Create a second chance offer

Trading API calls can be used to:

• Determine if an item is eligible to be offered as a Second Chance Offer,
• Create the Second Chance Offer.

The first step in extending a Second Chance Offer is to retrieve a list of all users who bid on the original listing by calling GetAllBidders. One of the call modes for GetAllBidders returns a list of all of the original listing's bidders along with the ID of the winning bidder (if there was one) and the amount of the winning bid. From this list, the seller can select a single user to whom the seller will extend the Second Chance Offer.

Once a list of the original listing's bidders has been retrieved, the seller can extend a Second Chance Offer to one or more of those non-winning bidders. To do this, an application must use the AddSecondChanceItem. Execute AddSecondChanceItem once for each target recipient non-winning bidder to which the seller wishes to extend the Second Chance Offer.

Identify the recipient user by specifying the eBay user ID in the RecipientBidderUserID property of the AddSecondChanceItem request. A call to AddSecondChanceItem fails with an error if the user specified in RecipientBidderUserID has already received a Second Chance Offer for the same item.

Specify the item ID for the item's original listing in the OriginalItemId property.

The application also passes a value in the Duration property that indicates how long (in days) the Second Chance Offer is to be available to the specified recipient user. If the user does not elect to purchase the item in that time, the Second Chance Offer expires.

The price in the Second Chance Offer can vary. If the original listing was an eBay Motors item and the auction ended without the reserve price met, the seller specifies the price in the BuyItNowPrice property of AddSecondChanceItem. The price that the seller specifies must be less than or equal to the reserve price used for the original listing. The same is true in some categories on U.S. and international marketplaces for high-priced items (such as items in many U.S. and Canada Business and Industrial categories). For all other items, the price is determined automatically by eBay and the application does not supply this value as input. It is the value of the highest bid that the specified offer recipient made on the item in the original listing. If that offer recipient declines to purchase the item and the seller makes another Second Chance Offer to a different non-winning bidder, then the price is based on that bidder's highest bid.

A successful call creates a new Second Chance Offer listing for the item (which includes assigning a new item ID to the item) and sends an email to the non-winning bidder from the original listing to whom the seller wishes to extend the Second Chance Offer. The recipient user may then go to the Second Chance Offer listing on the eBay marketplace to purchase the item. The new Second Chance Offer listing is only available to the specified user. It does not appear in any search or listing page on the eBay marketplace where someone who did not participate in the original listing could view or bid on the item.

AddSecondChanceItem returns data similar to that returned by AddItem, including fees for the new listing. In addition, AddSecondChanceItem returns values that are specific to Second Chance Offer items:

• The item ID for the new offer listing (ItemID)
• The user ID for the bidder to whom the Second Chance Offer was extended (RecipientBidderUserID)
• The start and end times of the Second Chance Offer (StartTime and EndTime, respectively)
• The fees for the new offer listing (Fees)

Prior to using AddSecondChanceItem (which results in a new Second Chance Offer listing,) an application can test the input values and give the seller an idea of what the listing fees would be by using VerifyAddSecondChanceItem. The VerifyAddSecondChanceItem call acts in every way like AddSecondChanceItem, except that it does not actually create a new Second Chance Offer listing or incur any actual listing fees. VerifyAddSecondChanceItem is to AddSecondChanceItem what VerifyAddItem is to AddItem.

Second Chance Offers may only be made to users who have enabled the preference indicating they will accept such offers (refer to the "Preferences" tab on the My eBay page). If the input for AddSecondChanceItem specifies a user who has this preference set to not receive offers, the call fails with error 974, "Bidder not eligible to receive a Second Chance Offer." (Verbose error string: "Unfortunately, the bidder has chosen not to receive Second Chance Offer emails.")