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Joined:
September 2003
Posts: 782
Location: Waurika OK | I was bidding on an item on eBay, but did not win the auction. It ended yesterday.
Today I received an email from the seller saying the winning bidder was not going to be able to pay, did I want the item at my last bid?
I know this sometimes happens, but it seems a little strange.
The seller has a good feedback rating and has had many auctions. But, the winning bidder did not start to bid until the very last.
I know that I am not going to pay him what my last bid was, but might offer what my bid was farther back.
All experience or opinions welcome.
Pegleg Dog Hopkins |
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December 2003
Posts: 13986
Location: Upper Left USA | There is risk!
Like you said, make an honest offer. I see what you mean about a jacked up bidding. You never know. |
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December 2003
Posts: 1071
Location: Carle Place, NY | What happened is what eBay calls a "second chance" notice. Once you are outbid, you have no obligation to the seller. Of course, the seller also has no obligation to you either. Remember once the auction is over you can make a deal outside of eBay, but you lose the "protections" that eBay offers. But you can use that as a bargaining tool and also the seller saves a bit because he won't have to pay eBay the final valuation fee. eBay's relisting fees are nominal so if there were many bids the seller may just want to relist and see what happens. I would negotiate with the seller and play up the no final valuation fee and your ability to finalize the deal quickly. |
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Joined:
April 2004
Posts: 13303
Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | If the 2nd chance offer is legit, it is through ebay and all the protections remain in place.
There has been a scam with fake 2nd chance offers however. The safest way to find out is go to the bid site and send the seller an official question.... Basically, is this a legit 2nd chance offer or is someone running a scam on me.
If he claims it is a legit 2nd chance offer, then the ebay system sends you a BUY IT NOW page that you can pay from, just like the official auction.
Stephen |
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August 2004
Posts: 604
Location: Tampa, FL | Does anyone ever consider the possibility that the seller might wish to establish what, if any, a person's maximum bid would be. If I were a gaming kind of person, I would watch to see if the winning bidder on my item has an apparent undisclosed "maximum bid" hanging out (you can tell by noting if a person's bids appear out of time sequence in the bidding list). In any case, I would be concerned that the seller might be trying to maximize his sale by perpetrating a last minute bidder that out bids you, but then defaults, then what do you pay? Your last bid amount on the auction would be your undisclosed maximum. I think you would have to back up to the point before the scam bidder entered the fray.
Anybody have any idea how fleabay protects against this kind of thing? |
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Posts: 1445
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada | Good advice, Stephen...I have been sent bogus 2nd chance offers as well...buyer beware!
Wayne |
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June 2002
Posts: 6197
Location: Phoenix AZ | Second chance offer does not revert to your maximum bid, only to $0.01 more than the next highest bid. It's as if the winning bidder had never existed. At least that's the way it is "supposed" to work according to eBay's on-line policy.
To play it safe, if you get a "SCO", just look at the bid history and offer the seller 1 cent more than the next persons maximum bid. |
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Joined:
September 2003
Posts: 782
Location: Waurika OK | Here's the way this played out.
The seller left a phone number and I called him.
Told him that I would not be interested in paying my last bid, but would pay my last bid before the "winner" started bidding. I really felt that his bids were not legit, so I would have gotten the item for my last bid before he started. Seller basically offered to split the difference, but I declined.
He said item would probably be relisted with a buy it now price.
I am not accusing and did not accuse the seller of any impropriety, I simply do not know. No hard feelings on my part.
Pegleg Dog Hopkins |
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Joined:
April 2004
Posts: 13303
Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | A bogus 2nd chance offer that was sent via email could easily contain a fake phone number. Especially if it did not have all the ebay disclaimer's and stuff attached to it.
Send the lister an email through the bid site and ask if he really made the 2nd chance offer. Then you will know for sure.
My experience with the SCO is the same as StandingO's. The bid reverts to your last high legitmate bid....as if the other bidder never existed.
Stephen |
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Joined:
May 2004
Posts: 2850
Location: Midland, MI | Originally posted by ChatMan:
Anybody have any idea how fleabay protects against this kind of thing?
Essentially, they don't. I would say 'caveat emptor,' but that's getting way over used. The only way they 'protect' against the 2nd Chance Offer scam is by telling you not to accept on unless it comes through official eBay channels...so check those hyperlinks in the email carefully to see where they really go.
