Jim, you make an excellent point. In fact, I've conducted some auctions on Prodigy in which I established a rule that there could be no minimum bids specified. The consignments consisted of extremely common material, most of which didn't sell because everyone already had it.

I think there are several reasons for what sometimes seem to be high minimums. First, most of the consignors in this auction are not dealers. That means that they've paid close-to-retail prices for their material, and need to protect their investments in the chips rather than taking the chance of someone's getting a lot for a very low bid. Second, most consignors want to get what their lots are "worth," knowing that to buy things they need for their collections, they're going to be paying retail prices in most cases. Selling at wholesale and buying at retail doesn't make much sense to many people.

Finally, the inflation of prices realized and dealer prices for Nevada material especially has pervaded the entire hobby. Chips are simply worth more than they used to be.

Your comparison with eBay is a bit difficult to make, especially when you're talking about casino collectibles other than chips. The main difference between this type of auction and eBay is that eBay attracts many bidders who are not members of the organized chip collecting hobby, and who may be bidding for reasons which chip collectors don't have.

For example, there's been much talk here about "ridiculously high" prices realized for James Bond movie chips on eBay. While those of us who are chip collectors know that those chips can be purchased for less than $1 each at a Paul-Son retail store these days, non-chip collectors don't know that. And if a James Bond fan wants a set because of their association with Ian Fleming, or a general movie memorabilia collector wants them for a collection, the value of those chips may be substantially higher than a chip collector would be willing to pay. In short, the audience is different.

I still think your point is well made, though, and I'm hoping that perhaps we get some more lots for the November auction that don't have minimums at all!

-=Michael the Chipper=-