My fellow chippers I present you with the following facts:

Here is the auction in question (I don't know how long this link will last):

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=6107879904

At the time I bid on this auction, the photo of the Sands chip was not marked as it is now. The rest of the listing remains the same.

I saw the photo of the two chips and placed a bid based on both chips and I immediately became the high bidder (outbidding even rdrock1). At some point later, I actually read the description and realized that only one chip was up for auction. Because the auction was within the last twelve hours, a bid retraction was denied and I e-mailed the seller a request to cancel my bid (even though the bid was more than I would have otherwise made, my biggest concern at the time was that my max bid price was much higher and I didn't want someone to try and snipe the auction and drive the price up further).

The seller did not respond and the auction ended.

I then posted the following message on the chipboard:

http://www.thechipboard.com/cgi-bin/tcb/tcb.pl?noframes;read=348565

I do not believe the above post contains anything derogatory about the seller (yankeechipper). I posted the message merely as "one of those things" that happens.

After the auction closed the seller contacted me via e-mail:

>>>Sorry but I didn't get your email until after the auction closed.

My response:

>>>My real concern here was my max bid price was based on the two chips vs one. As it turned out the final price wasn't exactly a disaster and I'm going to make good on it.

The seller's next message:

>>>It's not a problem with me if you want out of this transaction. I'll wait for your answer, in re-reading my email below, I didn't make it clear that it was ok with me. You had emailed me well before the auction ended, and I would have cancelled your bid if I had not been away from my email.

My response:

>>>While I am certainly willing to make good on the transaction, you have made a very kind offer and if you would let me out of the transaction, I would certainly appreciate it as it is more than I wanted to spend on that particular chip.

The seller's next message simply said: "No problem".

Everything is ok, right? Well, I went to bid on an another auction and to my surprise, the seller has blocked me from bidding on his items.

Thus, I sent him the following message:

>>>"Why would you block me from bidding on your listings? I told you that I would make good on the transaction if it was going to create ANY problems whatsoever.... I will gladly pay you the previous auction price because it isn't worth a couple bucks to have anyone unhappy with any transaction that involves me. If I have done something wrong, just let me know and I promise you that I will do whatever it takes to make it right. Very Truly Yours, -Stu"

His response:

>>>Stu, My real problem was your post on the chipboard. You made it should like it was my fault. When in fact you didn't read the large & bold description. Dennis

Ok, I went back to look at the message thread on the chipboard and besides not finding anything in the original message where I indicated that it was the seller's fault, I also found this follow-up message in that same thread:

http://www.thechipboard.com/cgi-bin/tcb/tcb.pl?noframes;read=348623

I was never upset with the seller and I believe that I stated quite clearly that the seller did nothing wrong and that any misunderstanding was my fault. I completely understood that there was nothing wrong with the ad, the seller was under no obligation to cancel the bid, and once the auction closed, I did not ask him to let me out of the transaction until he made the very generous offer that I accepted.

I have sent yet another message to the seller indicating again that it was entirely my fault and that I will do whatever it takes to make things right but I have received no response and remain blocked from bidding on his auctions.

What would you do?