Second Chance Offers--Beware.

BG42EDGE

BG42EDGE

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I've noticed a couple of recent Buck auctions on the Bay that I suspected might be using shill bidding.

What happens when they goof up and the shill bidder wins, you might ask?

This happens:

If you're not able to complete the sale with the winning bidder or if you have duplicate items for sale, you can send a Second Chance Offer to anyone who bid on your listing. You won't be able to send an offer to the winning bidder. The number of offers you can send depends on the quantity of duplicate items you selected to offer. For example, if you have 4 duplicate items, you can send offers to up to 4 bidders.

When you send a Second Chance Offer, the bidders you've sent the offer receive a message asking if they'd like to buy the item at a Buy It Now price equal to their last bid amount. It's up to the buyer to decide whether to accept the offer.
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I think this is being used by some current Buck sellers. Sometimes the shills drive up the price and somebody else wins.

Sometimes the shill wins......no problem, they just send out second chance offers to the legitimate bidders.

I suspect somebody usually takes the offer.

Just something to keep in mind.

:cool:
 
Thats something i've noticed as well,i think some sellers want a certain price and when the bidding starts they drive the bids up themselves,and then if they win ,they do like you said.I've been bidding like crazy and winning nothing,something has changed on there,I don't think people are crazy about the new set up,i'm not..
 
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Yeah, I too have seen that when I tried to bid on a Buck awhile back and each time I bid up it seemed like the same person with (0) feedback would out bid me. I finally said that's it- no more and sure enough, I received the same email, offering me a "Second Chance" less than 5 minutes after the close of the auction. I responded with "Naaa...go ahead and sell it to your wife, she won it fair and square.":mad:
 
I will only bid what I am willing to pay for a knife. Odds are another one will come along sooner or later.
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That's true, but even in that case, shill bidding will ensure that you pay more than you would have paid with an honest seller that let the market determine the price. In other words, you could have gotten it cheaper.

Another impact is that you get shut out of nice items you might have had a shot at except for the shill bidding.

And......it drives prices up.

The new e-Bay means that we have to choose our sellers well and take a good look at the bidding on their recent auctions.

If low-feedback buyer IDs are often driving the price up and seem to be bidding TOO often on that particular seller and not many others.......be suspicious.
 
Wolfjohn said:
Yeah, I too have seen that when I tried to bid on a Buck awhile back and each time I bid up it seemed like the same person with (0) feedback would out bid me. I finally said that's it- no more and sure enough, I received the same email, offering me a "Second Chance" less than 5 minutes after the close of the auction. I responded with "Naaa...go ahead and sell it to your wife, she won it fair and square.":mad:
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:D

Good response!

Another thing is......some of them, maybe most of them, will use shill IDs on only some auctions to make it harder to catch them.

Things are getting more complicated on e-Bay.
 
Would be nice if sle-bay policed things like this some.

Couple of years back I kept bidding on a few things from the same buyer, never got them. However, they kept showing up time and time again after being "sold" to the same "buyer". Obvious case of a shill bidder. I piled up a list of auctions and emails proving the case and sent them to sle-bay. Got some slimy lawyer like answer back from them. They don't care so long as they get paid. Sad.

I look at stuff there but don't buy much now.
 
There are some absolutely reputable sellers who use the 2nd chance option. So I am not at all convinced there is any foul play going on here. All that aside, the simplest option has already been mentioned: bid what you are willing to part with, and not a cent more. ;)
 
philwar said:
There are some absolutely reputable sellers who use the 2nd chance option. So I am not at all convinced there is any foul play going on here. All that aside, the simplest option has already been mentioned: bid what you are willing to part with, and not a cent more. ;)
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Nobody said second chance is always foul play, so let's keep that straight.

And as I said before, bidding only what you are willing to part with will not protect you from shill bidding.......only carefully examining your seller's record will protect you from shill bidding.

Shill bidding makes everybody pay more than they should.

That's why e-Bay is not too eager to put a stop to it.
 
Another tip-off is if sellers start to use a lot of one-day auctions on highly desirable items.....things that could benefit from a ten-day auction exposure.

You can sell more stuff faster if you control the price.

;)
 
I took a second chance offer once. The knife was a different one from the one auctioned. The person had another one that s/he offered to me at my top bid. I could tell because it was slightly different from the one in the auction photo.
 
It has been years since I have received a "second chance" but the ones I have done I have been happy with. Like was said I also only bid what I am willing to pay and if I get a "second chance" the price will be fine with me. I even have received an email from someone that stated that they have a knife just like the one I bid on and didn't win. I bought the knife from him and I am very happy with my new 277 /with Bos blade /with box for $50.
 
I've also gotten several second chance offers and most I've accepted. They have all been for the amount of my top bid and I've not been dissapointed yet as I felt the item was worth it or I wouldn't have bid that much.

I guess I'm just not the type that sees "black helicopters" every where I look.
 
Plumberdv said:
I've also gotten several second chance offers and most I've accepted. They have all been for the amount of my top bid and I've not been dissapointed yet as I felt the item was worth it or I wouldn't have bid that much.

I guess I'm just not the type that sees "black helicopters" every where I look.
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:thumbup: :D Nicely put!
 
topol said:
[I guess I'm just not the type that sees "black helicopters" every where I look.
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I have it on good authority that the "black helicopters" have been painted a neutral color to avoid suspicion....but they are still hovering
 
Glad you guys understand......but, it gets even worse!!!

They now have whisper copters that hardly make a sound.....

What was that?

I gotta go.

:)
 
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