i hear this story so many times. be aware that this is a scam!!! it is not difficult to have two ebay accounts or a friend with an ebay account.

no.

NOS Mavic SSCs or almost any Mavic ceramic will fetch over $75 each, some high end Ambrosios maybe. Tubular rims in general are very unwanted at present along with anything in a 36h drilling.

Bottom line on all of this is not whether you got duped or shilled or whatever. If the item is at a price you are willing to pay and the seller is legit, then buy it. If it's more than you want to pay, then don't buy it. Seems pretty simple.

Problem is, everyone wants to get items for less than they are probably worth, or less than they are even willing to pay, just so they feel like they got the better end of a deal. But, if you really got the better end of a deal, the seller maybe got rooked and sold for less than it's worth. I prefer sales where nobody loses and people get what they want/need/deserve. There's no substitute for doing your homework on the market value of an item. Then you know when it's a fair price and there's no weirdness to deal with or worry about as long as the seller delivers as described.

Doc, they guy has over 3000 positves and no negatives. If he was a scammer, someone would have given him a negative by now. IMO, it is legit.

Tim

This could go either way.

I've seen this scam in violin auctions...shill bidding by players who have also contributed positive feedback. Sometime the feedback given by friends and family members.

But 3,000 positive reviews? That's a lot of work just to unload one set of rims. This one could be legit as others have said.

It's these dilemmas that made me quit shopping e-bay a couple of years ago. I just don't know who to trust.

For what it's worth, I always pass on second chances only because I didn't want the item that bad. If I really want the item, I'd go for it provided I'm paying through paypal and it's going to the original seller's account through ebay.
In your case the comment about a possible second set and a seller with 3000 positive comments, has some validity. The guy might have come across an old LBS unloading old stock.

have you looked at ebay prices for SSC's lately? 200 for NOS for the later rims?
tubulars and 36 hole unwanted? tell you what gather up all your unwanted 36 hole tubular rims
and I'll buy em for $25 per rim/wheel since no one wants em anymore. . .

Marty

UPDATE: I sent my "counter offer" and it was politely declined.

So I submitted another offer. I'm waiting to see the reply to that.

The seller DOES seem legit, I'm just trying to get a "bike fix" for as little as possible.

I guess that's the reason my wife calls me a bike "junkie"! (slapping my forearm sound)

If the counteroffer is accepted, use ebay, the seller CAN do a private auction where YOU are the only allowable bidder.

Nevertheless, I would in the future only snipe, ebay has evolved to this, I had a potential deal where the seller had a (as I just recently learned) family member bid the item up, Just by chance I walked into the associated bike shop and overheard the "scam" they were laughing, I was not. I did not pay for the item, one bad mark is where it ended, but better than a financial error. That was one of the only times where I broke my rule and did not snipe. There are a number of sniping programs, esnipe is cheap, it works.

Regarding the rims, the pre Wolber Super Champion 27" rims have for some time been scarse. $200? Well, I did pay over $300. for a pair of tubular rims once, NOS and do not regret it.

Beyond that, often a "second" duplicate item is waiting in the wings, remember it takes two to make a bidding war, and if legit, one of the two has the goods. Many times a duplicate item auctioned later does not fetch the Mt. Everest price. Then again, sometimes it does, the fluke of ebay the best prices at "that moment in time".

as a matter of fact yes, every day.

sure, maybe we can work something out. It takes someone about 1 minute to look at every set of rims that listed in the last month on e-bay. 45 items came up for 36h rims, one pair of NOS arc-en-ciels sold for $91 and change and then at the top of the list was the OP's auction. Nothing else in a 36h tubular rim sold for over $60 a pair. You would have to pay substantially more than $60 to buy 1 new Mavic reflex or equivalent quality tubular rim new. As a seller I would describe this as "no one wants them". All the tubular rims I've sold in the last two years I had to relist at least once, I pretty much won't deal with them anymore.

Tell him to relist the item and maybe you will bid.

