someone else on Ebay is selling an equivalent X. The dealer follows the auction to completion, when complete, the dealer sends email to the second highest bidder and asks if they would like to purchase the item from them for the price they offered the seller. This is a scam? Give it a break guys. If I bid on something and am not the high bidder I would like a chance to buy. If you don't then don't reply. Sometimes you can get in a bidding war and end up pay many times the value of an item, I.E. Imsai or Altec on Ebay, Is it really that different than making an offer here to someone who has something you want? So who looses if a seller contacts you and you agree on a fair price? Ebay? Time to face the facts Ebay, Yahoo, etc., etc. auctions are going to stay a while.