Ebay Second Chance offer

[shaunsteig]

Looking for a little help here to see what experience others may have had when receiving a Second Chance offer from EBay. I was the underbidder on a fairly expensive card, then received an e-mail from EBay stating that the high bidder retracted and that the seller is offering me to purchase it at my max bid price. I'm keeping the auction ID anonymous, in case the seller or high bidders are Net54 members and cause I don't particularly want to advertise the card's cost that I'm spending.

Obviously, my chief concern is whether this was a shill bid. The high bidder has a feedback of 80, 100% positive, no prior bid rectractions (past 6 months), and his/her bid activity with the seller is 14%. The seller is someone whom I've purchased from in the past, which was a smooth transaction, and has a 100% positive feedback covering >500 evals. Those data points seem to me that this probably wasn't a shill bid, but there are more expert EBay-ers out there on this board. Another option is that the high bidder simply changed his/her mind, but that also gives me pause.

I do think it's a fair price for the card -- no great bargain but obviously it was a price that I was willing to pay going into the auction close. I guess I'm just wigged out a little by the high bidder retracting and this going through the Second Chance method of purchasing. Would love to hear others' thoughts.

Thanks for the help,
--S

[Jay Wolt]

Why not make a lesser $ counter offer?
After all, if you erase all of the bids of the winner, you possibly could have won it over the 3rd bidders price.

[Jaybird]

Agree with Jay. I've done something similar and offered a bid increment over the person under me.

But, also depends on how much you want the card. If it was something I really wanted I'd probably offer less but would be willing to pay the higher price if the seller balked.

[freakhappy]

You could go the route that Jay stated.

I have had a few second chance offers before in my 10+ years on eBay. They seem somewhat rare, but they do occur. Looks like you did some homework on it and feel ok with the outcome. What it may boil down to is if you do in fact feel good about this not being a shill bid and if you want the card after all. I'd say if all of the above checks out, then go through with it.

One time I received a second chance offer from a seller. He stated that he had multiples of the card in the same condition and was using the auction to see what the card was going to sell for and offer the runner-up the multiple. I was ok with it and accepted his offer.

Best of luck with whatever you decide to do.

[sdkammeyer]

Hi Shaun,
How long after the auction closing did you receive the 2nd chance offer?
Also, is this a more-or-less "one of a kind card" or is there a possibility the seller has a second one?

[stewbacca]

Why does it have to be your highest bid? Why cant it be one penny or $1 higher than the next highest bidder? This happend to me years ago on ebay and they wanted my highest bid, whereas I wanted one step higher than the next bidder. Anyways, I walked away. If you want the item at that price, go for it. If you feel leary, then step away from the situation. Good luck.

[freakhappy]

Why does it have to be your highest bid? Why cant it be one penny or $1 higher than the next highest bidder? This happend to me years ago on ebay and they wanted my highest bid, whereas I wanted one step higher than the next bidder. Anyways, I walked away. If you want the item at that price, go for it. If you feel leary, then step away from the situation. Good luck.

They want your highest bid because if you took the winner's bid away, you would have been the highest bidder...with your highest bid...due to the bid increments. At least that seems to be their logic.

[ctownboy]

freakhappy,

That might be their logic but, if it were me, I would only offer what my highest bid above the next highest bidder was. Think about it, if the "winner" had never bid then the OP would have won the auction for a lesser price. A price which is one bid over the next highest bidder.

Of course, my thinking would change if this was a really rare card or a card I needed to finish something (set, subset, back set, etc) and I had been looking for it for a long time.

David

[teetwoohsix]

Everyone above gave the best advice already, I just wanted to say that the one time I was offered a second chance from an ebay seller it worked out very well for me. I didn't try to go any lower (only because I didn't think to) but got the card for a price I was very happy with.

I had a little concern as I hadn't bought from this seller before, but it was a very smooth transaction & he seemed very appreciative that I was still willing to buy the card. The original winner backed out after winning the card, if I remember correctly.

Good luck, I hope you get a good deal :D

Sincerely, Clayton

[shaunsteig]

Thanks so much for all your thoughts. The bid below mine wasn't much below me, so there's really no "mark-up" there for me to counteroffer below my max bid (the auction started with a high reserve). I have till this afternoon and will continue to give it thought.

[bigred1]

Not sure why you need to question this. Being offered at what you bid. As long as it comes with the guarantees of other ebay transctions, buy the card. You said yourself it is what you were willing to pay.

[frankbmd]

I recently got an offer to buy in an auction I lost by a lot. There was an existing bid for $xxx. Bidder #1 bids much higher than I am willing to pay with 2 minutes to go ($xxx * 2). This bid was recorded as ($xxx + increment) I, as bidder #2, bid exactly what I was willing to pay, which was essentially $xxx + increment + few bucks, with 1 minute to go. With 6 seconds to go, Bidder #3, entered the fray with a programmed bid (I presume) of ($xxx * 2 + increment) and seemingly won.

Bidder #1 and Bidder #3 then both refuse as they essentially both placed high snipes (my theory) and essentially out sniped each other.

Several days later I was offered the card and accepted the card for my original bid.

Then a second card was offered from the same seller with essentially the same scenario. I offered to buy that one for less than my bid and was turned down. He then relisted and the second card and it ultimately sold for significantly less than my second offer.:)

I never suspected shill bidding in this case, only a double snipe with bids higher than either sniper was willing to pay.

Moral of the story: A high snipe can guarantee victory in an auction, but just make sure you are either alone or have deep pockets. ;)

[edhans]

I had a similar experience a few months ago. Received a second chance offer about four hours after the auction ended. Seller offered me the lot at my max bid. I checked the bid history and found two underbids by the eventual high bidder. I offered the seller one increment over the highest real bid, about $80 under my max. He replied that he wasn't "giving them away" and that he "didn't do flea markets". Even though I would've been happy to win the lot at my max bid, I had to draw the line at such an obvious shill.

[conor912]

I always assume it was shilled when I get a SCO. It is particularly blatently obvious when you get ther offer 5 minutes after the auction ends which does happen. If its something I have been looking for for a long time and never see, then I will consider lying down and buying it. If its something I know will come along again at some point, then I pass.