eBay "second chance offer question" 1 1

[NoMan]

Got out bid on item. My max bid was 150$. Bidding went to 152$ so I lost. Got an email on my personal email saying I have "second chance offer" to buy item at $150 cause "high bidder backed out." Over my budget so I don't respond, delete email and move on with my life.

Get to thinking about this. I never got the "second chance offer" message on "my messages" on eBay only on my personal email, so this was a scam, right?

Question: Was this a scam perpetrated by the seller?

I think the email to my personal email came from SecondChanceOffer@ebay.com

 

Edited December 20, 2023 by NoMan

[kenaran]

I've got one or two of these, but that was 20 or more years ago, certainly not recent.  It could be a scam.  You can always check your my ebay page to see if there is anything more official there.  Payment method would be another scam indicator.

My current peeve with ebay is related to receiving offers on things I looked at (possibly twice), but didn't put in my watchlist.

[wardevil0]

Second chance offers are still a thing on eBay, but I consider them a scam either way.  Imagine the item you were bidding on was about $105 when you put in your max bid of $150.  Then a shill bidder pushes it up to just above your max bid, then backs out of the sale.  The second chance offer is at your max bid, when you could have gotten the item for $106 without the shill bidder interference.  It seems like a scheme to get the bid price up, to me.

[CAHokie]

I am even more suspicious when the second chance offer is like 2 minutes later. Like sureeee they backed out that fast.

[Mutant Manatee]

As a seller, this is why I never send out second chance offers.  It makes you look guilty of something even if you're not.  I just relist the item if the winning bidder backs out.

As far as this potential scam from the OP, how would a scammer know who to send this email to since bidder IDs are hidden?

[Cat]

On 12/20/2023 at 11:39 PM, CAHokie said:

I am even more suspicious when the second chance offer is like 2 minutes later. Like sureeee they backed out that fast.

I've received those a couple of times. Instantly turned them down for that reason. Except once, when the seller explained he had a second, and sent me  photos of what was clearly a different item, in slightly better condition than the one I'd just bid on. I happily took that one. 

[NoMan]

On 12/20/2023 at 5:49 AM, Mutant Manatee said:

As a seller, this is why I nbutever send out second chance offers.  It makes you look guilty of something even if you're not.  I just relist the item if the winning bidder backs out.

As far as this potential scam from the OP, how would a scammer know who to send this email to since bidder IDs are hidden?

but why would the offer not come up thru the "messages" section of my eBay page?

[dbcn]

@NoMan I think ebay may be having issues with the Account pages. My account was recently converted over to the new Messages format (they look like chat messages instead of an email inbox) and since then not a single one of my Offers has been visible on the My Bids & Offers page.

The item page has a big blue banner saying that I put an offer in on the item, but nothing on the account page. I'm also not convinced that the offers are actually making it through to the sellers, as a bunch of my recent offers have simply expired rather than be countered or declined. 

[shadroch]

On 12/20/2023 at 6:39 AM, CAHokie said:

I am even more suspicious when the second chance offer is like 2 minutes later. Like sureeee they backed out that fast.

Couldn't the person have multiples of the item and the second-place bid was high enough he is willing to sell at that price?

[CAHokie]

On 12/20/2023 at 9:12 AM, shadroch said:

Couldn't the person have multiples of the item and the second-place bid was high enough he is willing to sell at that price?

Sure, but when they also say the buyer backed out, I find that hard to believe. 

[NoMan]

On 12/20/2023 at 6:12 AM, shadroch said:

Couldn't the person have multiples of the item and the second-place bid was high enough he is willing to sell at that price?

it could be this

[NoMan]

who knows, who cares. thanks everyone

[Iconic1s]

On 12/20/2023 at 7:13 AM, wardevil0 said:

Second chance offers are still a thing on eBay, but I consider them a scam either way.  Imagine the item you were bidding on was about $105 when you put in your max bid of $150.  Then a shill bidder pushes it up to just above your max bid, then backs out of the sale.  The second chance offer is at your max bid, when you could have gotten the item for $106 without the shill bidder interference.  It seems like a scheme to get the bid price up, to me.

I've gotten a few of these but have always turned them down for this exact same reason.  Even if I was willing to pay the higher price in a fair auction, it always felt like I was now being taken advantage of a little bit with the way the second chance worked.

