Interesting question and equally interesting responses. This is a great example of why ethics is an entire branch of study.

I agree with Doug, unless he/she is using exacting verbiage like “R-9” or “Only 3 known to exist”, than it is caveat emptor and it is left solely to buyer to make a decision as to the worth of the item.

A problem I see is that many of the responses seem to make a number of fallacious assumptions;

• That the seller has “perfect” knowledge and the buyer does not. It is consistent with human psychology that people tend to assign a higher value to things they possess than the open market does. “He is crazy saying those are rare, I know for a fact that Tom, Dick or Harry, found an entire rack of those last year.” You do, but he might not or he might just think it is worth more than you do.

• Those outside observers have exact knowledge of the sellers understanding. Often, we project our understanding to a situation and assume that all others must feel that way. “I don’t think it is worth that much, therefore, he is trying to gouge on the price.”

• That anyone who is willing to pay more than you for an item is a “rich fool”, and any one that is unwilling to pay your asking price is a cheap chiseler. The fact is, market price is only a very rough approximation of thousands of variables, when you try to apply such standards to an individual, they fail….miserably. There are chips I would pay many times the going price for to “complete the set” and there are rarities that I would not pay a fraction of their market value to obtain. Have you ever e-mailed a Seller on eBay and told him that, although you won the auction, the final price was much too low and you demand that he charge you more?

While, I agree that it is incumbent upon any club members to act within the code of conduct, we are in fact wading into a very murky end of the pool. Use of descriptors such as “rare”, “scarce” or “hard to find” are so common when dealing with collectibles because they are vague and non-precise by definition. The entire economy and business of selling are based on purporting that a product is of great value. Should the pendulum swing the other way and sellers be required to use terms like “common”, “undesirable” and “near valueless” to describe their offerings?

If a seller is unmistakably playing fast and loose with his listings, I would suggest that not only is not wrong to bring it to light, but you are in fact complicit in his scam by not warning others. A private email should suffice, and if that doesn't rectify the situation, a public outing to prevent others from falling victim is in order.

Although there is never an excuse for the outright cheating of an individual, we need to remain cognizant of the fact that ultimately the transaction comes down to the buyer and seller reaching a mutually agreeable price regardless of what onlookers think. Before spending what you consider a large sum of cash, do your due diligence, conduct research (This board is full of people that have tremendous knowledge) and only then proceed.

Now before you think me to be a seller of low character. I too have fallen victim to unscrupulous sellers. In fact, In 2008 (August 18th to be exact, I have the emails) I paid over $800 for a set of chips that I could easily replace for well under $100. (You can laugh at me, I am sure he did.) I did email the seller prior to purchase, and he did tell me, point blank, that they were the only ones he had or had ever seen. Imagine my surprise when he relisted the same set a day after my purchase. I will never forget his name or the feeling of victimization I felt, and swore never to be the source of that feeling for anyone else. When it comes to online purchasing, always look for sellers with good feedback and a solid return policy. If you are going to buy an expensive item from a seller who created the account last week, well, that’s called rolling the dice.

Be honest, be upfront, be fair.