It doesn't take a genius to figure out certain outside elements or activities are doing harm for or too our hobby!

Ebay
Slabbing
Grabbing

Over the next few days I will attempt to explore each one of these elements and try to give my input as to why and how "they" are hurting our hobby.

For today I'm going to write my opinions about Ebay. Don't misunderstand Ebay in and of itself is not the problem. The sellers who utilize Ebay for selling their casino chips IS THE problem.

First, of all lets exclude the Hacienda $5.00 chip that brought big bucks for one of our clubs officers. This is an exception to the rule and really is not applicable to what I am going to discuss.

Many of the chips put up for auction fall into three classes:

Class 1: The relatively scarce chip treated like a common chip because of a lack of knowledge by the seller.

Class 2: The common chip that most collectors already have.

Class 3: The $10.00 to $75.00 chip that sells for much less because bidders can live without it.

Class 1: The seller of class 1 chips in my opinion does a great deal of harm to our hobby. A seller of chips who acquires in his "buy" 20 to 30 pieces of a certain chip but doesn't realize he/she has them ALL that are available for sale. The seller places this chip on Ebay and realizes a very good price for the first offering. However, since the seller lacks knowledge of how scarce the chip is he/she repeats with it again and again and again until the value of the chip is ruined. I could name 50 to 60 chips that have gone in value from hundrerds of dollars to next to nothing. All because the seller doesn't know what he/she is selling. This is unforgivable! The damage done will take years to repair.

Class 2 chips are really self- explanatory. Everyone who collects the area already has it. Common Nevada or Riverboats or whatever.
The seller doesn't understand that no one really wants the item unless it can be had for less than face. Yet sellers keep putting this junk up for auction. All one has to do is run down the current listings on Ebay. I'll bet 90% of the chips listed fall into this category. A waste of time and creates a "bad" impression that spreads to the "good" chips listed.

Class 3 casino chips are in my opinion taking the worst hit. At the most recent coin show I hear collectors say "heck, I'll wait to buy my chips on Ebay for next to nothing". Maybe they can and will. However, the damage being done to the hobby is almost uncorrectable. Many dealers/collectors are listing their good duplicates. Different individuals are putting up the SAME chip creating an illusion there are many of the same chip. This illusion forces the price down when this may not be correct. I see chips selling for prices that are not a reflection of true value. Why, because collectors/dealers can live without it. If they can't get the chip for next to nothing like class 2 chips they will not bid. This is a shame and in my opinion hurting the hobby. Prices are being forced down creating an artifical reality. The people bidding on these chips are learning nothing. They have no experience about pricing and do not have the opportuinty to learn about the chip. These same people carry this lack of knowledge to a chip show and expect the dealers to sell to them for what they saw the chip listed on Ebay. They can't buy for that so they buy nothing!!! If this doesn't hurt the hobby for the long run. I don't know what will.

Tomorrow "Grabbing"

Best, Jim