Rich, You wrote....

""""""I have never undermined or tampered with an auction. I have never cherry-pick a second bidder. I only made the observation that an unsuspecting, chip-ignorant bidder paid at least triple the going price for an "almost" live chip. Who are you referring to? Not this board's chip police, I assume. Let's name names. These scoundrals obviously don't deserve your protection.""""""""""""

Rich,

You are trying too hard to read between the lines of my posts.

YOUR name didn't appear in any of my posts on this thread, NOR did the Chip Police. I think "Chief Travis" and his deputies do an outstanding job in ferreting out the BAD GUYS on eBay. The BAD GUYS are NOT the sellers who receive a bid on an accurately described item that YOU (or anyone else) deem to be excessive. My posts had NOTHING to do with the Chip Police.

Don't try to put words in MY MOUTH or "ASSUME" that I did or didn't "MEAN" something. It won't work. I don't stutter!! Some might fall for it but the INTELLIGENT, THINKING members on this board will see right through your attempt. I'm perfectly capable of expressing myself clearly and don't require ANYONE to explain, interpret, or second guess my postings.

My message was about the folks (EITHER on this Board OR ANY of the 2.5 MILLION registered eBay folks who tamper with auctions) For example, the ones who contact bidders on an auction NOT THEIR OWN and parasitically (is this a real word?! <<gg>>) take those bidder names and contact them to sell them the same thing I was offering in my auction.

I coined the term "Armchair Auctioneers" to describe those people who don't do any scans or writing OR spend the time and money to create their own auction ad. They just sit back in their symbolic armchairs and let others do the work. Then they leech onto the email addresses of bidders and try to undersell the person who did all the work.

You told me to name names. I wouldn't if I DID know who they are. I don't personally care if they do it. I don't even know for sure that it has ever been done to ME. I DO know that it is a common practice based on things I read on this board and in print.

When I list a chip or any other item on ebay that is commonly available to others in quantity... I WILL make it a "private" auction to prevent my bidders from being contacted by others who want to take advantage of the time and money I put into my eBay ads.

There will be plenty of sellers who won't make their auctions "private" and so there still will be plenty for the Armchairs guys to do.. <<gg>>

Best,

Steve Snowden