Totally depends on what you're selling IMO. If you have a set of
CPC Rounders chips or some Grand Vic primaries to sell, then ya, it's pretty easy to list them at a fixed price and find a happy buyer to sell them to. But what if you have a full set of Mapes with racks of the $1s and a couple barrels of the $100s, or a set of Lakeshore Inn (no, they're not for sale)? Those chips are far more rare and valuable. I would say the greater "sin" would be to list them at a dibs listing instead of auctioning them off to give everyone a chance at them. I hate the dibs listing norms around here far more than I do any auctions. With auctions, at least I have a chance at the chips I want.
Prime example... I sold someone about 200 Lakeshore Inn $1s & $20s about 2 years ago via PM because I thought I'd never find more. Fast forward to the present, and I scored a great set of them and am now 50 $1s shy of completing my set. Potsie also has a set and needs 150 more $1s to complete his set. We've both been trying to track down these Lakeshore $1s for a while now. A few months back, the person I originally sold the ~160 $1s to decided to sell 2 racks of the Lakeshore $1s after selling me back one of the racks I sold him. So he puts them up for a dibs sale. Those two racks could have completed both my set and Potsie's set making 3 completed and playable Lakeshore Inn sets in the community. But instead, the guy listed them as a dibs sale and they went to some random chipper who is unknowingly now blocking both of us from completing our sets.
I know we all have differing views about the chip market, but in my opinion, the greatest sin I see around here is set blocking, not flipping. Auctions are an important tool in free markets. Getting rid of auctions here will have detrimental consequences to the community. The best sets will begin to migrate out as sellers would simply just turn to
eBay with their grail sets.
Also, auctions are a great way to sell those random unique sets that some really have a well defined market. Like ASM Ewing mold hot stamps, or all the cool random sets that navels, kmccormick100, and megaton come across from outside the community.
If we're taking about a rack of Jacks $100s though, then sure, I agree. Just list the damn chips at a set price. But if you are selling your ACF Paulsons, for the love of God, auction them off please!