I think you misinterpreted my post, Rich. I don't know for a fact, but I don't think eBay prices had a significant effect on the values in James' book. As he states in the front matter, "The prices shown in this guide are fair retail prices-- the prices you can actually expect to pay (sic) from a dealer in order to buy these chips at this time."

Bidders on eBay read the various chip references and will bid accordingly. If there is not sufficient competition to bring the lot to full dealer price, the buyer will get a bargain and the seller will get closer to what he would have been offered by a dealer in chips.

As to what a dealer will mark on his chips at a show, that's a complex issue and varies from dealer to dealer, and chip to chip. Some do a markup on what it cost them to get the chip. Some go on past sales, both their own and other dealers the talk to. Some dealers like to be "the low cost source" and will aim toward the lower end of the price scale. There is less room for these dealers to discount a deal for the buyer. Other dealers will want to be " the highest priced dealer on the floor", and want to attract higher end collectors. You will more often find significant lot discounts from these dealers.

Another point not yet addressed is that many dealers will take your duplicate chips in trade. Some I deal with will offer to take "half cash, half trade". This really muddies the waters in terms of what you really paid for the chips you ended up with. This works better of course if your "dealer" is also a collector and your dupes are some he would like to keep for his collection.

There's more flexibility in this hobby for different ways to acquire chips and tokens than any other collectible hobby I've been involved with. Information on relative value is about all you can expect to get from a price guide.

If you treat collecting things as an investment rather than a hobby, my experience has been that you need to see an overall price appreciation of 30-50% if you plan to ultimately sell your collection for more than it cost you. This can come from government supported price inflation (debasement of the dollar) or from higher demand and interest from new collectors as the hobby expands. It still helps to "buy bargains and sell treasures" over the period you collect. One of the reasons you see several hundred "dealers" at the shows is many are disposing of personal collections they have assembled over the years.