eBay: Bidders' Identities Protected
 

While checking out listings on eBay, I like to check the bidder history to make sure nothing fishy was going on. I came across a listing, and all of the bidders information were listed as "private listing - bidders' identities protected".
I then checked out the Sellers's other listings and every single one of their listings had the same thing.
Bidder names are already protected from the public so the only thing this really hides is whether the bidder has made multiple bids on the item. It also hides their feedback. It hides their bid retractions also.
My thoughts is that it only stops others from seeing all the shilling that is happening. I feel that eBay does not care and just wants to protect their bigger earners.
I don't want to be the one to put out the Seller's name but I will say that they have been mentioned in this Forum more than any other.

I would love to hear what others think the reasoning behind this is.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

$$$

I was kidding on a 1950 Big League Dutch Mele from PWCC...and the only other bidder was one of these private id's. Sounds like BS, especially since it was a PWCC listing.

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As a Seller, I would not even know how to hide my bidders' identities. Not that I would ever do that. I wonder whether you need to get special approval from eBay to do this.

Originally, I thought it was used for porn on Ebay

I guess it's now used for shilling too.

Been noticing this more and more over the last several months - WTF!

I can't believe that "someone" hasn't stepped up and built an eBay competitor.

Been on eBay since June 1, 1996 and it has been swirling around in the bowl non stop since then.

Just needs to get finally flushed!

I don't sell much but lately I have stuff listed to fund a couple of T206 purchases. I noticed that the default on my listing was "bidders identities private". After the first listing I changed it back. The last stuff I sold on eBay was at least a couple of years ago and I don't remember that at all.

People getting screwed!

Are bidder names protected when Blowout can identify buyers/sellers/cons with investigative work?

I'm no advocate of all the fishyness on ebay, shill bidding, bid cancellation (a seller canceled my bid for the first time this week), etc. But ebay's previous discrepency wasn't that great. And their name attachment to every Blowout forum is an embarrassment. I know exactly why they did this. They built a brand and they're maintaining their brand - right or wrong.

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I'm curious, are there any legitimate reasons why a listing would need to have Private Bidding turned on?

Only to protect something that is shady.

Not to defend PWCC but do you know bidders identities in any other auction? I won't bid with PWCC regardless because they have consistently demonstrated their lack of ethics, but you don't get to see bidder information anywhere else, do you?

No, but most auction houses have a vetting process to assign a bidder number. Thats not the case with Ebay.

Correct. And even if the vetting is minimal, I can at least see that "Bidder 22" has been against me. I can get a sense of whether I'm bidding against 10 interested parties or 1 passionate bidder.

Anson, you and Scott are both right. In a traditional AH, you have no idea who the other bidders are. However, you should be able to take some comfort that the bidders are real and have been vetted by the AH. This provides much comfort. That said, while it is a little more difficult, and may take assistance from another party, any lot in a normal AH can be shilled. No doubt that consignors have had friends or associates bid up the consignor’s lot. I even think some AH software allows a consignor to bid on their own lots, which I actually think is legal in most states (Scott knows for sure).

My point is that while ebay is a shit show and PWCC is the star of the show, all AHs are vulnerable to shilling. All you can really do is decide what you are willing to pay and stick to that; be happy if you win and move on if you lose.

I will say this - eBay has become the Wild West or the dark web. I rarely buy off eBay and only from vendors I have bought from before (most of whom I can find off eBay). I don’t think I could ever sell using eBay with all the scams, no-pays, and theft/fraud I read about on this board. I will consign to a real AH

Agree

Atleast when the bidders identity is not blocked, I am able to see that a bidder has x many retractions. I can also see if this bidder is bidding up all the other items in a Sellers auction. Now, that it's set to private, it's anyones guess.

So, it's not the actual identity of the bidder that I am concerned with. This has been hidden for over the past year or so.

If you really want something from a seller like PWCC or Probstein, just get a sniper and set your bid for 10 seconds before it ends. That will eliminate some of the shilling. I use Myibidder and it really is a time saver.

Everyone is right about bidder ID's but way back in the day and iMHO the reason Ebay stopped showing full bidder ID names was this:

Let's say there are two cards from the same insert/parallel set) #'d to 25 of the newest hottest star (let's call him Shane Spencer).

The first person who has Shane sells it through an active bidding part. The other person holding the #d to 25 card would then message the low bidder and make the 2nd card available *outside of Ebay* for the price they were previously willing to pay. Sale made, EBay gets nothing, Ebay not happy; EBay changes policy on Bidder ID's. Yes it's that simple

Rich

Rich has a very good point and there are two other scenarios that are nefarious in nature, but not on the part of the seller.

1. I see you are bidding on an item that I already have. However, you are collecting the same thing I am. I buy it just so you cannot own it. Creating Richard envy.

2. You are bidding on something. There is no love lost between us. I bid it up since I know you are willing to pay a certain amount for the item. You pay a lot more than you would have if I had not bid. I fornicate you just because I can.