The discussion below of sellers and what is expected of them got me thinking about an ebay chip purchase I made last summer. I had just started checking my casino chip search and noticed a Thunderbird chip just listed, with a Buy it Now price of $2.00. Looking at the description and picture showed it to be a hot-stamped .50 cent red/green dovetail (shown here)...

From what I can infer from The Chip Rack, I believe this to be V6359 with a "U 400-449" value.

When I purchased this chip with the buy it now feature, I was the first and only person to have seen it, according to the counter. I knew this chip was worth more than $2.00, but I hadn't yet looked it up in TCR. Once I did, I was a little shocked, and obviously found out the person selling the chip didn't know the proper value of the chip. This seller planned on sending the chip in a regular white envelope, but I told them that I collected older Vegas chips, and didn't want to take a chance on it being damaged. I offered to send them a postage paid bubble mailer and payment of $10, with the extra $$$ going for their trouble. Although I wonder if the offer of more $$$ was to suppress any guilt I might have felt for this "steal".

What are some of your opinions on finding deals like this, and do you try to alert sellers of their errors in pricing? Can the adage of Caveat Emptor be reversed to apply to sellers also? Since a seller might not do their homework, does it justify keeping them "in the dark" of what they have, or in this case, what they HAD?

I was curious to what others thoughts were, but I love this chip and it is obviously an important part of my collection which at the very least has a great story to go along with it.

Thanks for reading!

Greg J.