Second Chance Offer scam - BEWARE : eBay Guides

There is a scam going around with second chance offers.

Basically, you bid on an item and find that you get outbid by the close of auction. Hey ho, never mind. But then within a day or so, you get contacted by the seller to see if you still are interested in the item, as the highest bidder has not completed the purchase. Sounds great, as they offer it to you at the price you offered or maybe even a bit less to entice you into the deal.

However, the seller does not set up a legitimate ebay second chance You then get asked to send the money via Western Union (or similar 3rd party) for safety and tell you to send your address so they can get things in motion. This is clearly to steer you away from the safety of ebay and an attempt to do the deal outside of the site. If you do this, you'll never see your money again or the item.

I had one item that I lived very close to and wanted to collect. Even then, they made some balonie about not accepting cash on collection. They wanted me to pay upfront (Western Union) and they would then arrange for their friend to unlock the garage the next day and let me collect it.What cr*p and just goes to shows that its a scam. So its worth asking this question just to see what response you get.

Also, the English may be questionable highlighting the possibility of foreign scams. If you decide not to deal with them after starting correspondance, their responses do start to get stroppy.

So if you get someone offering you an ebay item you got outbid on, only accept it if they are prepared to set up a second chance offer for you. Don't deal outside of the bay.

Hope this helps.