or... How to spot a BAAAAD seller!

About a month ago I came upon an eBay auction for a $5 chip from the Mustang Club in Ely. The chip wasn't in great condition, but it's not a common chip either. Here's the chip from the auction.

Unfortunately, the chip I received was in worse condition. There is only a faint indentation of a hot stamp, which can be seen best by holding the chip at an angle to the light. There is no foil whatsoever on either side.

The seller is Bryan Williams (eBay name mahanoyxpress, email mahanoyxpress@aol.com). I've sent him three very polite emails and have not received a response. But then, I didn't really expect to. After the bad chip came, I took a closer look at the auction.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6164254245

The trick is not to look at the feedback left for him, but to look at the feedback he has left for others. I now always check this before bidding on an auction by someone I don't know.

I also thought it was interesting that there was another auction by a different seller using the exact same picture and listing style.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6167299850

This seller also has the same feedback style.

So now I've decided that the right thing to do is to leave Bryan a negative feedback. You don't suppose he'll retaliate, do you?