Does the seller offer the chip at a price, are they asking for an offer or are they asking you for the value of the chip? If the former, then I don't see a moral obligation. Everyone ends up happy. For the third scenario, I believe you are obligated to give a reasonable estimate, unless you really don't know. To offer a value that you know to be false is unethical and amoral. For the second scenario, which is what I think you are asking, the answer is less clear. I go back and forth in my mind, and I'm not really sure. On the one hand, I can see getting a $30 chip for $5 at a garage sale and not being too concerned about it, but I would have a hard time finding a second $1 Glen Grush Showboat and offering $5 for it, without telling the seller that they have something very valuable. I'm not sure what the line is for me, and I'm sure I could feel differently about it on different days. After all, who has not been excited about getting a bargain here and there. I would be interested to see what others think.

Michael Siskin