If I offer a second chance offer on ebay do I get charged the final valuation fee twice??

No. What you will need to do is send a request to cancel the original transaction to the original buyer. Assuming that you are making a second chance offer because the original buyer has indicated they no longer want the item the transaction will be mutually withdrawn and the final value fee will be credited to your account. You can then make the second chance offer and get charged a final value fee based on that transaction.

The problem is I'm cancelling because the buyer is messing me around and hasn't paid. He is also very suspicious in his dealings and I've been contacted by other ebay members to say that theyre also having difficulties and they think he may be a scammer! Do I have to send this request to the original buyer?

You will have to report your buyer as a non paying bidder first of all (I think it's about 10 days after the transaction before you can do this) and then after a further wait 🙄 if no correspondence, then ebay will credit your final value fees and you can make a second chance offer (often thought that this is a waste of time as several weeks down the line it's unlikely that the second bidder in line is going to still want the item anyway). Though, as geetee says, if your buyer does reply that he no longer wants the item and you mutually agree to cancel the transaction then things can happen a little more quickly. Ebay . . . dontcha just love it 😕

Technically no you can second chance offer and sell the item before you cancel the original transaction. It's better to try and resolve the issue first if for no other reason than you stand to make more money that way. What's actually happening did you ask for payment via paypal?

This is going to turn into a nightmare I can see!!

The guy I've been dealing with is acting like a d**k! Yesterday he texted me to say "let's leave it can't keep trying to make this work". So I texted back "if youre unable to arrange a transfer (of money) then lets leave it" I wished him good luck with his other purchases and then signed off best wishes.

He then replies that "the decision is yours" and I was under the impression that we had mutually agreed not to go through with it. Then this morning he texts to say "I'm assuming you dont want to sell your bike – I shall post a detailed comment. Not impressed to say the least" (presumably on ebay).

In the meantime someone who he was going to buy a bike from said that he arranged to apy in cash and then his girlfriend rang to say he had forgot his wallet (after driving from Oxford to Newcastle) and would he accept pay pal. Worried about a chargeback scam this guy said no and hasn't heard anything.
TBH I dont want anything to do with this guy so am reluctant to reply to his text this morning or contact him via ebay. I've already contacted the second highest bidder and they want to go through with the sale.

There are a couple of key learning points here, the most important one being to always use Paypal for payment. I know it's another cost, but the benefit of having such a convenient and remote payment system is worth it. If nothing else, it allows you to keep your distance from the buyer and not have to get into messy arrangements. If you're going to go through with the second chance offer, then I suggest you ensure they use paypal, even if they are collecting in person.
Don't worry about the original buyer; he can't leave negative feedback if he hasn't paid for the item and if he's not using paypal to do that, then there is no automatic way he can get access to the feedback system.
Another key point is that it's always better to sell a complete bike in bits, rather than as a whole bike. That makes each transaction so much easier and you will always get far more from the sum of the parts. Of course, it is a lot more hassle for posting.
In your shoes, I would make the second chance offer at the same time as sending a cancellation request to the original buyer.

geetee
the problem is paypal isn't 100% safe – google chargeback paypal
only method as far as I can see is bank transfer

There are a couple of key learning points here

For me, the first one is don't use ebay!

Rich
the problem is I advertised my bike on STW for a month and elsewhere, dropped it to £1600 and no luck. Within a week on ebay I sold it for £1800 – yes I know that it technically isn't sold til I have the money but hopefully the second highest bidders will be ok. I think there's always a risk wherever you are selling.

Hitman – can you tell me what's not safe about Paypal? I have been using it for five years for around 200 transactions and have never had a problem. Thing is, if there is a scam, I'm not aware of it so it would be good to know.

gee
My understanding is that the buyer can make a payment and then retract it using the chargeback system. TBH havent looked at it in depth – as soon as I saw there was some doubt I requested bank transfer instead. Its interesting that the buyer was prepared to pay using paypal with the other ebay member but not prepared to carry out a bank transfer.

One point can I ask you – if the buyer does not reply to the request to cancel the transcation then presumably I end up paying two final valuation fees if I sell to the next highest bidder?

gee
here's one link relating to chargeback:

http://reviews.ebay.co.uk/The-Paypal-Chargeback-Scam_W0QQugidZ10000000002357116

Never accept paypal for anything that is collected. The only proof of delivery paypal accept is from a proper courier company or royal fail, it doesn't matter if the buyer signs a receipt or you take a photo of them with your item. If they raise a item not received claim and you can't provide acceptable (to paypal) proof of delivery they will side with the buyer and refund them, they will still do this even if the buyer has left positive feedback.

Well I learned something new today. Thanks for that.

It's never happened to me but it does highlight that you can't always be sure.