Drifter wrote:

Anyhow, I *didn't* engage in a bidding war, the other guy won. After the
auction
I was given an offer to "purchase" the radio.

************************************************** *******************************

NO- I'TS A SCAM. i got the same offer on a radio i was outbid on. i
received an email
off ebay for the same item. i emailed the seller and was told it was not
from him. a
scam, i googled ebay scams and found out this is nothing new. the scam
email said the
buyer backed out and i could have the radio for the top bid price. the
old send the
money and never hear from them again. i forwarded the email to ebay.
don't fall for
this one.
Drifter...

This is a common scam.

A few months ago I sold a Questar lens, and a bidder contacted me with a copy of
an email he got from someone claiming to be me offering to close the auction in
return for a prompt wired payment. Fortunately, I was able to confirm it wasn't
me and add a warning to my auction that this was happening.

I've also had people contact me after an auction claiming they were the seller
and the high bidder backed out so the item was available for my bid.
In one case, the guy attempting the fraud was remarkably stupid because I won
the auction, paid for the item, and already had it.

But these kinds of things aren't likely to happen on auctions for items bringing
less than several hundred dollars.