another ebay question

[icefields]

never noticed this before.. checked on an item i bid on.

private listing - bidders' identities protected. at the last second as i was the only bidder and was getting an item for a buck.

what does it mean?

how does the bidder remain anonymous ?
could this be used as shill bidding, by the seller to run up his own item?
is ebay aware of the buyers name? or is it hidden from ebay too.

this would be a fantastic seller tool, i mean if you want to start an item low so you fee is small, and then run up the bids until you get the price you want.

but its kinda shady for ebay to even allow this "privacy"

comments?

[subban7677]

You can choose to hide your bidders somewhere in the settings. I believe ebay can see them. Can this be used as a way to hide shilling? Yup. That's why I'm uneasy bidding on these.

[30ranfordfan]

Since you have not been able to see a bidder's username in years, can anyone explain why this is still an option?

[subban7677]

Since you have not been able to see a bidder's username in years, can anyone explain why this is still an option?

Even if you can't see a bidder's name you can still see who bid what. If bidder o***e has shilled, you can tell (sort of). Why they allow private bidders at all? I have no idea.

[30ranfordfan]

Even if you can't see a bidder's name you can still see who bid what. If bidder o***e has shilled, you can tell (sort of). Why they allow private bidders at all? I have no idea.

Yeah, I get that.

I should explain my question better:

When you could see "30ranfordfan" was the bidder, years ago, I can understand why someone would want to have private bids. Protect the winner's identity (if, for some reason, it mattered?).

Now that you see "o**e" - what is the point of private bids, other than the blur legit bids from shills? I get why a seller would do things like that (end the auction higher, lol) but why is that a feature that eBay provides? What's the usefulness supposed to be?

[subban7677]

Yeah, I get that.

I should explain my question better:

When you could see "30ranfordfan" was the bidder, years ago, I can understand why someone would want to have private bids. Protect the winner's identity (if, for some reason, it mattered?).

Now that you see "o**e" - what is the point of private bids, other than the blur legit bids from shills? I get why a seller would do things like that (end the auction higher, lol) but why is that a feature that eBay provides? What's the usefulness supposed to be?

You can theoretically figure out a bidder from the "starred out" name, but it takes some legwork. Some guy kept beating me out on auctions a while back and I was curious who he was. A couple of minutes of research I had it figured out (cross reference feedback # of buyer and "feedback left for seller" and BAM). Private bids would stop that. BUT...that still doesn't answer the question of WHY they have BOTH the starred out and private options. You would think it would be one or the other. I'm sure there's a reason, I just can't think of what it could possibly be.

[icefields]

recently i lost a bunch of bids at the last second.
i checked who bid and funnily enough found out this.
each bidder id was different BUT the feedback from each bidder was exactly the same - 55 -

so based on what i saw i believe that ebay uses a different fractured id (example r*****r) for each bid
i checked my bids and found the same sort of thing, first i was i******ts, then e*****ww, then i****ss

so i think a seller can and sometimes does shill his own auctions. i have no definitive proof just a series of odd circumstances.

[subban7677]

recently i lost a bunch of bids at the last second.
i checked who bid and funnily enough found out this.
each bidder id was different BUT the feedback from each bidder was exactly the same - 55 -

so based on what i saw i believe that ebay uses a different fractured id (example r*****r) for each bid
i checked my bids and found the same sort of thing, first i was i******ts, then e*****ww, then i****ss

so i think a seller can and sometimes does shill his own auctions. i have no definitive proof just a series of odd circumstances.

If that's true, that's new. The usernames used to always show the same, even over multiple auctions. Weird.

[Maggot]

This feature exists for high dollar auctions where the buyers are wanting to remain completely anonymous - i.e. gold and silver lots, Rolexes, etc.