I saw that ad one time myself. For pennies more? Per Chip? x 500 Chips? Like the 11.5 aren't expensive enough?

Not to put down the clay chips, but I have a few of the 11.5 chips that I picked up as souvenirs from a bin at a shop at McCarran a few years ago. I find nothing really objectionable about them. I am assuming that the Dice, Suited, and other varieties are the same as the chips that I picked up. They look and feel the same just don't have fancy designs stamped on them. The ones I have are stamped, $5, $25 and $100 and are a plain looking chip. I noticed that in the article that you linked they don't say they are bad chips or anything. In fact, they say they are "EXCELLENT" home chips. But, the photo that you posted insinuates that they are junk. Personally I don't find that at all. The fact that they have a metal insert doesn't bother me at all. I would be concerned if there is any indication that the plastic, (RESIN(?)) or whatever they are made up of is prone to chipping, cracking etc. The picture clearly shows that to destroy the chip they had to go to an extreme to cut it with a wire cutters and deliberately tear it apart. It is a good illustration of what they are made of though.

I have thought numerous times of buying a nice set of these chips and really like the Dice design. A couple of the NEW designs also seem tempting but at up to $150 a set for 500 + Case that is a little steep for me. Hopefully some day I will hit an ebay auction right. Or maybe I can settle for a 300 chip set. I recently found a couple of old chip sets that my father had around the house. After counting them to see what was still there they were slightly shy of 300. Thus I assume they were originally 300 chip sets. Those are pretty big sets themselves.

I have had the same thoughts, as were mentioned, about a lot of the ads that I have seen for these chips where the sellers claim them to be clay. They are not. I don't know if they are a resin or plastic but they do not contain clay.

Whether that is false advertising or simple ignorance on the part of unknowing sellers I don't know. It does go to show that when you buy from eBay you should always try to buy from people who's discriptions seem to reflect a professional experience and knowlege of their products. This seller impresses me to the extent that he does take the innitiative to know what he is selling and to be informed about his products. There are people out there that go to auctions or clearances that buy items in lots or that are available cheap. They may know nothing about the items they are buying. They simply buy them then clear them out on eBay.

Sometimes they will post with vague ro incorrect discriptions of the items. If you are experienced enough and know what the items are you might be able to take advantage for some deals. Otherwise, beware.

My brother likes to buy radios. Specifically Motorola Handhelds. He has found sellers who are clearly radio experienced businesses that buy old equipment from police and fire departments, public works etc. They know what they are selling and usually sell complete and discribe accurately. If the item is flawed, defective or incomplete they will tell you. Then there are the guys who pick up 3 or 4 of these things at a used equipment auction, fleamarket or garage sale who haven't the foggiest idea what they have. They don't even know if the items work correctly or if there are parts missing. One time my brother got a couple radios where the transmit and receive crystals were missing. At about $15 a piece for radios that would be worth much more he didn't get a bad deal. He was able to use them for parts for the other radios to put together good working radios. He was just a little dissappointed that they weren't ready to just turn on and go. Watch out how much you bid on items that are vaguely described.

I have found this also, mostly with higher tech type items. Like 3/4" video decks and video monitors. I have been trying to find a good deck and rack of small monitors for my editing set up. Some people will describe that an item is in good working order, plays and records and describe in detail the operation. They might tell you that a monitor has "time code burn in lower right corner". Others may not say anything other than, Plugged it in, Lights light up. They will go on and say, don't have a tape of the right format or a monitor to hook up so don't know if it plays or records.... "Lights light, Fan runs..."

Who would you buy from.

In this case though, assuming that they are selling the pictured items, the fact that they claim them to be clay doesn't change what they are. They are still the same chips, same weight, same quality. Just be known that they ARE NOT CLAY.

I have done research about these chips and have posted a couple posts here in the past. The only complaints I have read about or heard here, is that some players don't like the sound that they make when thrown into a pot. While they might have a nice feel comparable to Casino chips, they don't have that same sound.

If you really want to check them out, I can't remember who it was, Somebody who sells on eBay, I think, will send you a sample chip so you can see what they are like before buying. You might want to go ahead and do that.