George; In addition to Mike Christensen's response ... many times a bidder might have missed out on an earlier offering of the same chip. Had he/she been in the bidding process, the chip would have sold at a much higher price with the additional competition for it.

Happens to me all the time. I'm in A.C. most weekends when many ebay offerings end and I don't have access to an on-line computer to place my bid on the final day. I don't usually bid until the last minute or seconds remaining. On other occassions, I simply have not had time to review every chip that has been put up on ebay in a given week, so I miss alot.

I'm also aware that some professional people simply don't have time to search ebay offerings as often as they would like to, so they resort to buying from a reputable dealer at much higher prices. Many times, chip dealers purchase items from ebay for re-sale to a customer who has placed an order for a chip the dealer does not have in stock.

That's why some ebay sales are not a 100% accurate barometer of value. You mentioned the disparity in condition between different lots which should affect prices realized. Often I see well used A.C. chips being offered with a current catalog value quoted by the seller. The catalog estimate is for chips in excellent condition ... a factor that many ebay sellers don't mention when describing their obviously well-worn chips.

Nothing mysterious about it at all. The more competition, the higher the price realized; and the nicer condition will generally bring higher prices as well. All alike chips are sometimes not equal.