Dishonest ebay tactic?

[jayb]

So I have a question for the ebay experts out there.  I recently bid on a fairly expensive machine tool on ebay.  Turned out I was the second highest bidder.  After the auction ended I found that the highest bidder turned out to have 0 feedback, and was a brand new member.  I thought at the time that was kind of strange.

The auction ended last Friday.  Sure enough, today I got an email from the seller stating that the highest bidder was giving him the run around, and that if he didn't pay up by Friday he would be making me a second chance offer on the machine.  This strikes me as a little suspicious.  Like maybe the seller had this shill bidder or fake ebay ID and bid really high to make sure he won the auction, so that he would find out how high my maximum bid was, and offer me the machine at that price later.  Is this a common ebay tactic?

The seller has a feedback score of 70+, and all positive, but it looks like mostly he sells unrelated, low cost items.  At this point I'm not all that inclined to take him up on his second chance offer, given the suspicious nature of this auction.  What do you guys think?  Am I being paranoid?  If this seller is playing games, I don't even want to deal with him...

[Kerry j]

email eBay about it and see what they say. I think you're right and that the seller either shill bid it up himself or had someone else bid it up for him.

[drdano]

I'd tell him you decline the second-chance offer and would be interested in negotiating via email/phone for a price.  That way you can talk to him and see what is up, and also hopefully pay a fair price.  I had something similar happen on '50 Ford hood I sold a few years ago.  Metal finished, nosed, peaked, 210 louvers....expensive piece.  The high bidder contacted me prior to bidding and was new to ebay, and in the end he flaked.  I did a second-chance to the next guy in line and the same questions came up, so I sold the hood at a lower than auction close price that we both agreed on.  He got the hood, I got the money, both parties happy.

[Drew Pojedinec]

If he is really serious about selling the item at lets say $1000 to you, he should relist the auction with a buy it now of $1000.
He would have already talked to you about it and you could use the "buy it now" feature.

This way you are both in the clear.....  If you do buy it, all the the ebay protection is in place, if you choose not to buy it, so what?  he still has an auction listing for something he is trying to sell.  it's a win-win.

good luck,
dp

[machoneman]

 2X to what Drew said. He'd relist it or......I'd skip this seller as well.

[Joe-jdc]

Go with your gut feelings!  They are there for a reason.  When in doubt, don't.  Something better will come along, and you will be glad you waited.  BTDT. Joe-JDC.

[hotrodfeguy]

Unless you really need it right now and want to pay that price tell him to go fish 

[e philpott]

don't do it ..... if he's legit he will re-list it , second chance offers spell scam too me

[Garyford]

If your are suspicious of the seller, but still desire the item, you could play the same game: offer substantially less simply because it appears a shill or insincere bidder ran the price up.

[Qikbbstang]

Did you get in a bid war with that high bidder?   If I recall eBay "resets" a dropped bidder/buyer to the point BEFORE he showed up as IF he were never there.

[jayb]

No bidding war, really, I just set the price I was willing to pay in EZ Sniper and let the auction run.  The other guy had bid a couple of times prior to that, but he must have had a higher bid in the end.  At this point it doesn't matter, because the seller has not contacted me with a second chance offer.  So, maybe the zero feedback new bidder was legit, and just ended up coming up with the money for the machine.

[ScotiaFE]

Just out of curiosity what machine are you after.
A Mink Milking Machine?

[jayb]

I was looking at a new CNC machine.  More HP, larger travels, bigger table, 20 pocket toolholder, etc.  Plus overall a more rigid machine.  I have so much fun with the one I've got that I really need to upgrade.  Besides, I have a potential product idea that the FE crowd may be interested in, and I'd like to manufacture it myself, so having a more production oriented CNC machine will be required.  The product will remain unnamed, for now...

[Qikbbstang]

Large CNC machine ?   with all the talk on the PSE type adaptor and for baseses for sheet metal intakes might be a safe bet or even a product to manufacture.

Besides, I have a potential product idea that the FE crowd may be interested in, and I'd like to manufacture it myself,

[hotrodfeguy]

I know here in WI there is a aution of a nice Bridgebort and a bunch of lathes.