I need an EBAY guru right now, AGAIN! UPDATE!

[Ness2289]

I am still new with the ebay thing. I just had an item close at $71.00 and a couple minutes later, the bidder asked to retract for "many reasons." The previous bidder was just a dollar below. Should I just say yes and contact the 2nd highest bidder? How do I handle this?

 

[LegoMom3]

I've never had that happen to me, but I tried to put myself in your shoes, and I think I would send a Second Chance Offer to the next-highest bidder. Hopefully they accept, and you're all set. I would do that without contacting the winner, or letting him/her know what I was doing, until after the fact. If the next person doesn't accept, you could always put a little pressure on that you tried that option, it didn't work, and as the original winning bidder they are in a binding agreement to complete the purchase.

What is the winning bidder's feedback like? If it's good, then their reasons are probably valid. If it were me, I'd likely just drop it and relist. If this person has done this to others in the past, then I'd block them from bidding on my stuff again.

These eBay situations can be sticky but you'll get through it! Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

 

[extremesoccermom]

I think if I were you I would offer it to the 2nd bidder. If they have that many reasons to retract their bid they will probably just not pay and start ignoring your emails and requests. I had this happen to me once. If this is a first offense and you fight it not much will happen. I would rather get it taken care of with now and make the offer.

 

[PrincessKitty1]

I've never had that happen to me, but I tried to put myself in your shoes, and I think I would send a Second Chance Offer to the next-highest bidder. Hopefully they accept, and you're all set. I would do that without contacting the winner, or letting him/her know what I was doing, until after the fact. If the next person doesn't accept, you could always put a little pressure on that you tried that option, it didn't work, and as the original winning bidder they are in a binding agreement to complete the purchase.

What is the winning bidder's feedback like? If it's good, then their reasons are probably valid. If it were me, I'd likely just drop it and relist. If this person has done this to others in the past, then I'd block them from bidding on my stuff again.

These eBay situations can be sticky but you'll get through it! Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

This is exactly what I would do.

I have had this happen to me with a book on which there was a bidding war. The second-highest bidder did not respond to the second chance offer, and I told the high bidder that I expected him to fulfill his obligations to complete the purchase. He did.

Good luck!

 

[strasfamily]

Make sure you request your final value fees back from E-Bay since the buyer is not going to complete the transaction.

Don't use the mutually cancelled transaction though - use whichever says something to the order of buyer does not want to complete transaction.

 

[Ness2289]

Okay. I'm going to send a second chance offer to the the 2nd highest bidder. The winning bidder does have excellent feedback history and says this is the first time she's ever had to do this. She around the 240 mark for feedback. Thanks for the quick help! I'll let you know what happens.

 

[Ness2289]

Make sure you request your final value fees back from E-Bay since the buyer is not going to complete the transaction.

Don't use the mutually cancelled transaction though - use whichever says something to the order of buyer does not want to complete transaction.

How do I do this? Will the original bidder initiate the retraction and then I'll get a message??? Or do I do something specifically?

 

[babiesX2]

Dh and I don't accept 2nd chance offers or atleast we haven't in the past. We were buying Isomil for the babies, and one auction the bidding looked very suspicious. The last hour it was inched up and inched up 50 cents at a time until we were outbid (of course). About 15 minutes after the auction ended, we got a 2nd chance offer. Just seemed too fishy!

 

[dodukes]

Dh and I don't accept 2nd chance offers or atleast we haven't in the past. We were buying Isomil for the babies, and one auction the bidding looked very suspicious. The last hour it was inched up and inched up 50 cents at a time until we were outbid (of course). About 15 minutes after the auction ended, we got a 2nd chance offer. Just seemed too fishy!

Sometimes it may be phishing but other times people just have more than they list. For example for a while there i was buying and reselling die casts at a good profit. I had some popular ones that people would bid up towards teh end of the acution (sniping, and yes i do the same thing)...anyway i usually had bunches of them but wuld only list one a week to get more $$ for it, rather if peopl saw 10 at once they wont bid as high, in any case i sent a lot of second chance offers out right after the auction ended, so dont always discount second chance offers as suspicious. Sometimes they are not, and besides you put in what you are willing to pay so its not like somebody was upping what you wanted to pay in any case.

