I missed the bid by a few seconds but I emailed the seller. They said they would sell me the item anyways. But the reply says

eBay Marketplace Safety Tip:
If this email is an offer to sell you an item without winning the listing on eBay, please report it to us at
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies...ebay-sale.html.
Please do not respond to it. Regardless of the apparent feedback of the sender or any claims they might make, such an offer is not only against our rules, but it is extremely risky. It is unsafe to purchase such an item through a transaction that is not on our site. You will lose the benefit of eBay's purchase protection programs, and run the risk of losing your money.

I really need the item how can I make this work, w/o getting ripped off.

check the seller's feedback. if it's mainly positive, it should be fine. be wary of any sellers with a recent string of negative feedback as well.

as for the eBay email stating:

"It is unsafe to purchase such an item through a transaction that is not on our site. You will lose the benefit of eBay's purchase protection programs, and run the risk of losing your money."

since the beginning of time, people have engaged in transactions. they're no more safe now that eBay is involved, you can still get ripped off. eBay just wants their cut of the sale.

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