Posted By:
Jim VBEric,
I spent about 30 minutes in a live chat with an ebay rep after my incident. It was my impression that in many cases there was nothing done to actually compromise most of the accounts. However, ebay's security systems told them that some MAY have been compromised. He would not actually say this in so many words, but I was left with 2 thoughts. First was the idea that they do look at entry to accounts from multiple IPs. This could, for many people, be home, office, mobile and/or a snipe service. The rep did say, several times, that use of a snipe service should not trigger ebay's alerts. However I think he wasn't 100% sure.
More importantly, I think ebay has used these alerts to force some of us to change and strengthen our passwords. I admit I have not changed mine in 10+ years. Mine was so old it was 4 digits. They now require at least 6 digits and recommend use of letters and numbers.
I don't think there was an actual compromise of most accounts, just an ebay reaction to a feared alert.
The only concern is that if they continue to do it, you might lose an item you want if you're sniping. I was within 28 minutes of a set snipe when I got my ebay alert.