 

[babiesX2]

Sometimes it may be phishing but other times people just have more than they list. For example for a while there i was buying and reselling die casts at a good profit. I had some popular ones that people would bid up towards teh end of the acution (sniping, and yes i do the same thing)...anyway i usually had bunches of them but wuld only list one a week to get more $$ for it, rather if peopl saw 10 at once they wont bid as high, in any case i sent a lot of second chance offers out right after the auction ended, so dont always discount second chance offers as suspicious. Sometimes they are not, and besides you put in what you are willing to pay so its not like somebody was upping what you wanted to pay in any case.

Why would a legitimate buyer bid in 50 cent increments the last hour of the auction then withdraw immediately after the auction ended? Of course we put in what we are willing to spend, but we won't be taken advantage of by a snakey auctioneer! We thought nothing of the bidding pattern until we got the 2nd chance offer so quickly. Come on, that is just too quick.

 

[dodukes]

Why would a legitimate buyer bid in 50 cent increments the last hour of the auction then withdraw immediately after the auction ended? Of course we put in what we are willing to spend, but we won't be taken advantage of by a snakey auctioneer! We thought nothing of the bidding pattern until we got the 2nd chance offer so quickly. Come on, that is just too quick.

Actually just because you got a second chance offer doesnt mean the original buyer withdrew,, it could mean a host of things, including that or taht like i said seller had a few of those. Anyway as far as the bidding i can tell you that i bid like that sometimes, i bid small at a time, i never put in a large amount, that is jsut the way i bid, never thought it would look suspicious, if its something i really really want i usually wait till the last few minutes and bid in small amounts. ANyway im not trying to attack or anything please dont take my post like that i am just offering another view from the other side of things. I have taken second chance offers only a few times myself. I just wanted to bring out that just cuz you get a second chance offer doesnt meant aht the seller is crooked. But in this case it may or may have not been. just my $.02.

 

[jessica52877]

Actually just because you got a second chance offer doesnt mean the original buyer withdrew,, it could mean a host of things, including that or taht like i said seller had a few of those. Anyway as far as the bidding i can tell you that i bid like that sometimes, i bid small at a time, i never put in a large amount, that is jsut the way i bid, never thought it would look suspicious, if its something i really really want i usually wait till the last few minutes and bid in small amounts. ANyway im not trying to attack or anything please dont take my post like that i am just offering another view from the other side of things. I have taken second chance offers only a few times myself. I just wanted to bring out that just cuz you get a second chance offer doesnt meant aht the seller is crooked. But in this case it may or may have not been. just my $.02.

I agree. I often have more then one item but will only list one at a time, immediately when the auction ends I send a second chance offer to the other bidder. I never thought of it as looking like someone was bidding it up and then not selling. I guess I don't have time for that and would never do it so the thought doesn't cross my mind.

I also will bid up in little increments. Mainly when I am not really set on having the item and going up slowly to figure out what the person put in. I usually do it towards the end, if I really want something I won't bid until the end.

As far at the OP's question, I would offer 2nd chance as others suggested, also without telling the highest bidder. If they decline try and get them to follow through, if not, just relist it, a pain but more then likely it will go for a decent amount again.

 

[Littlemotherhaywood]

I agree. I often have more then one item but will only list one at a time, immediately when the auction ends I send a second chance offer to the other bidder. I never thought of it as looking like someone was bidding it up and then not selling. I guess I don't have time for that and would never do it so the thought doesn't cross my mind.

I also will bid up in little increments. Mainly when I am not really set on having the item and going up slowly to figure out what the person put in. I usually do it towards the end, if I really want something I won't bid until the end.

As far at the OP's question, I would offer 2nd chance as others suggested, also without telling the highest bidder. If they decline try and get them to follow through, if not, just relist it, a pain but more then likely it will go for a decent amount again.

Are you saying that you will actually sell two items instead of one? Do you get charged final value fees on the second item as well?

 

[dodukes]

Are you saying that you will actually sell two items instead of one? Do you get charged final value fees on the second item as well?

Yes you only get charger the final value and not the insertion fee which i mean is not a lot sometimes but it helsp to pay less in fees and that way you also know what you are gonna get for it if the perons agress to seond chance offer. It ia all done thru ebay so its very legit and you can dispute if problems occer as well as leave feedback.

 

[formernyer]

I eBay for a living. I frequently purchase items in quantities of 50 or 100 for resale. I use second-chance offers all the time and it saves me a lot of money in listing fees.

