I will attempt to answer some of your questions. This is all IMO...

So what's "Immoral" about it? If "Bill" wants to offer 10% - 15% of guide for a chip so "Bill" can make a profit on it, what's Immoral about it? There is nothing wrong with making someone an offer. BUT, when that offer is done in an attempt to stop the normal auction from taking place and therefore give the seller much less than he KNEW he would receive if the auction played out, that's unethical. And I'm not speaking of book value, I'm speaking of ebay auction value. IMO

If you go to a flea market or an estate sale and someone has $5000 (guide value) in chips and want's $50 dollars for them, do you stop and tell them "NO", I won't buy them since they are worth $5000? No you don't, but this is a different scenario. If he has it for sale with a $50 price tag, and you bought it. Nothing wrong with that. In the referenced auction, if it was a buy-it-now for $100 and Bill stumbled upon it, Bill would have gotten a great deal, nothing more.

If an eBay auction is mislabeled and you end up buying a high value chip for pennies on the dollar, do you contact the seller and tell them that you own them $$$$$? No you don't, but this is a different scenario as well. You bought the chip in an open and fair auction, nothing is wrong with that.

I have done this many of the things above knowing I got a good deal, heck it even happens on this board where someone has a chip they know nothing about and sell it cheaper that what they could get for it (Can anyone say Sam's Town Halloween $5.00 set? or Brighton $2.50 chip for around face value). Again, nothing is wrong with that. A person listed the Sam's Town chips for sale at less than what he could get elsewhere, his loss. It was a fair process and you were first to post the SOLD sign.

Remember a Guide is only a "guide" for value, it's not the "bible" or a 'catalog' to order chips (the value of a chips is what YOU will pay for it). I have a great deal of respect for the publishers of guides but they don't control the market value of a chip. In the referenced auction, it isn't about the guide price. The price he was offering was substantially less than the "Real/Auction/Ebay" price. Forget the guide price.

I don't blame "Bill" for asking, I've always had the philosophy that if I'm buying for my collection (hobby) I find no reason to ask for a discount or try to get something cheaper. In my opinion, there are more immoral things that happen in this hobby that are worst than low-balling a seller. Again, different. Sending someone an offer is quite different than trying to stop an auction from playing out in an attempt to screw the seller.

If I'm wrong and this is against the Clubs Ethics, then I'm sure many of our members would be kicked out of the club. I respectfully disagree. For the reasons above, the practices that you described are not unethical or immoral. The auction in question is VERY different than all of the provided examples.

Anyone that has sold on this board has probably received offers from me. You can consider them low-ball offers if you wish. I know where I need to buy them in to make sense for my collection or make a profit on resale. If the seller says "Too low, no thanks", I'm OK. No harm done. Likewise, if I am selling a chip(s) on this board, I welcome any and all offers. The choice to offer and the choice to accept or not are being made by two knowing parties. Nothing wrong with that. Look, Bill tried to pull a fast one and pick up this chip for much less than it was about to sell for. It was a direct attempt to take money out of the sellers hands by taking advantage of their lack of knowledge. He tried to avoid a fair bidding process by deceiving. That is unethical IMO. If anyone doesn't see the diffence, there isn't much more I can say.