Hmm, the "spoon" left it open to interpretation on my first read and I had that kick directed somewhere else. Somewhere much more ruthless.
It seems even if the Charlotte Charlatan doesn't come through with the cash on this sale, a second-chance offer is still an option for the seller to the second- or third-highest bidder who each had very high feedback. Would that be recorded by ebay and/or GPA? Also, without knowing the high-bidder's motivations, I wonder how much of it is just trying to block other people from getting a book they want versus just trying to drive the price up artificially.
that's one way of making sure the book is around when you finally have the money.