Dean, I think we all appreciate that you finally responded. At least we are aware of your reasons for your actions.

I have been a customer of yours in the past and was pleased with every transaction. The chips were always delivered as promised.

The Carl Cole indicent was certainly unfortunate. It is always a difficult situation when a chip is lost in the mail. It is hard to place blame or liability on either party since neither person did anything intentionally wrong.
I thought you and Carl should have worked out a settlement. Your cost wasn't $200 for the chip. You could have forgone some of your profit in the interest of fairness. When you say you would have had to "eat $200", you are talking about losing some of your profit since you certainly paid less than that for the chip. Carl ended up eating the $200 meal and being left hungry.

The Thunderbird case is quite different. I see it as a deliberate action. You paid $25 for the chip, you knew that there were many more available to others at that price, you immediately placed it in a short 3 day auction and you did not disclose any of the updated information regarding quantity in your auction. Your justification seems to be that you did the work of buying these chips and you wanted to make them available to others who were not able to make it to the convention. For this service, you felt justified in collecting a HUGE premium over your cost. That was WRONG. It was deceitful and unethical.

I emailed you shortly after the BB postings regarding the T-bird chips. I strongly suggested that you sell the chip to the high bidder for $25, which was your cost. This would have turned the situation in your favor. I have been in the retail business for many years and I can assure you that by treating your customers in the right manner and with respect, you will have a better business and you will feel good about yourself. You did not respond to my email so I did not know how you finally handled this situation. So, when I opened your BB post I was hoping to read something positive. Unfortunately, it wasn't.

I too have joined that list of former customers who will no longer buy from you. We just don't need nor want people associated with our hobby who put profits ahead of ethics.

Nate Pincus