EBAY - Private Listings

[pgellis]

I am curious as to why a seller would list an item on eBay as a PRIVATE LISTING?

I used the Search function on the site to research this question and it has been discussed before, but I couldn't find anybody that could supply a legitimate reason for making a listing PRIVATE. Especially, why would you sell a baseball card with a private listing?

[Leon]

Originally Posted by pgellis

I am curious as to why a seller would list an item on eBay as a PRIVATE LISTING?

I used the Search function on the site to research this question and it has been discussed before, but I couldn't find anybody that could supply a legitimate reason for making a listing PRIVATE. Especially, why would you sell a baseball card with a private listing?

So the seller or a friend can shill the auction, is the main reason, imo......

[GoCubsGo32]

For bidding, I'm not sure why. Shill bidding.

[MyGuyTy]

Originally Posted by Leon

So the seller or a friend can shill the auction, is the main reason, imo......

Exactly, in other words.......don't bid in private auctions on Ebay.

[pgellis]

That's the obvious answers that I was thinking too. Can anyone come up with a "legitimate" reason for making a listing PRIVATE?

[MyGuyTy]

Originally Posted by pgellis

That's the obvious answers that I was thinking too. Can anyone come up with a "legitimate" reason for making a listing PRIVATE?

I remember back in the early days of Ebay, auctions involving "adult" items like videos and toys were always usually private .........sorry that's all I could come up with.

[Michael B]

There actually was a legitimate reason to do this. Back when you could view who was bidding on auctions you would want to protect the identity of the bidders. This was not just to prevent people from detecting shill bidding, but also to prevent revenge or adverse bidding; i,e. I know you are bidding on an item that you will pay any amount and very few other people are interested. I bid on it, even if not interested, just to force you to pay a higher amount. As a seller you would want to maximize your auction, but if the original person detected this and rescinded their bid you would lose out as the revenge bidder would then rescind their bids. It may also discourage the offers to end the auctions early.

As a seller of a popular item it would also help increase interest and attract more bidders in another way. I collect an item, but I see that Leon, who has more money than Moses, is also bidding on the item. He always wins any item he bids on so why bother bidding. If I cannot see who the bidders are I may bid and hope that Leon missed that listing. Most sellers may not recognize that, but I am sure some do. I know when I sell items I see bids from people who I know will pay any price and others are wasting their time, but they bid anyway. I recognize who will pay a good price and who the bargain hunters are. I will actually have listings for both types of bidders.

Full disclosure: I have never had a private listing and never would. I have never ended an auction early to sell the item. That is not honest.

[pgellis]

Yes, I know the multiple "legitimate" reasons for a PRIVATE listing back in the day, but now that you cannot see any buyer's full ID or even contact them directly anymore, what reason can you have today for a PRIVATE listing?

[thecatspajamas]

The reasons Michael B gave are still legitimate even though eBay now scrambles IDs because they scramble IDs in a consistent manner. It's tantamount to assigning everyone a new ID that is only seen in the bid histories. If you buy and sell in the same niche market enough, you can learn who's who in spite of the "scrambling".

FWIW though, I think any seller that is putting so much thought into their selling that the reasons Michael gave are the driving force behind how they list on eBay is really thinking about it too much. I'm sure there are a few cases where it has been detrimental to the bidding, but I seriously doubt that anyone has had so much trouble with "revenge bidding" on their items that it's driving away their customers and they've had to protect their pet whales' identities. Unless they're selling porn, the "I just want you to leave me alone while I shill" explanation seems the simpler and more likely scenario.

[Smanzari]

I actually had this happen recently- but it was for supplies from a wholesaler. I'm thinking their reason was in assumption that I was a re-seller....

[whiteymet]

Originally Posted by thecatspajamas

The reasons Michael B gave are still legitimate even though eBay now scrambles IDs because they scramble IDs in a consistent manner. It's tantamount to assigning everyone a new ID that is only seen in the bid histories. If you buy and sell in the same niche market enough, you can learn who's who in spite of the "scrambling".

FWIW though, I think any seller that is putting so much thought into their selling that the reasons Michael gave are the driving force behind how they list on eBay is really thinking about it too much. I'm sure there are a few cases where it has been detrimental to the bidding, but I seriously doubt that anyone has had so much trouble with "revenge bidding" on their items that it's driving away their customers and they've had to protect their pet whales' identities. Unless they're selling porn, the "I just want you to leave me alone while I shill" explanation seems the simpler and more likely scenario.

Funny this discussion came up today. I just took a look at an auction I I had bid on to see if I could figure out who won it only to see it was a private listing. However I later for some reason checked it again on my cell phone, ebay mobile or whatever it is called and the bidders scrambled ID's are shown, while on my home computer it say private listing! Anyone else have the same experience?