I bid on a De Lorean on eBay, with a max of $9,300.10

Two other bidders drove the bidding up to $17,750, and the item ended.
Simple so far, right?

Both of them turned out to be deadbeat bidders. So the seller offered me a 'second chance offer'

So eBay's email offered me the car for $9,300.10. In fact here's what the email said:

Good news! The following eBay item on which you placed a bid for US $9,300.10 on 20-Apr-06 14:56:52 EDT is now available for purchase:

Your price: US $9,300.10
Offer end day: 29-Apr-06 14:48:40 EDT

but the seller is claiming no, I have to pay $17,750.

If I email him saying I accept the offer, and cc it to eBay, will they make him sell it per those terms, or am I SOL?

 

I would email EBay first and make certain they agree that the seller is wrong. Then I would email him the offer of 9,xxx "Take it or Leave it." If he refuses, then send ebay the refusal letter explaining that you suspect his friends were shilling for him and be done with it.

 

Yep, classic shilling. They thought they had a fish on hook but did not.

 

if you accept the offer you only have to pay your max bid.
most times that i have seen this it is a scam. they offer the second chance to several different bidders. anyone who takes the offer and sends money gets ripped off.

 

You're only liable to your max bid.

There's been an unusually large number of eBay DeLorean fraud's the last year or so, so be careful. Document everything and inform eBay each step.

 

already done - I've emailed eBay twice through safe harbour, and sent the seller an email through ebay's own system accepting the offer. At $9,300 for a straight, running D with a clean interior, I can't go too far wrong, and I have a US address for them to deliver it to which hugely diminishes shipping charges.