. The collective collecting lesson learned in this particular community is, shared information is good for the hobby, period. When one of us gets burned by paying too much for a chip, and somebody THEY know knew it was too much, real friendships can be affected.

The TRUE value of any collectible is partially based on the number known to exist and be available. When that knowlege is hidden ON PURPOSE, if you aren't planning on leaving them to your children, you will find not only a reduced market for the item, but a real dislike for your business practices (at least in my real experiences in dealing in this type of collectible.)

Bob