Let's assume I have 50 of an item that I want to sell for at least $75 each. When my auction ends I immediately (and I do mean IMMEDIATELY) look at all bids. Every single person who bid at least $75 will get a second-chance offer from me. If every person accepted the offer, every person would be shipped a product. eBay charges a final value fee for each second-chance offer, but there's no listing fee attached to it, so there is a huge savings involved for Powersellers. It is NOT unethical or against eBay rules to do this.

To answer the OP's question...

I'd send out the second chance offer immediately. Depending on whether or not the buyer seemed friendly/honest or a deadbeat would determine how I file with eBay. If she seems honest, then file a Mutual Agreement to Not Complete Transaction. You'll get back your final value fees immediately and if you need to use the Relist feature (in case the second chance offer is not accepted) then you'll recoup your listing fee once the item sells via the relist. The original bidder will not receive an Unpaid Item Strike (three strikesand you're out).

If the original buyer seems like a deadbeat, then file an Unpaid Item Report. You'll need to wait 7 days to file it, then up to another 7 days for the dispute to close. Once the dispute is closed you will be credited for your FV fees and you can relist (and recoup original listing fees once item sells via relist). The original buyer will get an Unpaid Item Strike.

 

[wendyl]

There are 2 main reasons Ebay offers Second Chance Offers: 1) for when a buyer backs out (not the most common reason) and 2) When a seller has more than one of the item they are selling. You can read all about it on Ebay's Policies--there is nothing sneaky about it--and Ebay fully intends sellers to use Second Chance Offers for this purpose (and YES they get their final value fees for all of them). If you ever suspect shill bidding, however (bidding on one's own auctions to run up the price)---you can search that bidders history as well. If they only bid on this particular seller's stuff--it may very well be shill bidding. If you look at their history, and you see they bid on all kinds of stuff from other sellers--you can bet your Second Chance Offer was due to a seller having more than one item.

Back to the OP---ALWAYS check the buyer's bidding background before you resort to giving a Second Chance Offer. I can no longer count, unfortunately, the amount of times a buyer has given me a story about why they no longer want the item they outbid others for, or bid on, only to check their bidding history and find out they bid mine up, and then found another seller who just listed their same item lower, and they decided to start bidding on that one instead. Or, they found one buy-it-now from another seller that ended up being cheaper than mine was bid up to--and they bought that instead. When someone lies to me, I don't "let them off the hook"--and I wait through the entire Non-Paying Bidder process (15 days) until my fees get returned, the buyer gets a strike and THEN I relist, or contact the person who had the Second highest bid to see if they want an SEcond Chance Offer.

You can do this by going to 'advanced search' in the top right corner of your screen, then click on 'items by buyer' and then enter the buyer's username. It will tell you everything they have bid or purchased in the last 2 weeks. I'll never forget the man who won an auction for an expensive Haunted Mansion collectible--and a few days later he writes me a very nice email explaining that it was his daughter who collects these and he thought this was the one she needed, but it turns out it wasn't and would I offer it to the other bidder and "let him off the hook". Turns out, exactly 1 1/2 minutes before he sent that email, he used buy-it-now for the exact same collectible from another seller that ended up being $5 cheaper. When I called him on it, his only response was "how did you find that out?".

 

[babiesX2]

I agree. I often have more then one item but will only list one at a time, immediately when the auction ends I send a second chance offer to the other bidder. I never thought of it as looking like someone was bidding it up and then not selling. I guess I don't have time for that and would never do it so the thought doesn't cross my mind.

What's that last line supposed to mean?

 

[jessica52877]

What's that last line supposed to mean?

The thought has never crossed my mind to bid my own items up. Sorry if that was unclear. I don't know who would do that, but I am sure some do it!

 

[jessica52877]

As for mutual agreements, I have had so many ebayers not understand and then I end up not getting my final value fee, so not only have I let them off the hook from buying but then I get screwed out of listing and final fees. So just be careful. Most of the time it is a person who has bid on the same item twice and won two from me but only wanted one. They didn't know they were bidding on two. Pay for one, for the second I sent a mutual and they say, oh I want and paid for the item. I think alot of people just don't really understand ebay. Or atleast act like they don't.

 

[mom2my3kids]

Dh and I don't accept 2nd chance offers or atleast we haven't in the past. We were buying Isomil for the babies, and one auction the bidding looked very suspicious. The last hour it was inched up and inched up 50 cents at a time until we were outbid (of course). About 15 minutes after the auction ended, we got a 2nd chance offer. Just seemed too fishy!

We never accept second chance offers either for this very reason. I think alot of this is going around.