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Making a Second Chance Offer

A Second Chance Offer lets you to make an offer to a non-winning bidder under certain conditions. The offer contains a Buy It Now price equal to the non-winning bidder's bid amount.

You can send Second Chance Offers immediately after the listing ends and for 60 days after the listing ends. There are also conditions for Second Chance Offers for Reserve Price Auctions and Unpaid Items.

You can make a Second Chance Offer to a non-winning bidder when:

  • The winning bidder does not pay you, or your Reserve Price has not been met (only applicable to the Motors category).

Note: If sending due to an Unpaid Item, be sure that you have tried to resolve the issue with the original buyer before sending a Second Chance Offer to another bidder.

  • There is at least one non-winning bidder who accepts Second Chance Offers.

  • You have duplicate items for sale, and want to offer them to non-winning bidders in a single-item auction.

Fees

  • There is no fee to make a Second Chance Offer. You pay only the Final Value Fee when the offer is accepted.

  • If your Reserve Price was not met on the original item, the Reserve Price fee is automatically credited if a buyer accepts a Second Chance Offer.

Sending a Second Chance Offer

You can also send a Second Chance Offer from the View Item or Bid History pages.

To send a Second Chance Offer:

  1. Sign in to eBay with your user ID and password.

  2. On the left side of My eBay Views, under All Selling, click the “Sold” or “Unsold” link.

  3. If Second Chance Offers are enabled for an item, the Second Chance Offer link is available by clicking the pull-down menu in the Action column in My eBay.

  4. Click the “Second Chance Offer” link, and then click the Continue button.

  5. Select the bidders you want to send offers, the duration of the offer, and write a personal message to the bidders.

Note: You will receive a copy of the offer email that is sent to the bidder.

Duration of a Second Chance Offer − A Second Chance Offer can be sent to buyers for a 1, 3, 5, 7or 10-day duration. The 1-day duration option has been added to offer sellers increased flexibility and convenience when using a Second Chance Offer.

Note: Buyers will be able to locate and verify all Second Chance Offers in My eBay under My Messages. Second Chance Offers will be forwarded directly from eBay and will appear in My Messages with a blue background and subject stating, “eBay Second Chance Offer for Item…”.

Canceling a Second Chance Offer − To cancel a Second Chance Offer, type the item number for the offer you want to cancel (not the original item number) into the Ending Your Listing Early form. Canceling is recommended if you want to extend an offer to another non-winning bidder without waiting for the offer to expire, or if you have more offers open than items available.

Leaving Feedback − A seller can leave feedback for the winner of the original item and for the buyer who accepts the Second Chance Offer. Buyers, as usual, can leave feedback for the seller.

Sending more than one Second Chance Offer

  • If you are a seller with duplicate items available, you can send a Second Chance Offer for each duplicate item. Select one or more bidders that a Second Chance Offer will be extended; you should extend only one offer per item available for purchase.

  • If you choose to send multiple offers simultaneously for a duplicate item, you risk having multiple offers accepted. To prevent this scenario, you must manually cancel all other open offers immediately upon first acceptance.

  • Non-winning bidders can only receive one Second Chance Offer per listing. If a Second Chance offer expires without a sale, or if the seller chooses to cancel the Second Chance offer, the seller can issue a new offer for that item to a different non-winning bidder, until the list of non-winning bidders is exhausted.

Second Chance Offers for Reserve Price Auctions that did not meet the Reserve Price.

If your Reserve Price was not met and there was at least one bidder, the seller can extend a Second Chance Offer to any of the non-winning bidders. The Second Chance Offer price will be equal to the non-winning bidder's last showing bid amount on the View Item (or the Bid History page).

For example, a seller had a listing that ended at $75.31 and the reserve price was not met. The listing had three bidders. Bidder A had a final displayed bid of $75.31, but may have bid a higher maximum amount. Bidder B had a displayed bid of $74.25. Bidder C had a displayed bid of $68.99. If the seller sent a Second Chance Offer to Bidder A, the Buy It Now price offer to that bidder would be $75.31. If the seller sent a Second Chance Offer to Bidder B, the Buy It Now price would be $74.25.

For eBay Motors listings, a seller may set a Buy It Now price less than or equal to the original Reserve Price for listings in these categories, when Reserve Price is not met:

  • Passenger Vehicles

  • Motorcycles

  • Other Vehicles

Unpaid Item

In the unfortunate event that you have an Unpaid Item, you can send a Second Chance Offer to any one of your non-winning bidders to try to complete your sale. Second Chance Offers can be created immediately after a listing ends for up to 60 days. Sellers should ensure that everything possible has been done to resolve the issue with the high bidder before sending a Second Chance Offer to another bidder. See the Unpaid Items Process for details.

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