I've had several instances where I've received a second chance offer immediately after the auction - almost assuredly the top bidder was a shill. You just have to never bid too high. In fact, I just like always bidding too low. Still buy stuff. Lose and go on to the next one. My pet peeve is with sellers pulling the listing when the bids haven't reached the level they want, eg. "error in the listing" or "item is no longer available for sale". Horse****. Still missing a few choice components cheap for my Gitane because of this practice.