For me, it is absolutely worth it to buy tradebait. As someone who rarely busts boxes, I wouldn't have anything to trade for Chippers otherwise. The shows in my area don't really have much in the Chipper department and the cost of shipping on eBay for 1 card can be ridiculous.
I usually hunt for the bargain bins at the show and stock up on a great stack of tradebait for the fraction of a cost of buying a box. I tend to mostly pick up numbered cards and the occasional insert card because I know that someone on this board can use it and it will eventually get traded. I just recently picked up a huge stack of tradebait that probably would have taken me busting almost 3/4 of a case of product to get that amount of #ed/insert cards. I picked up the lot for 1/3 the price of one box. Definitely worth it to me.
Since I started picking up tradebait, my collection has expanded so much beyond what it would have been if I solely picked up single cards. Chipper's stuff tends to sell really well and many cards end at a price above and beyond what I can afford. I can make a $20 dollar stack of tradebait go a ridiculously long way in terms of adding Chippers to my collection.