What Are Your Thoughts - 2nd Chance Offers From Ebay Sellers

Hi folks,

I received my first '2nd Chance Offer' today from a seller of an item I was bidding on. The stamp is a 1d. Downey Head - N7(5)1d Pale Carmine WITH RPS CERT UNMOUNTED MINT(s). Catalogue Value of this particular stamp is currently £25 for UMM, and with the nice margin and RPS Cert, add a few $coots is what I thought.



So I placed my max bid, and ended up losing by £1 at the end of the auction, c'est la vie, someone with deeper pockets than me wanted it more, so I move on.



Or so I thought....

In my ebay inbox this morning there was a 2nd Chance Offer, I could buy this stamp for my max bid as apparently the high bidder was unable to complete the transaction? This is very unusual, as I pretty much know who out there in the world wold be bidding on this, and all of those cats certainly don't have a bankroll problem, trust me on that one!

So taking a page from some of our finer sleuths I did a bit of investigating and found something that isn't sitting very well with me at the moment, and I would like to hear some others opinions as to what they think of this scenario.



I checked into the bidding history of the original listing, and found that a bidder that wasn't involved in the meat of the auction came in at the end and placed a high bid, ensuring the win. No problems, I see it all the time, but usually those are the big dogs with the big pockets, and I don't stand a chance dueling with them. The thing that gets me thinking is the fact that this bidder has a bid history of 82% with this seller, and all the bids are placed within the last hour, and more likely in the last minute or two?

The word that comes to mind is 'SHILL' but before I jump the gun and start making allegations regarding a seller with a 10,000+ feedback I would like to hear what others think of this little discovery? It would be interesting to know how many others have received these 2nd chance offers, and what their take is on the whole deal.

Thanks for taking the time to have a read, and I really look forward to any and all observations, opinions, suggestions.

Have a good one,

Skilo54

The word 'SHILL' was on my mind when I read your thread title.

It didn't go away.
This has happened to me to and I also did some investigating.....it happens often and every day.
You can try writing to ebay but you will not get a reply.
It's obvious why.

Nothing to do.

Londonbus1

SHILL, no doubt in my mind.

It is not that uncommon. It has been going on on ebay for years. I don't see the problem. If you are willing to Bid $X and it is outbid by $X+1, and the next day you get a note saying it is yours for $x, then you have paid what you had limited yourself to in the first place. Again, so what is the problem?

I don't have any problems, just looking for fellow collectors opinions on this action. Thanks for czecking though, I appreciate it!

Skilo54

As a seller of other than stamp material I occasionally toss out second chance offers if items sell at good prices. What I really don't agree with is the guy who won (if not a schill bid) pays more than the next 1-2 down. Sort of defeats the bidding and winning aspect. But the few second chance offers I have received as a buyer I jump on since I would have happily paid that anyway. Next time I get one I'll have to look into the bidding a bit deeper.

Had your max bid far exceeded the maximum of the next legitimate bidder (a***g) then I'd be concerned about a shill bidding scam but it appears to me that wasn't the case.

His max bid was £29 so the dealer only stood to gain an additional pound from a shill bid scam (unless a***g has a similar bidding history to 6***6).

If you think the stamp is worth £30 then I'd recommend you either accept the offer or make a counteroffer.

I've had this happen a couple of times. I automatically think shill, but I'm getting the item for what I was prepared to pay for it.

The dealer didn't know skilo's max bid. It turned out that skilo's visible bid was the max bid. Isn't the whole point of the shill to use up any additional room in skilo's max bid?

Had skilo placed a proxy bid of £36, his visible bid would still show £30; then if the shill's last-minute bid was £35, skilo would have still won the item, at the first advance over £35. Would skilo have a gripe in that case? He got the item for less than his maximum...

I haven't looked closely at the listing, so I'm not automatically jumping on the "shill" bandwagon in this case...maybe it was a shill bid, maybe not. A cursory look looks suspicious.

All that being said, if the item is what you want, for a price you want, I'd buy it, and keep a close eye on the seller in future transactions.

My feeling would be to email the seller telling him your offer has 'expired' but that you are willing to give him $25 in a renewed bid.
It is not a rare stamp and if you hang on you will pick it up for that.

Don't accept the second chance offer. that's the only way to thwart shill bidding. Chances are he will relist the item again and you can once again bid and maybe get it for a lower price.

Cjd was correct in that he was probably pushing you to your max. Sure that's what you were willing to pay but if you had to pay your max every time you bid on something you probably would not be bidding as much.

The only recourse is to not take the 2nd chance offer an hope that enough bidders do that to keep sellers from employing this shady practice quite as often.

Perfect, thanks everyone! A broad range of opinions and I really appreciate you all taking the time to post your thoughts!

I am going to leave the offer unanswered and see if it gets re-listed, if it does----->super, if it doesn't-------> oh well. It is a nice stamp, but I can live without it, and wait for another like it, no worries!

Thanks again for helping folks,

Skilo54

The problem is... It's not allowed. Whether or not YOU think its a problem is irrelevant. Fact is, it is a problem.

I have issued a number of 2nd chance offers on ebay because the winning bid was respectable and I had identical stamps to sell. I have always been surprised when the 2nd chance offer is not accepted. As far as this situation is concerned if you can get your stamp for your max bid accept the offer and don't think it to death.

Scubu.... It is only a problem if you make it one. Where on ebay does is state it is not allowed?

the seller had no idea what his max bid was until the shill made a bid, then hoping to get someone else to snipe in at a higher bid.

I wouldn't take the offer, I wouldn't reward them for cheating, on principle alone.