Andy,

Fair enough.

1. If you were not "rooting" against this seller, then my comment does not apply to you. I believe some are.

2. No I do not think that every seller should get full value for every item placed on eBay. I rely on these "good deals" to maintain my inventory for resale. I got 35 nice Ivory chips last year at $6.00 per chip, mainly because the seller misspelled "Ivory".

But, if the seller had discovered his error and wanted to cancel my bid and end the auction early to protect himself, I would have recognized that he had every right to do so, because I am familiar with the rules, and the reasoning behind them.

3. At the time I refered to him as an "innocent" seller, Jim had not shared the email about the seller not actually owning the chip. That email concerns me greatly, and I am as skeptical as you as to his motives, now that the email has been shared.

I still feel it would be in everybody's best interests if he had been notified at the beginning of this thread that his auciton practices were under public discussion, but that's another issue.

Michael