According to the boards on Ebay, it seems this is a knee jerk response to the recent security breach, with this particular report being the culprit.
http://www.fool.com/investing/genera...rity-conc.aspx
An emphasis on the following quote:
Researchers at the New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering and NYU Shanghai have discovered a privacy flaw that allows site visitors to view a buyer's complete purchase history. That's a severe privacy breach, potentially revealing very personal information.
So apparently these geniuses have "discovered" a security flaw, that has existed on Ebay for as long as anybody can remember.
As recently as yesterday, Ebay pinks on the forums were pretending they didn't even know this was an issue, and would contact the tech team.
http://community.ebay.com/t5/Weekly-...2179096/page/2
Apparently the tech team has been contacted and is working on the problem. The suspicious part of me thinks it will only continue to be a problem as long as people keep asking about it.