Ebay to eliminate winning bidder IDs

[Archive]

Posted By: Marc S.

Well -- this can only further increase the probability that sellers can shill their auctions....since winning bidders will not be apparent, and there is a clear incentive to do so. It's almost an easy way for infrequent sellers to run around the reserve auction prices by simply shilling up to what the reserve might have been.

Gotta love Ebay and all their tinkering.



October 28, 2008

Making Winning Bidder IDs Anonymous

Early last year, we began to anonymize bidder IDs on listings. This change was designed to protect bidders from fake Second Chance Offers and other malicious emails. As I’ve shared before, this initiative has been very successful, resulting in a 90% reduction in this type of fraud.

Today, however, the winning bidder’s ID is currently visible to everyone after the listing ends, and this continues to lead to fake checkout offers and other spam. Consequently, it also leads to unpaid items, as winning bidders who fall victim to these fake emails often send payment to someone other than the seller.

Based on the positive results we’ve seen by anonymizing bidder User IDs, as well as our commitment to protecting all bidders from becoming targets for fraudsters, we’ve decided to extend anonymized User IDs to winning bidders, as well. This change will be implemented sometime this week.

As always, the following information will still be accessible:


Sellers will be able to view all bidder IDs on their listings.
All members can click on the bidder ID and view the bidder’s Bid History page, which will detail the categories in which they’ve bid over the past 30 days.
Feedback pages will show the same information as now – buyer and seller IDs, with comments visible to all.
Thanks for taking the time to read about these updates to improve safety on eBay, and we thank you for your support.

Sincerely,


John Canfield
Senior Director, eBay Trust & Safety