eBay Publicly Exposes Second Chance Offers

by: Rexford

Me sipping my coffee thinking "thank God I don't use auctions".

by: etectra

eBay is using international bidders to shill bid their items and using their second chance offers to lock in the shilled bids.

Two antique categories I listed in were highly sought after by international buyers. I am not part of eBay's international shipping program. I have all countries blocked. My TOS in each listing clearing states no international bidders, foreign transactions fees, non U.S. citizens, shipping locations outside the U.S., gift addresses and so on. Even the short description area below the title is used to stress this.

International buyers repeatedly tried to buy these items as well as bid on them. This required me to research the buyer's shipping address to see if it was a freight forwarding company; the buyer's eBay account; payment method and so on. I'd then have to cancel the transaction, thus tying up funds, block the buyer, and relist the item only for it to happen over and over again.

In the case of auctions eBay told me to sell it to the second highest bidder. How on earth would that be morally correct when the item has been bid upon by one or more international bidders who have effectively shill bid the item for eBay? also a impossible task since I dod not know if the second highest bidder is actually from the U.S. without seeing their shipping address, account details and payment method.

This is another reason why you should not bid on anything on eBay - it could easily be shill bid on by international bidders who are not legally allowed to bid on the item by the seller's TOS.

I stop listing all these items due to the lost time involved.

by: Snapped

It is always interesting to hear about any buyer who WILLINGLY CHOOSES to offer and then pays a price THEY AGREED TO PAY, and then comes back later to complain about not receiving a ‘deal’ they were unwilling and/or impatient to wait for.  

Yes, it is clear a cheaper price wasn’t necessarily an evident ‘possibility’, but when is such ever the case in this particular circumstance?  

And why then, does nobody seem to be concerned with the fact the seller is facing a non paying buyer, and a distinct likelihood nobody will even buy now - even at a ‘cheaper price’ - because of some perceived imperfection or assumed attempt at seller fraud is occurring just because the second chance was offered?  

As for letting the world know about it, well that’s just stupid.  Because none but those offered the 2nd chance can buy it.  But since there’s little to no chance eBay will fix this peccadillo, the best course of action to avoid this confusion is to just re-list the item so everyone can have a ‘second chance’.  Perhaps that is eBay’s objective all along.  Imagine that.

by: Geetar

I don't know. I always said, no auctions and no make offer for me. Either they buy it at that price or they don't. I think if I had to use make offer, or that send offer thing, I shouldn't be doing this. I try to have the lowest price possible, if it's not low enough, I should not be selling that item, or selling at all.

by: Andy

This problem was also reported in the Technical Issues group a couple of months back, but to my knowledge no one from eBay ever responded in that thread (which is generally how things go).

To be clear, this problem only involves a Second Chance Offer getting revealed to the entire world when only the SCO recipient can actually accept or decline it. This has nothing to do with purported international shill bidding conspiracies or anything else.

It's also worth noting that the SCO price will be no more than one bid increment below the original sale price, so if the winner paid $100, the second-place SCO would be no lower than $99 (though the seller has the option of offering the SCO to any other lower bidder who dropped out prior to the end; each would receive an SCO for the amount of his latest bid).

That aside, this is yet another example of eBay botching a code revision, then communicating nothing to anyone about whether they know about the problem, are trying to fix the problem, or when a fix might arrive. If by some miracle a fix is made, it will be quietly dumped into Production with no comment or announcement of any kind.

by: rhw1

Andy I think you are mistaken on the SCO. If Joe's max bid is $75.00, Mine is $100.00, and yours is $105.00 you win the auction. Now if a SCO is made its not at my max bid, its only enough to beat out Joe's bid, which would be $76.00 I think.

by: my2cents

@electra
Ebay does NOT "send" SCO's, the seller does.  The Seller decides if they want to send one or not.  Ebay, other than having the option on the site, has nothing to do with the decision to send one or not.

Sellers on Ebay do not have the ability to block International buyers.  They can however block ALL buyers that have a ship to address in which the seller does not ship to.  That is doable.  There are many International buyers that have US ship to address for one LEGIT reason or another.

You just need to make sure your Buyer Requirements in your Site Preferences are set up correctly.  Any buyer that purchases something from you that is to be shipped to an address you have set up in Ebay that you do not ship to [NOT simply stated in your description] a seller can Cancel without issue or ding to their Seller Metrics.

