I don't know what to expect to pay for wholesale as I have never seen that. On eBay the final bids on a 500 chip set with case and some cards and dice usually runs around $125 to $130. The new designs, (double dice etc.) are running a little bit higher. Doing some division, that would come down to about a quarter a chip.

Look back in the archives. I think it has mentioned some information about how many chips one should have for certain numbers of players. From what I have noticed 300 to 500 seem to be the most common size for sets. Also it was mentioned before what denominations, and colors, one should have for different stakes of games. The prices on eBay usually are for chips that do not have denominations stamped on them. However by selecting the right colors you can assume certain denominations. For example I might consider,

White, $1 or penny
Red $5 nickle
Blue $10(?) dime
Green $25 quarter
Black $100 Dollar

Some eBay sellers will allow you to select the distributions of colors that you want but will send you a standard assortment if you wish. I often feel that there might be too much white in some sets and figure that If, and when, I place an order I would probably sub another color for some of the white. Unless you are playing really high stakes you probably don't need as many black ($100) as you might, say Red if your games are around $5 or $10 games.

Finnetti shows a 500 set that has 3 white, 3 red, 2 Blue, 1 black and a green tube of chips. That actually would seem pretty good to me unless I were to decide to sub another blue for one of the whites, or maybe another green. However, not being a big gambler myself the weight toward $5 seems pretty good as is. Plus if you use the Blue as $10 then the extra 5s would cover any need for more Blue. Incidentally the set that I mention is now going for only $41 bucks with a little over a day and a half left.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3243413658&category=899

I notice though that these chip auctions tend to soar in the last hours. I have been in on many for a bit more to be up there till near the end and get sniped to almost half again what I was bidding. A lot of action in the end. I am sure these won't end that low.

I understand that some dealers also offer other colors, often, that you could choose from. Pink, Yellow etc.