Ebay Second Chance Offers - suspicious?

[HGr]

So I bid on something and was the 2nd highest bidder, an hour later the seller messaged me and said he has another that I can have first dibs on, in a second chance offer. 

I did show interest before the auction finished by asking a question, so they might just be happy with the result and that they can get 2 decent sales done at once... but I just have this nagging feeling I might have been shilled. 

Normally I wouldn't care and possibly buy it anyway if it was a fair price, but it was an expensive impulse bid with no previous price data to compare to. I was 50% disappointed, 50% relieved to not have won. Now I have a difficult decision to make! 

What are your feelings on 2nd chance offers, are these generally legit or is there something fishy going on? 

 

[BackyardBullion]

Sounds like you should follow your gut and walk away personally. 

[AppleZippoandMetronome]

Generally speaking there is nothing wrong with second chance offers though this isn't exactly the reason they exist. The reason they became a thing was because a bidder would bid up an item then simply not pay for it. Anyone who has done any amount of business selling on ebay will have experienced this. The option to send a second chance offer to the second highest bid is just a mechanism to save the seller time and still get a sale. In and of itself there is nothing wrong with it - its completely legit.

What I would say if you're having doubts about wanting the item at that price - just don't accept the offer. I'm a big propoent of biding time when it comes to buying items on ebay. If you're patient enough eventually you'll find what you want for an amount you're willing to pay.

[TeaTime]

When i used to sell on Ebay i used the second chance offer on a few occasions - mainly when non-UK people had bid on items that i wasn't prepared to post overseas (never was sure how they circumvented the system). Even when sending the offer i was aware that the recipient would probably think some sort of scam was happening ! If you are in two minds i would walk away from it - the seller won't be unduly fussed.

You never know, the item may appear again and you could get it cheaper (always assuming you havn't been blocked) 😁

[HGr]

Thanks for your replies. 

I was about to walk away but I asked the guy for photos of the other coin to see, and he gave photos of a different one. I also checked the bidding history and there were a few bids within a few seconds, so I don't think anything dodgy happened. If I was shilled it was only for a quid, my feeling is he was being helpful because I showed interest in it early on, and was happy to get another quick sale, as it went for a decent price. 

I am not sure when I will ever see one again so I decided to go for it. Definitely no more PM's this month!