I wonder how long eBay's stock can hold up, as more people get scamme and more stories hit print about the various scams on eBay. |
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June 2002
Posts: 6197
Location: Phoenix AZ | A legitimate SCO has all the same protections as if you won the auction outright. Some sellers will try to contact you directly to make a "deal". I stay away from these. If they are not willing to deal through ebay, pay the fees and play by the rules there is reason for concern. |
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January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | I recently had one of these second chance offers and it turned out to be bogus. The real seller was a real store and I called them (number from directory assistance) and they said there was nothing wrong with the winning bidder paying. I would really want to check out the second chance before taking it. |
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August 2003
Posts: 4619
Location: SoCal | Course, sometimes it turns a perpetrator like Hector into the victim...most, if not all of the bidders on the Adamas slothead got 2nd chance offers to buy at less than the price Hector refused to sell (to Serge.)
Greed over common sense...several of the false 2nd offers came from AOL addresses...AOL refused to shut the account down. eBay gives a "rat's arse." |
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December 2001
Posts: 7218
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | As a general rule... stay within the eBay system, and you are fairly safe.
I usually don't get into these discussions, but something you noted bothered me...
"Told him that I would not be interested in paying my last bid, but would pay my last bid before the "winner" started bidding."
Now why wouldn't you be interested in paying YOUR LAST BID. If you put in a bid higher than you could afford, it doesn't really matter if someone outbid you legit or not. Someone could have just as easily bid up to a few bucks lower than your last.... and you would have been the winner. Would you have defaulted because you were "hoping" someone didn't outbid you?
I'm just curious. |
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June 2002
Posts: 6197
Location: Phoenix AZ | Miles, think of it this way. When you win an auction, your winning bid is the amount necessary to outbid the next highest guy, not necessarily your maximum. If you get a SCO, it's like the first winning bidder never existed.
Example - Bidder #1 bids $100. with no maximum. Bidder #2 (ME) then bids a maximum of $500. I am then the current high bidder at $101. Bidder #3 comes in and bids a maximum of $1000. The auction ends and #3 is the winner at $501. But #3 backs out of the deal and the seller offers me a SCO. The question is, should I have to pay $101. or $500. ??? The answer is (supposed to be) $101. because that is all it takes to outbid the next highest bidder. |
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Posts: 782
Location: Waurika OK | That was my understanding of the situation.
But, to answer Miles question;
First, my last bid was not more than I could afford, I would not have bid it if it was.
Second, I would not have backed out. Had my final bid have been the winning bid, I would have gladly paid.
noel |
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December 2001
Posts: 7218
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | "The question is, should I have to pay $101. or $500. ??? The answer is (supposed to be) $101. because that is all it takes to outbid the next highest bidder."
Oh... I understand... totally disagree, but understand. It was worth $500 to you when you weren't outbid, but because you were outbid it's only worth $101.
I'm not judging... each to his own. The next highest bidder will just get the guitar for whatever he was willing to pay, and you get to stand on your principles. Not sure there is anything wrong with it... I just don't get it, sorry. |
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June 2002
Posts: 6197
Location: Phoenix AZ | Miles, I'm not saying I like the way it is either, but that's just the way it is set up. Basically the SCO is for 1 cent higher than the 3rd place bidders maximum. I think that's why most sellers (myself included), just relist their items instead of dealing with a "tainted" SCO auction. |
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Posts: 46
Location: South Portland, ME | Isn't anyone going to ask him what the item was??? |
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September 2003
Posts: 782
Location: Waurika OK | dstan,
Kind of sorry now that I started this thread, but here goes.
The item was a guitar.
Here is how the final bidding went:
New bidder and winner $633
me 623
me 603
me 583
*other bidder 563
me 560
me 550
*other bidder 542
(I had started at 500)
(*other bidder is the same person)
winners name only shows once, as the winner
Since email offering me the second chance came so quickly after the end of the auction and the winning bidder jumped in at the very end (I know this can happen and is perfectly legit), but it was so soon after the auction a red flag went up.
Not accusing the seller of anything. He said he was actually selling the item for another person and this was stated in the auction.
His email offered it to me at 623. I called him and told him I felt that since the winner backed out, I should get it at 583, he countered with 600. I declined. End of conversation, no harsh words or anything like that.
All through, all done, no more comments from me on this subject.
Pegleg Dog Hopkins |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7218
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Hey PDH...
Well although I don't exactly agree with your logic... at the same time.. he was given an offer by you that was 20 over the next highest offer and at least 83 over the minimum or reserve. The fact that only 3 people bid, supposedly only two "real" bidders, you'd think he would have just either sold it to you for what you offered, or he would have had a better reserve on it.
I also don't think it's a bad a idea to post this as you didn't use any names, and it gives people that may not be familiar with how eBay works an idea of how it does work. Education is usually not a bad thing around here.
I am sorry you didn't get the guitar tho... |
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something smells??