Hey, I'm finally back online after 72 hours in Internet limbo, while USWest replaced my phone lines all the way back to the central office.

I bet you missed me.

I actually read every post in this thread as I drink my morning coffee, and you all seem to have come to the conclusion that it's not a very good idea to compile a list of "bad sellers", so I've little to add.

That won't stop me, of course, two thoughts:

1. Anyone unsophisticated enough to buy a fantasy chip thinking it was a real casino chip, would also not be sophisticated enough to find your list, right? If the list is to protect the "innocents", how would the "innocents" know about the list?

2. Is it really a good thing to try to lessen the burden of "caveat emptor"? Wouldn't it be better to educate bidders on how to protect themselves when bidding, rather than trying to anticipate who might knowingly or unknowingly take advantage of bidders? Shouldn't we be asking exactly how much Shipping & Handling is before we bid? Shouldn't we be making a habit of viewing a seller's feedback before we bid? Isn't it the responsibilty of the bidder to make sure he knows what he's bidding on, before he bids?

I would love to see a web page as part of the club site that lists all the things a bidder should do to protect himself before he places a bid. I believe that for every actual "crooked" seller who takes advantage of bidders, there's a seller who is simply not very knowledgable about what he sells and does the best he can.

And for every one of those, there are 10 transactions that are nothing more than misunderstandings, or simple disagreements about the meaning of adjectives.

Let's put all that energy into wising up the buyers, rather than trying to police the sellers.