Combating Spoof -Making It Easier to Distinguish Legitimate Second Chance Offers

[bargainbloodhound]

***Combating Spoof - Making It Easier to Distinguish Legitimate Second Chance Offers*** 

April 20, 2006 | 11:55AM PST/PT


Hi everyone. It's Scott Loper here, back again with news from eBay's Buyer Product Team. One of the features my team works on is Second Chance Offer. In case you've never used it, Second Chance Offer gives sellers an easy way to offer an item to non-winning bidders – when they have more than one of that item to sell, their listing ends without a winner (such as if they are using Reserve), or if the winner doesn't actually complete the transaction. Second Chance Offers are great for interested buyers, plus they are a powerful selling tool for sellers. 

Unfortunately, fake Second Chance offers can be used by phishers and fraudsters to defraud eBay members. Fake Second Chance Offers are emails which are designed to look like legitimate Second Chance Offers.  The fraudsters who create them hope you will believe they are from the original seller.  In reality, they are trying to get you to send money to the spoofer for the non-existent item.

To combat this fraud, we're making some changes in the next few days that will make it easier for you to tell when you have received a legitimate Second Chance Offer. If your seller has sent you a Second Chance Offer, you'll soon be able to verify its authenticity in the following locations:

    * The closed item page for that listing, underneath the “You were outbid” message.
    * The ‘Items I Didn't Win' section within My eBay by clicking on the “Second Chance Offers” link.
    * At the top of any eBay page after you sign in (next to the “Hello, ” message under the header).

In addition, sellers will be able to add a personalized message to the buyer whenever they send an Second Chance Offer.

Along with these new features designed to protect against fake “Second Chance Offers”, we remind you that sellers may not ask buyers to send cash through instant cash transfer services (non-bank, point-to-point cash transfers) such as Western Union or Moneygram. For more information about Second Chance Offers, please see our information page. For more information on how to stay safe online, please visit our Security & Resolution Center.