Here's my guess about the "Adam Steiner" listings. I'm not an eBay or computer expert, so if someone has a better or more accurate theory, I'm open to ideas ... or if "Adam Steiner" wants to correct the record, please do.
The reason these listings lead to different eBay sellers is because "Adam Steiner" is not the originator of the listings. Ebay has a "commission" program for driving traffic and sales to its website & listings. So ... a middleman can capture a bunch of listings targeted to a certain group (like chip collectors, etc.), publicize the listings, and with enough click-throughs and/or sales, the middleman earns some money.
Remember when similar postings occurred from "Anna H" ? A search shows 3 of these postings below.
The Anna H listings clicked thru to a website:
Johnnys Casino.com (See: http://johnnyscasino.com/featuredchippage.html).
The current featured chip there is a $500 Aladdin chip being listed as a BIN from a well-known California club member who used the name "OmahaMike"... but he has no association with Johnnys Casino. If you click around on the Johnny's Casino website, you will see thousands of listings, about 80% BIN and 20% regular auctions. Those listings are from numerous different sellers in different locations. But "Johnny's Casino is not the owner/ possessor of the chips, only a middleman.
The Adam Steiner / Anna H connection --
Both names on the ChipBoard postings have the same web address, specifically: 68.103.147.132
This leads me to believe it's the same person.
Further if you do a publicly-available "Who Is" search, at http://www.whois.com/ you'll see some ownership info for the johnnyscasino.com website.
A bit of further search, using the publicly-available whitepages.com search capabilities, leads to the possible real person behind these postings. An associated name at the same address ... if I'm correct in my guesses ... is "Anna H".
I'll let the real owner / Chip Board poster reveal his own name if he chooses. Perhaps someone with the initials JH, located in Kansas?
BTW, there's nothing illegal about being a "middleman" participant in the eBay referral program I mentioned. It seems like a lot of work to keep up with, but if "bots" automate the collection process, then he may make enough to make it worthwhile. It does appear that he uses various fictitious names for his postings, which is different from the norm to use your real name or a well-known nickname on this board.
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