This is more in line with what I was thinking as I read this part of this thread. I like the idea of the dedicated sellers who have an interest in promoting honesty in chip selling to get some of these chips and post them with an alert that the other auctions are a fraud. I wouldn't necessarilly mention this seller personally but something to the effect of warning people that

Some people are selling these chips on the representation that they are antique or were used in a casino at one time or that they were in some way associated with Capone.

These chips are what are called fantasy chips and are created by sellers with ficticious names etc. They are intended for amusement purposes or for home use in sets and are sold for .89 cents each at a Las Vegas Gambling Supply and Gift Store. They were never used in a real casino environment, are newly produced to this day and have never been associated with any casino legal, illegal or associated with anyone such as Capone.... and so on.

Then as was mentioned leave it to the buyers to make the specific connection to this seller. Keep the information factual so that eBay can't have any gripe against anyone. Then whenever this guy posts an auction for his chips about a dozen other sellers can pounce on the listings with their chips saying something like,

If you are interested in these chips they are not rare in any way and we can provide you with as many as you want. Then offer them for a fair price with shipping/handling/ebay fees.... Say $2 or $3 for the first chip and $1.50 for each additional... I am not sure how you would actually list it in accordance with eBay rules but there should be some way. Everyone could just keep a few stacks of the verious fantasy chips that are the subject of some of these frauds and do the same with any of them that come up.

One thing that gets me is the number of people who are taking ordinary chips and putting RARE at the beginning of their discriptions. I saw one the other day, can't remember exactly what it was but the guy was selling for something like a hundred dollars. Can't remember if he had any bids.

What really concerns me about this situation is that there is a $17 bid going on this with 12 bids. I hope that is simply a couple clueless people in a bidding war and not 12 seperate clueless buyers.

Lastly, this may be a stupid question but has anyone notified eBay about this situation and the feeling that this seller has started to block the identities of bidders in order to prevent knowlegable and helpful people from tipping off the buyers? To me that is an even bigger indication of a deliberate intent to defraud that the seller, being made aware of the truth, then goes ahead with perpetuating his fraud and then shields his marks from being told the truth. It certainly will make me look at private auctions a different way now. I will have to think, is this because someone is protecting my identity for some reason? Or, is it because they don't want me tipped of that I am being scammed?