As a catalog publisher myself, and as a former spare-time dealer in A.C. chips, I can appreciate your thoughts about price guides in general as they apply to ebay and I would like to offer a few of my observations.

My experience has been that many well-heeled collectors/investors/professionals who do not have the time to frequently monitor ebay on a regular basis (or to read this message board) routinely rely upon others to provide them with their chip wants. Ebay is often used as a means of disposal of duplicate chips no longer wanted by individuals who have no place else to go to offer them for sale as they have no customer base. In addition, many chips purchased on ebay are purchased not only by collectors, but by chip dealers as well, who will in turn offer them for re-sale at higher retail prices in the after market or just purchase wanted items on ebay to replenish or place them in inventory for future sale. Yes, ebay is a wonderful place for chip collectors to pick up bargains. It is also a valuable resource of material for chip dealers as well... who will raise the ebay purchase price to a retail price ... closer to "book value". So what is the true value ... the ebay bargain purchase price ... or the individual retail dealer to customer transactions?

On another related note ... many times I have seen chips offered on ebay which cite a particular catalog value ... but the chip being offered is not in "excellent condition" ... which is what the estimated catalog value reflects. Catalogs are a wonderful resource; but they are only just a guide.