Another E-Bay Rant

[Garswood]

is it me or do some folk, like me, view 2nd chance offers on ebay with a touch of cynisism, at least half a dozen times this year (and its only end of march) i,ve been bidding on records only to be outbid at last minute and then soon after get a 2nd chance offer, last night prime example, bidding on Jesse Gomez-lace (mankind), 2 minutes before end i get outbid, 5 minutes after auction ends i get a 2 nd chance offer for a buy it now price at my maximum bid($51.50), now i know thats a good price but i also reckon that if i had had put in a bid of say $75 then i would still have been outbid and then got a 2nd chance offer for $75, i know this proberbly happens all the time but it hacks me off and now that all other sellers remain anonymous there's no way of checking other biddres history with the seller (or is there ??), i,m cutting my nose off to spite my face here but sometimes you gotta see it for what it is, someone trying to screw you for a bit of extra cash....grrrrr....rant over

[Guest Andy Kempster]

its happened to me on more than one occasion and i have chosen not to go back unless i get it at a lower price.

following emails to the seller have resulted in no response.

i feel like i am being taken for a ride on these instances and choose not to take my second chance

[Jason S]

Understand the gist of the argument but equally if you're bidding on something, then you want it, right? So if you're offered a copy, having not won the auction copy, for your maximum bid (which'll be less than the winning bidder) surely you're happy(?) I think the offical 2nd chance thing means that you can only be offered a copy at your top bid. I know the psychology of 2nd chance offers always raises the 'how may has this guy got?' question as well as (sometimes) the 'I only want it if I'm the winner...if I'm second and another one comes up I'm not interested any more' kind of feeling. Sure, some sellers are probably using ebay to gauge a top end price on that auction and then hope to farm off a stack to other bidders. But if you wanted something 30 seconds ago and then don't want it having not won it, sometimes that's a bit odd.

[boba]

I have two responses to your point:

a) if you had sniped it you would have at least prevented the seller from making repeated bump slightly higher bids until they passed your max and would have prevented most forms of them knocking up your bid

and

b) you can actually see the high bidder if you get a bid in and then check if the high bidder suspiciously bids only on that seller's items (and then possibly unrelated items -- this often happens when the shill bidder is a wife or girlfriend of the seller). I have been in situations where I was clearly shill bid and I still took the second chance offer because I wanted it and it was clear they didn't have a box of the item (it wasn't in that great condition).

[Dylan]

b) you can actually see the high bidder if you get a bid in and then check if the high bidder suspiciously bids only on that seller's items (and then possibly unrelated items -- this often happens when the shill bidder is a wife or girlfriend of the seller). I have been in situations where I was clearly shill bid and I still took the second chance offer because I wanted it and it was clear they didn't have a box of the item (it wasn't in that great condition).

I do this all the time now since you pointed it out a while ago.

its very good and until then I never knew it was possible.

[Dylan]

Understand the gist of the argument but equally if you're bidding on something, then you want it, right? So if you're offered a copy, having not won the auction copy, for your maximum bid (which'll be less than the winning bidder) surely you're happy(?) I think the offical 2nd chance thing means that you can only be offered a copy at your top bid. I know the psychology of 2nd chance offers always raises the 'how may has this guy got?' question as well as (sometimes) the 'I only want it if I'm the winner...if I'm second and another one comes up I'm not interested any more' kind of feeling. Sure, some sellers are probably using ebay to gauge a top end price on that auction and then hope to farm off a stack to other bidders. But if you wanted something 30 seconds ago and then don't want it having not won it, sometimes that's a bit odd.

yes but it could just as well be shill bidding. Which this seems like TBH.

the difference between 2nd and 3rd bid is always useful to know as well. See if it was a 2 horse race or a few different bidders interested.

[Garswood]

Understand the gist of the argument but equally if you're bidding on something, then you want it, right? So if you're offered a copy, having not won the auction copy, for your maximum bid (which'll be less than the winning bidder) surely you're happy(?) I think the offical 2nd chance thing means that you can only be offered a copy at your top bid. I know the psychology of 2nd chance offers always raises the 'how may has this guy got?' question as well as (sometimes) the 'I only want it if I'm the winner...if I'm second and another one comes up I'm not interested any more' kind of feeling. Sure, some sellers are probably using ebay to gauge a top end price on that auction and then hope to farm off a stack to other bidders. But if you wanted something 30 seconds ago and then don't want it having not won it, sometimes that's a bit odd.

