You’ve put in the time to create a great listing, answer questions, qualify bidders, gather proof of revenue and traffic. It looks like you’ve secured a great buyer from your pool of highest bidders, and the auction ends with a winning bid. Normally, congratulations are in order. In some cases, though, a post-auction issue prevents the transaction from moving forward. Today, we’re launching a new way for sellers to ensure a sale when the top bidder goes MIA.
What happens when something goes wrong?
When a listing ends but the buyer and seller can’t reach an agreement on the sale terms, or in the rare cases where a buyer simply disappears, we ask both parties to take part in a dispute process. Prior to today, the seller’s sole option was then to re-list their site for free, with all applicable upgrades, and we’d let all previous bidders and watchers know that the site was back on auction.
Enter Second Chance Offers
The launch of Second Chance Offers adds one more opportunity for sellers to make a deal from their original auction. Here’s how it works:
- When a dispute is resolved in the seller’s favour, the seller will have the option of making a Second Chance Offer to the second highest bidder, for the amount of the previous sale. If the seller chooses, they can opt to re-list their site right away.
- The second highest bidder then has 72 hours to communicate with the seller and either accept or decline the offer.
- If the offer is accepted, the second highest bidder is declared the winner of the auction
- If the offer is rejected, or if 72 hours go by without a response from the second highest bidder, the seller is offered the chance to re-list their site.
This has long been a top request from frequent sellers, so we’re happy to be unveiling it today. While we hope you never have to deal with a non-paying bidder, this is no longer a deal-killer.