Originally Posted by Blue Order

I just bought something on a second chance offer, a week after the auction closed. My initial thought was that it was a bidding war scam. But when I considered the price, and that I had been willing to bid that price, I went ahead and completed the auction.

I think if eBay wasn't just a scam operation-- i.e., if they were interested in running a clean show-- all they would have to do to end this practice would be to make the second chance offer what your winning bid would have been if the other person hadn't bid you up, rather than what your highest bid was.

But as it is, ebay is what it is, and fraud thrives because of it. I look forward to the day that a competitor to eBay appears. Until then, sometimes they've got what I want...