I understand what your saying and i still want the record, if say the guy came back to me in a few days and said the other buyer dropped out and cant pay, do you want this record at your highest bid then i would have proberbly said yes, but to offer me it less than 5 minutes after auction ends, to me says he's had a mate bidding it up for him/her, another example, just after christmas i put in a maximum bid of £81 for a record(valued at 100), it started at 9.99, less than 10 minutes to go and i,m still winning and the price is still 9.99, then a load of bids by the same person takes it to £82, i lose auction, within half an hour i get a 2nd chance offer for £81, i didnt buy it , to me its the princepal of the thing, unless its a mega rarity most records eventually come on the market again and i'd rather wait and buy off someone who i dont thinks taking me for a ride..i sell records myself on ebay and i always start my auctions at a price that i,m happy for them to go for if i only get one bid ... atb phil

[Dylan]

I understand what your saying and i still want the record, if say the guy came back to me in a few days and said the other buyer dropped out and cant pay, do you want this record at your highest bid then i would have proberbly said yes, but to offer me it less than 5 minutes after auction ends, to me says he's had a mate bidding it up for him/her, another example, just after christmas i put in a maximum bid of £81 for a record(valued at 100), it started at 9.99, less than 10 minutes to go and i,m still winning and the price is still 9.99, then a load of bids by the same person takes it to £82, i lose auction, within half an hour i get a 2nd chance offer for £81, i didnt buy it , to me its the princepal of the thing, unless its a mega rarity most records eventually come on the market again and i'd rather wait and buy off someone who i dont thinks taking me for a ride..i sell records myself on ebay and i always start my auctions at a price that i,m happy for them to go for if i only get one bid ... atb phil

getting contacted so soon and one guy bidding like mad at the end all soundss iffy to me. I wouldn;t buy the record on principal.

i'd look else where.

[Garswood]

I have two responses to your point:

a) if you had sniped it you would have at least prevented the seller from making repeated bump slightly higher bids until they passed your max and would have prevented most forms of them knocking up your bid

and

b) you can actually see the high bidder if you get a bid in and then check if the high bidder suspiciously bids only on that seller's items (and then possibly unrelated items -- this often happens when the shill bidder is a wife or girlfriend of the seller). I have been in situations where I was clearly shill bid and I still took the second chance offer because I wanted it and it was clear they didn't have a box of the item (it wasn't in that great condition).

thanks for that Boba, poInt B is good info

[Jason S]

True, I can see the concern about someone bidding something up to inflate the price, but it's not always the case that shill bidding is going on (even if it is in your case). Jesse Gomez seems to have come out of the woodwork in the past year or so whereas before it was a tricky one to find, so maybe your guy got a batch of them and wants to move them on. On occasion when I've had a couple of copies of something I'll offer a 2nd copy to the 2nd highest bidder because it's a quick way to sell another record - usually the price they want to pay is close to the top bid so it's worthwhile. Even if it means 5 mins after the auction closes. I explain that I've got a 2nd copy and it's here if they want it.

[Paul Shirley]

yeah and there is another side to this one , i listed some eos camera gear full kit around £1500 worth i was watching the bids go up very nice towards the end great i thought some guy bid a realy good price and won you can imagine my disapointment when the muppet says sorry its the wrong model but only after me ringing him up does he tell me the bad news . i also noticed the twa.. used a snipe so there aint a lot you can do .as i noticed he bought nothing yep no feedback but using a snipe he buggerd my auction up conpletly , so i then do the second chance offer thing to the next guy who was around £100 short , no chance he says its all looking dodgy was his excuse , i told the guy what had gone on but no he wasnt having any of it , in the end i had a guy ringing up asking if i dont sell it ect; im sure it was a friend of the guy who buggerd it all up in the first place .but i accepted and lost out big time

[Jez Jones]

is it me or do some folk, like me, view 2nd chance offers on ebay with a touch of cynisism, at least half a dozen times this year (and its only end of march) i,ve been bidding on records only to be outbid at last minute and then soon after get a 2nd chance offer, last night prime example, bidding on Jesse Gomez-lace (mankind), 2 minutes before end i get outbid, 5 minutes after auction ends i get a 2 nd chance offer for a buy it now price at my maximum bid($51.50), now i know thats a good price but i also reckon that if i had had put in a bid of say $75 then i would still have been outbid and then got a 2nd chance offer for $75, i know this proberbly happens all the time but it hacks me off and now that all other sellers remain anonymous there's no way of checking other biddres history with the seller (or is there ??), i,m cutting my nose off to spite my face here but sometimes you gotta see it for what it is, someone trying to screw you for a bit of extra cash....grrrrr....rant over

...similar story for me on one particular record---- I bid what I was prepared to pay--no activity on the record for a couple of days--then last minute BANG bid comes in --I've lost it---c'est la vie

On this occasion though seller contacts me with a 'second chance offer' via messages 5 minutes later--the gist o'f Original buyer has pulled out do you want this at your max bid if so my paypal address is........................................ and pay direct to save additional ebay fee for relisting .......great I thought...................

Yes you've guessed payed via paypal---pleased with getting the 45 at the price I was prepared to pay----only to find the record never arrives and seller doesn't reply to any messages and indeed removes his ebay account

Yeah I know its my fault--transaction not covered by the ;bay or payapal

just a warning to keep transactions 'within' ebay' to provide some sort of cover and beware offers via messages---unless like me you wanna be butt f**ked

..schoolboy error--but it can happen in the 'heat of the moment'