Originally Posted by
cudak888
I really don't understand why so many buyers look upon Second Chance Offers as if they're some sort of a scam. eBay makes no secret that this is an available feature, and the offers are sent directly from eBay email addresses.
IIRC, they also show up on the webpage independent of the email (I may be wrong, long time since I've received a SCO from a seller).
There's nothing obviously dubious about them, and the track record of winning bidders screwing sellers over should make SCO's fairly common.
-Kurt
When I used to do auctions, at least 10% of the time, the winning bidder never paid. So I did make some second chance offers.
Now I just avoid the headaches and do buy it now with immediate payment required (check the box in your listing). No more deadbeats.
When bidding, bidding during the auction just reveals your interest to others. Which to me is a bad idea. Bid your maximum at the end. If you lose, then the item was worth more to someone else. Buy it now is a lot less trouble for buyers and sellers alike.
If you think shill bidding has taken place, call eBay and report the seller. Ebay will be more than happy to ban a seller who has done this. Bidding patterns will be transparent to eBay. As a long term seller (20 years), eBay carries a big stick and can BAN a seller for life or put you on probation. They have some strong tools to eliminate nonsense.