Road Cycling - ebay bidding

I just lost an ebay bid that I was sure I was going to win. Someone bid up the auction and then apparently backed out. I get a second chance offer (just hours after the end of bid) and I can have it for my high bid. I check out the high bidder's history and find that this guy or gal has not bought anything on this account for over a year. What do you guys think?

Check out the bidders bidding history not just his buying history. Look to see if he has bid on this type of item before (good) and whether he has bid on this sellers items before (bad). Check into the sellers full history too. If you are not comfortable with the offer just let it go! How about a link to the auction?

i think you were bidding against the seller lol. you aren't obligated to buy, you didn't win - unless you really want the thing, or unless the price is still really good, thank him politely and walk away.

if i were you, though, i would check his other auctions and see how many of them have this mystery buyer on them bidding up the price. keep a record. if the correlation is high enough, report it to ebay. and post the buyer/seller here for us all :D

As a second chance winner, you are not the 'official' winner, therefore you may not be able to file any complaints against this seller, just in case... You will definitely not be able to post a feedback against this person as well. Be very careful...

As a second chance winner, you are not the 'official' winner, therefore you may not be able to file any complaints against this seller, just in case... You will definitely not be able to post a feedback against this person as well. Be very careful...

There is an official Ebay "Second Chance Offer" that the seller can offer the next highest bidder if the winning bidder drops out. It is sanctioned by Ebay and is treated as if you are the winner at your highest bid. Feedback can be left by both parties in this situation. If this is just the seller making the offer outside of Ebay then definatley stay away. There is no recourse through Ebay for items sold oustside of Ebay auctions. The seller could be reported for contacting you outside of the auction. Let us know which this is.

Bluechip that sounds a bit missleading when you get a second chance offer from seller through e-bay you are not obligated to purchase it, it just gives you the option to. If you feel you are getting a good deal fog go for it, another possibility is that the seller has 2 of those items to sell so uses second chance to sell the second one.

Sound's shady. Can you post the item number here and get our opinions on the thing?

Bluechip that sounds a bit missleading when you get a second chance offer from seller through e-bay you are not obligated to purchase it, it just gives you the option to. If you feel you are getting a good deal fog go for it, another possibility is that the seller has 2 of those items to sell so uses second chance to sell the second one.

Well, I knew what I meant! ;)
I was meaning it in a way that it refers to leaving feedback. Like I said in my first post if you are not comfortable just let it go and keep looking. Another deal will pop up soon.
Still would like to see the auction!

There is an official Ebay "Second Chance Offer" that the seller can offer the next highest bidder if the winning bidder drops out. It is sanctioned by Ebay and is treated as if you are the winner at your highest bid. Feedback can be left by both parties in this situation. If this is just the seller making the offer outside of Ebay then definatley stay away. There is no recourse through Ebay for items sold oustside of Ebay auctions. The seller could be reported for contacting you outside of the auction. Let us know which this is.Bluechip...thanks for that clarification. Although I buy & sell frequently on Ebay, I was not aware of that. I'll check that out for myself. Thanks..

George

ok, I did'nt want to name names...but I'm not a happy camper about this one.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3634352466&category=36134

as you can see, the item is not something that is all that common. I'm trying to put together a kid crank on the tandem for my daughter. It's a good price, but I could buy it retail for a few bucks more, but it's the idea that someone is scaming me that gets me. If cruzmonster didn't push my bid up, I would have gotten it for 24.01...the second chance offer is for my high bid of 34 which no one would have known if not for the shell.

ok, I did'nt want to name names...but I'm not a happy camper about this one.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3634352466&category=36134

as you can see, the item is not something that is all that common. I'm trying to put together a kid crank on the tandem for my daughter. It's a good price, but I could buy it retail for a few bucks more, but it's the idea that someone is scaming me that gets me. If cruzmonster didn't push my bid up, I would have gotten it for 24.01...the second chance offer is for my high bid of 34 which no one would have known if not for the shell.
Your second chance offer should have been for $24.01 You throw out the bid of the winner who backed out and that leaves you at 24.01 Your next bid would not have raised the winning amount if no one else raised it. It doesn't sound like an official second chance offer. The winning bidder looks normal but you never know for sure. He may have found out it didn't fit his bike. Or maybe the seller had more than one to sell.

If you check out the seller he has another one up for auction, after looking at the high bidders history etc.. looks like he is either just a deadbeat bidder or just rarely uses e-bay. And the seller has multiple of those cranks to sell. I would go for the latter to be honest, if you think $34 is to high bid on the one he has up right now you have nothing to lose.

If this guy is a deadbeat bidder, he should have some negitve feedback, it might be he rarely uses ebay, or he is a shell for the seller to drive up the price. It's not that I think 34 is too much to pay, it's that someone is pulling one over on me.

It looks like this guy has a bunch of these to sell, I don't like doing business with some who is not upfront and honest.

If this guy is a deadbeat bidder, he should have some negitve feedback, it might be he rarely uses ebay, or he is a shell for the seller to drive up the price. It's not that I think 34 is too much to pay, it's that someone is pulling one over on me.

It looks like this guy has a bunch of these to sell, I don't like doing business with some who is not upfront and honest.
It looks like the seller had more than one item to sell. That's a perfectly good reason to use the second chance offer. The original winner probably paid for item and now the seller is looking to sell the others. If he is doing it through ebay it is fine. If he is just emailing the underbidders and looking for a sale that in not the way it is supposed to happen. Ebay won't get its fees that way and you get no recourse if something goes wrong. I still think if it was through ebay the price should be $24.01 which is one increment above the next highest bidder besides yourself. So it sounds like he is doing it outside of ebay to avoid the fees.
Ebay's info on second chance offers
http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/personal_offer.html
Thanks for giving me something to do while at home with the flu!

I agree if he is using e-bays system to make second chance offer it is completely fair and upfront. You are not obligated to buy it at that point. Honestly the high bidder does not look like a fake account used by the sller unless he hardly EVER uses it. I say bid on the new one up right now you might get it for less.

As a frequent buyer and seller on eBay I would say this guy is legit. Over 300 sales with 100% positive feedback is very good. Especially if this is an "official" eBay second chance offer.

and don't forget, don't place a maximum bid amount greater than that which you are willing to pay for the item.