(I would really appreciate the opinions of some veteran chippers on this issue - please bear with the length of this posting)

Kevin, if/when you read this, I encourage you to correct anything you feel I may have misrepresented.

A tiny bit of background:

In my short time in this wonderful hobby, I have completed several trades with many established collectors. I know to date I have been content with every single one of them and to the best of my knowledge, so have my trading partners. I thank all that I have traded with for this.

I have read the code of ethics. Additionally, I have read nearly all the postings over the past 3+ months and have scanned many of the archives. I am learning a lot and I am also learning there is a lot to learn. To further my education, I would really appreciate the opinions of some of the more veteran members of the club to help me determine if I was wrong for being disappointed with this recent transaction.

The crux of the issue:

This basically comes down to ethics and the issue of advertising a quality product and then delivering an inferior one. I would like to know if I am being reasonable with my displeasure in this area.

The chronological history:

Recently, I was the winning bidder on 6 of Kevin Behrens auctions totaling 15 (primarily “current/common”) $1 chips. The total cost including shipping was $23.75. The text in each of the 6 auction items (which included attractive chip scans) reads similar to the following:

"Here are four $1 chips from the Chicago area: Horseshoe, Hammond IN; Harrah's, East Chicago IL; Trump, Gary IN; Majestic Star, Gary IN."

Reference (2 of) the e-bay auctions below for the provided scans:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=753047506

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=753046123

Here is Kevin’s e-bay feedback from our transactions:

"Quick payment - Highly recommended!"

I have included (below) a scan of 2 of the chips I received (from the above 2 auctions). I felt that these were far inferior to what was depicted in the auction item(s). Furthermore, they were significantly below the level of condition that I am interested in collecting. Not only are they dirty, but they are significantly worn and nicked. If I saw the real picture, I would not have bid a penny on these chips. To a lesser extent, there are 5 more chips that were in a condition that I was not interested in (again, unlike the shiny pictures offered on e-bay).

So……I wrote to Kevin and explained my displeasure with the depiction of excellent condition chips and the delivery of FAR inferior chips. I explained that I am a fairly new collector and asked how this should be handled. I offered that ideally, I would like to have the chips depicted in the auction. Kevin responded by saying

“I got all the chips in question at the same time, and they were all in the same condition. The only difference is I cleaned my chips with a toothbrush before I scanned them.”

He further added that I could return the chips and he would refund my money. In my opinion, this was a good start. But I was not in agreement about his relative assessment of the chips and the effectiveness of cleaning them.

From my reading, I have learned that cleaning chips is a pretty sensitive issue. I asked if I could try cleaning the chips to see if some of them would meet my reasonable standards. He replied, “If you clean them you own them”. That is probably a fair response, but now I cannot determine for myself whether or not a little toothbrush action will make my ugly ducking chips look like the shiny new ones in the auction scans. Furthermore, for the second time, he stated that there is no way I could identify a difference in the condition of the chips from the scans.

I felt compelled to determine from Kevin how much he would be refunding me if I returned the chips. While waiting for his response, I became more and more disappointed with what happened and decided that I would like no less than 7/15ths of the total cost (~$11.00) and that I would be willing to pay for the return shipping. Kevin offered $10 for the 7 chips and yet again re-iterated that the chips depicted in the auction were identical to the ones I received. I thought this was a fairly reasonable offer, but wanted to stick by my guns and ask for the $11.00 that I minimally wanted in return (perhaps this was a mistake…but principles suddenly became the primary focus and not the $23.75, $11, $10, or $0 that I stood to get refunded).

Almost done here:

Soooooo…..I sent one more note stating that I do not agree with his assessment that “the chips are identical”. I further stated that I thought 7/15ths was fair and that I would pay the return shipping. I added that I felt this represented a fair compromise on my part and on his. In this note I further added that if he were content with that I would return the chips and post no negative on e-bay or on the chip board.

Kevin was not happy with this note at all and withdrew all his offers. He felt I was threatening him (that was not my intention).

My request once again:

I would really appreciate it if some of you more veteran chippers would let me know if I have been out of line here. Thank you if you made it this far and thank you for any feedback you may provide. If anyone is really interested, I would be perfectly happy to provide the e-mails.

Thanks for your time and assistance…….Jim (R-5882)