Cassadamius

recently, I bid on a Cervelo Soloist Carbon up to $3000. Well, I talked to the seller and he said he had another one. We worked everything out and the frame shipped out today. Well he had sent me a second chance offer a couple days ago just to make things formal. We had everything worked out before, I had already sent him the money. So, today, as I was checking my e-mail, I noticed that I had received a second chance offer on the same bike! YES! You mean I can have 2? Well, the email was not the formal one I got before. The instructions were to send my complete information to the seller, and he would get back to me. The guy that actually sold me the bike had tons of feedback and an actual seller store. The guy who was trying to scam me had a completely different name, email address, and nothing to show for on ebay. I sent him a nice email asking how stupid he felt considering I had already purchased the frame, asking him if it was a "3rd chance offer" he was trying to give me, maybe because two chances were not enough. Seller's email was "trustemember@hotmail.com"......how perfect. Even his email address tells me how much I can trust him.

Exact quote from email...."To accept the Second Chance Offer and if you want to finish your purchase , please e-mail the seller your complete name and address ."

squeegy200

The best one I had encountered was an "official" looking Paypal payment receipt for something I did not purchase. From the message, I supposedly sent payment for a new camera phone. But something caught my eye.

At the bottom of the email message, was a DISPUTE button. Why would I dispute a purchase if this was a genuine payment confirmation?

So I checked my Paypal activities report and there was no such purchase.

Then scanning my cursor over the button revealed an entirely different URL.

So I just forwarded the email to Spoof@paypal.com

Snicklefritz

I got a "second chance offer" email for a bike related item I had bid on about 10 days prior. Funny thing was I was in the bottom 25% or so of bids. There were TONS of people who had bid more than me. first thought "FAKE"!!!!

ElJamoquio

I bid $500 for a Powertap SL with Mavic Open Pro... and got the same scam. The item went for $900. WHAT A DEAL!!!

Snicklefritz

Then another guy was selling an Orbea. He listed the specs but they did not seem to match what was on the website for '05 models, even though he said it was an '05. I wrote the seller to inquire about the details and mentioned that I hadn't been able to find a bike with such a escription and asked if perhaps it was actually a different year. He got mad and sent me an angry email. At that point, I decided not to bid figuring the guy was a dork and someone was going to get scammed.

ericgu

I hit this same thing last year on a pinball machine. The auction ended without a buyer, I got a second chance email, I contacted the original seller, and got a good deal on the machine.

My rule - never take action based on contact somebody else initiated. Always go back to the source.

Cassadamius

Thinking back, I had a problem with a Merckx AXM frame. I bid $3000, and got a second chance offer after the auction ended at about $4500. The guy contacted me, I went through a few things, finally realizing it was too good to be true. He said he'd send me a formal "second chance offer". I never got it, never heard from him again.

oilman_15106

How long have you been using scambay, er ebay? Had the same thing happen to me not long after I started. Got a second chance, fake offer, to buy a bike that had sold for $2400. Only had to send $1400 and it's mine. Since I dropped out early, under $600 it seemed shakey. I contacted the seller and they did not know this was going on.

The only difference was that the fake offer came thru ebays system. Ebay said it must have been a stolen account? Great security. Never resolved if it was a stolen user name/password or hacked the system.

I rarely respond to second chance offers due to all the scams with that part of the system.

Add this to my list of ebay problems. Won a seatpost. Shows up with no bottom clamp. To paraphrase Master Card. Useless. Supposed to be getting a refund but do not have that in hand.

mayukawa

I usually ignore the 2nd-chance offers, but I read them just for kicks.

corny

£700 for a 54cm roubaix pro with Ultegra - damn straight... except its Western Union Money Transfer!