If your account is properly set up, you should not be having the issues you describe.

by: my2cents

@rhw1
You are close.  SCO's are issue for the NEXT highest bid.  So if buyer A bid $75 and buyer B bid $105 and won.  If the seller had another one they could sell just like this one in the listing or IF the winning bidder flaked out for some reason and did not complete the transaction, the seller could issue a SCO to buyer A for $75.

by: Andy

''@rhw1
You are close.  SCO's are issued for the NEXT highest bid.  So if buyer A bid $75 and buyer B bid $105 and won.  If the seller had another one they could sell just like this one in the listing or IF the winning bidder flaked out for some reason and did not complete the transaction, the seller could issue a SCO to buyer A for $75.''

That's how it works, yes. Second Chance Offers are one-to-one BuyItNow offers for that bidder's high bid (which was, after all, his pledge to pay as high as that amount if he won).

To be clear, in your scenario (@my2cents), buyer B can bid $105 to win, but will only need to pay buyer A's bid of $75 plus one bid increment ($1) for a total of $76. If buyer A receives a Second Chance Offer from the seller for any reason, it will be for $75, not a lower amount.

It's also the seller's choice as to who (or how many) lower bidders will receive an SCO. If the seller (for whatever reason) wants to skip over the second-place bidder and send the SCO to the third-place guy instead, he's allowed to do that. (My personal record from past years has been the original auction sale plus three Second Chance Offers, for a wildly popular item where I had three additional ones available to sell.)

So the reason for all this kerfuffle is that it's not only buyer A seeing that Second Chance Offer; it's the whole world. The SCO has nothing identifying itself in the listings as being a Second Chance Offer; it's presented as a BuyItNow, except that anyone other than the intended recipient who tries to, um, BuyItNow gets hit with a big fat error message saying that he's not an ''approved'' buyer for that seller, as if that has anything to do with it.

P.S. I do get the argument that an SCO recipient should only be asked to pay whatever the next-lowest bid was, plus one increment, but I didn't make the rules. The SCO can only be sent for the amount of the runner-up bidder's highest bid; we do not get to adjust it downward.

by: my2cents

Well said Andy.  

PS, sorry for my error on the $105 amount.  You are absolutely correct of course.

by: Priyansh Jain

The article is a good reminder that online selling keeps changing, and most sellers benefit from having more than one option available. Different marketplaces attract different buyers, so many businesses compare factors like fees, traffic, seller tools, and category performance before deciding where to list.

That includes established platforms as well as alternatives such as TrueGether, an eBay alternative. No single marketplace is the right fit for every seller, and what works well for one product category may not work for another.

At the end of the day, the things that matter most are reliable policies, a good buying experience, and giving sellers the opportunity to grow. Healthy competition between marketplaces is generally good for both buyers and sellers because it encourages everyone to keep improving.

by: Snapped

Critical thinkers may recognize the previous post as being one of a three-peat verbatim on these threads.  

Those with even average comprehension would recognize them as a blatantly disguised advertisement.  Likely AI had a hand.  

Will they stand?

by: aliBaymazon

SNAPPED,
i was JUST thinkin that same exact thing. at 1st i thought it was maybe a dude from some ebay reputation farm or something trying to say good things about ebay in public forums. but alas, i arrived at whatever that name was. personally, i think the name is VERY terrible. a name like ALiBAYMAZON is a far superior name but then i decided nahhhh i shouldnt use that name. it sounds too cheap to have a site where i would sell premium and luxury glasses, sunglasses and handbags and backpacks.... sooooo i decided to go with the name TheJWoodEdit for my website. i think it looks and sounds much better than the old name. i have spent the last month and a half building this site. i have worked sooooo hard on it that my neck feels broken. So, if you dont mind, please pass the word on because i actually am just now launching it and i am uninsured and i think i need to see a doctor because my neck and back are so messed up from sitting here building this thing all because ebay pissed me off so much that i needed to break free of those greedy pigs. there is one thing though..now that i think about it... i will miss my old slogan. it was "SELL STUFF. SPEAK AMERICAN." ya know cuz u can never get help from ebay and actually speak to someone who can understand you. it gets very frustrating. anyhow. i better go. im in so much pain. please come by sometime. It sure would be super appreciated!!!! and watch out for those tricky ads! lol lol

how was that? at least mine was more interesting. i dont sound like english was my 4th language and im trying to blow a bunch of smoke up ur rear! right?

okie dokie. good night all. i pray i can actually move my head when i wake up!

ciao

by: Snapped

Alibay…at least we can be fairly certain AI wasn’t sleeping with YOU on that.