"Am ordering from you on advice of a friend. I bought chips from eBay but their quality is absolute rubbish"
Alex Dowd

WARNING 1: Not all poker chips are equal

Gamble.co.uk is run by poker players and casino fans, for poker players and casino fans.

If you are familiar with the differences between poker chips ( if not, please see this page), here are a few of the tricks that other websites and high-street traders use to trap the unwary...

1) Badly made. Sets that look much cheaper are probably made from re-cycled plastic and made without precision machinery. Expect the chips to crack, or for the metal insert to show through on the body of the chip. Also expect the case hinges and clasps to fail.

2) Check the weight. One company is advertising "100 Pro Vegas Style Chips £9.90" on Google. Go to their site and you'll see the description "Casino quality Poker chips ". This looks like a good deal. But when you get their chips, they will weigh either 4gm or 8gm. This is neither 'pro' nor 'casino' weights which should be a minimum of 11.5gm. Anything below this weight does not feel good.

3) Here today, gone tomorrow. Gamble.co.uk have been established many years and have real people and real buildings. See about us. We have not just jumped on the band-wagon. In the unlikely event that anything goes wrong, we'll still be here next week, next month and next year to sort it out.

WARNING 2: A bargain price, may not be much of a bargain

As a rule of thumb, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

Apart from the dodgy descriptions you'll see above, beware the price may not be everything it seems. Sets advertised on eBay are often shipped from China - you have to pay the shipping cost which adds considerably to the price. What is more, when they arrive in this country you will have to pay VAT on top of the price you have paid, so add another 17.5% to what you've paid. Usually the courier company will pay the VAT on arrival and demand the payment from you before they will deliver. You can't reject the shipment because you'll lose your payment to the eBay'er and end up with legal action from the courier.

The same applies to shipments from the USA. You will have steep shipping costs to pay, plus 17.5% VAT and a big chunk of duty, currently running at 12% or 14%. So add 31% plus shipping to the cost being advertised.

All the time, please bear in mind Gamble.co.uk offer a seven-day no quibble money-back guarantee.