[Dr. Balls]

On 12/20/2023 at 6:49 AM, Mutant Manatee said:

As a seller, this is why I never send out second chance offers.  It makes you look guilty of something even if you're not.  I just relist the item if the winning bidder backs out.

As far as this potential scam from the OP, how would a scammer know who to send this email to since bidder IDs are hidden?

I used to send them out when I was selling records - because people backing out was something that happened around 20-30% of the time, especially with foreign buyers. But with comics, I stopped doing it for the reason above - when it happens (not that frequently, at least) I just relist and hope for the same amount of action.

[valiantman]

If the item is purchased through Ebay, the buyer is protected from scams.

There's no way a scammer (who wasn't the seller) would know you're the buyer.

It could be a shill because the seller wanted you to pay your max price, but it's not from someone who is uninvolved in the auction.

Edited December 20, 2023 by valiantman

[Stefan_W]

As others have pointed out, it could be shady since it is possible the item was bid up by a shill in order to push you to your max amount. On the other hand it may have been completely legit. There is no way to know either way. 

I am inherently distrustful with stuff like this so I always decline second chance offers until I am able to get the book at a steal of a price that I cant say no to. 

[Kramerica]

On 12/20/2023 at 6:13 AM, CAHokie said:

Sure, but when they also say the buyer backed out, I find that hard to believe. 

You'd be surprised at how often this happens. It's maddening. I stopped sending out Second Chance Offers a while ago because people think it's a scam. But there are a lot of reasons behind these cancellations.

Many will bid on several of the same item and only buy the cheapest and eBay actually provides "Found Item at Better Price" as an option in the "Buyer Wishes to Cancel an Item" request.

Many others back out when they find out how much it costs to ship a bust or Hot Toy internationally.

Many bid up an item because they own the same item and want to set a high market for it. They will win the item and then immediately list theirs for that price or under in the hopes lower bidders grab it. They won't pay for days and days and THEN fill out the cancel request.

Then you have people who were just drunk, stupid or their car needs to be fixed or the dog ate their homework. 80% are 0, 1 or 2 feedback bidders.

When you list a large volume of products on eBay it is bound to happen. You just have to accept it and relist.

[ADAMANTIUM]

On 12/20/2023 at 12:33 PM, Kramerica said:

You'd be surprised at how often this happens. It's maddening. I stopped sending out Second Chance Offers a while ago because people think it's a scam. But there are a lot of reasons behind these cancellations.

Many will bid on several of the same item and only buy the cheapest and eBay actually provides "Found Item at Better Price" as an option in the "Buyer Wishes to Cancel an Item" request.

Many others back out when they find out how much it costs to ship a bust or Hot Toy internationally.

Many bid up an item because they own the same item and want to set a high market for it. They will win the item and then immediately list theirs for that price or under in the hopes lower bidders grab it. They won't pay for days and days and THEN fill out the cancel request.

Then you have people who were just drunk, stupid or their car needs to be fixed or the dog ate their homework. 80% are 0, 1 or 2 feedback bidders.

When you list a large volume of products on eBay it is bound to happen. You just have to accept it and relist.

[Chip Cataldo]

On 12/20/2023 at 1:33 PM, Kramerica said:

When you list a large volume of products on eBay it is bound to happen. You just have to accept it and relist.

This is the most factual sentence in the thread. EVERYTHING is bound to happen at least a few times when you sell thousands of items a year. 

It's the Law of Averages. There's no avoiding it.

I actually swapped items on two orders recently. First time in years, even though I have a system when I ship things to avoid such a mistake. Everything eventually happens.

[habsfan1]

On 12/20/2023 at 9:12 AM, shadroch said:

Couldn't the person have multiples of the item and the second-place bid was high enough he is willing to sell at that price?

As a longtime seller back in the early days of ebay, I often put these out as I had multiple items of the same thing.  These were items like lots of new pieces of Hot Wheels track, packs of cards, boxes of Kraft dinner with hockey cards on them (yes, I sold a box of macaroni and cheese for $30 once) etc so they were all the same.  That being said, it would seem tougher to do with comics unless they were all in 9.4+ condition.