items into their search engine.  To parallel the instance I am about to describe, let's say we wanted to search for a baseball card set from the 1980's.

You could type it into the search engine or (recommended) narrow the search down by category.  For this example, you would go to Sports Memorabilia, Cards & Fan Shop.  The search would be narrowed to Cards with the sub-category being "Baseball-MLB". 

Once in the baseball card section, you can specify what you are seeking.  In this case, you would go to "sets" section.  Ebay breaks down sets into decades, 2000-now, and pre-1950s.  I chose the 1980-1989 sub-category.  I then typed into the search engine the specific year I wanted.

Sounds like a lot of work but it is easy to get the hang of.  On this certain occasion, I placed a bid on a set.  For a short time it was the highest bid but as the auction was nearing its end, I was outbid.  Obviously someone else wanted the set more than I or was willing to pay more for it.  That was it, well I thought it was.

About five days later I received a "second chance offer" on the set.  The offer informed me the auction agreement between the buyer and seller had fallen through and since I had the next highest bid, I had first shot at it.  The e-mail this was sent on looked like Ebay, had the same format as Ebay, but it was not Ebay.

Ebay does have "second chance offers" but there were two tip-offs that foiled the con-man's plan.  The first was if this had been a real Ebay "second chance offer", it would have appeared in "My Ebay".  My Ebay is a "control center" for buyers and sellers.  It has categories for buyers (items won, items lost, items you are watching, etc…) and sellers (items selling, items sold, items not sold, etc…).  The other thing that raised my suspicion was the offer informed me that I was not allowed to contact the original seller of the set. 

In the past, I had been sent a few fake e-mails from so-called sellers claiming I had not paid for an item I had won.  Usually they are items I would not even consider bidding on.  In the case of the baseball set from the 1980's, the bogus e-mail had included a link to the set I had lost the bidding on.  When you click on the "buy it now" option (which is the only choice on second chance offers), if your Ebay ID and password has not been signed in, they will ask for it.  The "mirror website" set up by the con artists looks exactly like Ebay's.

After raising an eyebrow about not being allowed to contact the seller, I of course contacted the seller.  The seller of the set in question did sell to the highest bidder and it was a smooth transaction.  I explained to him the situation and forwarded him the e-mail I had received.  I was informed it was a complete deception but was astonished at how well they copied his item. 

I have been using Ebay for about eight years and mainly use it to buy and sell cards.  Nevertheless I was almost duped into this scheme.  To avoid being in a situation such as this, here are a few tips to watch out for: