"If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck. Or maybe a Pigeon!"

Wow, a pigeon who plays $15/$30 Hold'em! Can I come over to your house to play some heads up? You can deal.

Seriously, I'm glad you recognize the potential conflict of interest of the Club being simulataneously a seller and a "policing" agency. I don't know what the solution is either. But I do know that all the "net copping" that originates on this board is one thing, it would be something else entirely if the Club was a seller.

"Perhaps eBay would be more receptive to the suggestion that they consider our opinions on fraudulent, misleading and deceptive chip auctions if that suggestion came from the President of the only national and international organization devoted to the chip collecting hobby."

Perhaps, but as an attorney, I'm sure you realize, as eBay surely does, that for every "expert witness", there is an "anti-expert witness". The eBay business model positions them as "only a venue", for a variety of valid reasons, and setting themselves up as an arbitrator for every dispute that arises among devotees of the highly specialized sub categories of collectibles, like casino chips, is not very practical. What is absolutely critical to us as devoted chippers is probably irrelevant minutia to the rest of the world.

Yeah, but it's MY minutia, right? <g>