+1

UPDATE: Brokered a deal with the seller. Like repechage mentioned, it's through eBay, so I think I'm covered. As was pointed out, the seller has 3,000 +'s, so I think all is good.

THANKS AGAIN FOR ALL YOUR REPLIES!

I also won the hubs I wanted, so I guess I'll have to post pice of the wheels I build.

Now, to find the right color nipples!

Man, this sort of thing makes me feel sooooo uncomfortable... Unless I couldn't live without that particular item, I'd make the guy relist it and bid on it again.

I think at the very least you should be aloud to contact the highest bidder and find out why they couldn't or wouldn't pay for the item. Although who knows if that person would be honest with you.

Bulloney. If you didn't want to spend $150, you shouldn't have bid that high.

Also, the "other guy" only made 2 bids while you made considerably more. You have to decide ahead of time what you're willing to spend and then stick to your guns. If you go above that price, it's your fault, not the "other guy's".

I ran into this and reported it to E Bay . Heard nothing afterward .
My second chance offer came within 5 sec. of the closing.

I understand the rational behind being cautious, but let's not get paranoid or overly negative. There are actually some legit sellers out there, they are just trying to make a sale and NOT trying to rip you off.

Let's look at this. First a link:

https://pages.ebay.com/help/confidenc...nce-legit.html

Second, second chance offers can be set up AUTOMATICALLY by the seller, thus receiving an email shortly after the closing bid is not odd.

Third, look at the feedback (of that specific seller or any), especially if the person has listed the same item before (with the same picture) and received a positive.

Fourth, Shill bidding typically does not take place between members with a high feedback score.

Fifth, look at the going price. Frenzy bidding is always a reality. I think we have all experienced this. NOS set of French rims can go for $$, especially if they are listed right.

Sorry to come off harsh, but I have a hard time when people automatically assume that everyone is up to no good.

My thoughts, after reading everything : I hope you apologized to the ebay seller {with over 3,000 positive feedback} for posting this on a public forum questioning his honesty!

I find that "Your" the one who bid the wheels up higher & when you got a legit through ebay 2nd. chance offer, you didn't want to pay what you bid, but you still wanted the wheels, you just wanted to pay less then you had bid.

Where is the dishonesty of the seller?

^ I don't think there is anything wrong with Dr. D running the idea by the people on this forum, because, yes, it does happen. And sometimes it helps to get viewpoints from others. Besides, forums like this are in place to help other people out with questions and problems.

What I do take issue with are all the responses that automatically assume that the seller is shady without doing any digging or reasoning. Those are the people who should be apologizing.

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...

Well Dr.D more or less "assumed that the ebay seller was shady" in his posts, but that didn't stop Dr. D. from dickering a new lower price, now did it? Wouldn't it have been better for Dr. D. to have waited until he was done "brokering a new deal" to tell us if the seller was shady or not?

I agree with you that some other posters should apologize for assuming that the ebay seller was shady!

This post saids ebay is a scam. I've got over 700 positive feelback & most of it is from buying things, guess what I can't think of one time I've ever been cheated. I look at the sellers feelback & I only bid what I'm willing to pay for the item. I also stay away from anything thats funny no matter how much I may want it!

I was one of those in this thread that made the automatic assumption. And while I did do some digging and even provided the ebay link on the matter, I didn't take the time to read all that the link contained. Now that I have, and better understand how 2nd chance offers work, I edited my own posts to reflect the current wisdom. Should the seller show up in a rage I'll apologize, but I'm not going looking for him lest he'll think I'm nuts.

[QUOTE=McDave;5208040]I was one of those in this thread that made the automatic assumption. And while I did do some digging and even provided the ebay link on the matter, I didn't take the time to read all that the link contained. Now that I have, and better understand how 2nd chance offers work, I edited my own posts to reflect the current wisdom. Should the seller show up in a rage I'll apologize, but I'm not going looking for him lest he'll think I'm nuts. [/QUOT


You Sir, are an honest man

Thanks, and thanks for editing out what you first wrote.