slightly OT: eBay search by Bidder

[autograf]

So unless I'm missing something, eBay search by bidder has been down for about a week now......and I'm assuming it's going to slowly go away. Or fastly go away. First they took it off the search page when you click on 'advanced'. If you hit 'advanced' and then 'seller', it shows up, but it's not on the main 'advanced' page. Now my saved bidder searches aren't working nor is the ability to just pop a name in there.

Another potential eBay fail in a long line of fails..............

[Milton]

Ebay buyers will eventually have zero accountability.

[Rollingstone206]

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[4815162342]

Originally Posted by Rollingstone206

What constructive purpose do you use this search for

+1 I'm sure you have a good reason, but a saved bidder search sounds kinda creepy.

[autograf]

Curious to see what some friends win and know they have the same saved on me. Assuming ebay saw some benefit of it to have it since 1995.......kind of like leaving feedback for bidders.....and all of the other benefits they've seen fit to eliminate in their ever-increasing goal to be Amazon......

[Rollingstone206]

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[thecatspajamas]

I noticed this as well. I hope that it's only temporary, as it was one of the few useful tools remaining, but with it actually being disabled rather than just hidden, I fear that it's gone for good.

As for why one would use it, I sometimes like to look and see what other items a new-to-me buyer has made when I get an oddball offer from them on one of my items. Just another way to make a quick character judgment sometimes when the buyer is otherwise unknown to me. For example, if they're giving me down the road for daring to ask $1000 for something, and they offer to "take it off my hands" for $200, but I look at their history and it shows they have never bought anything over $20, it's really hard to take them seriously.

It can also be useful in some cases for investigating unusual and shill bidding, and as Tom said, just seeing what your buddies have bought lately to see if they need an impromptu "congrats!"

Oh, and it's also useful for stalking Tom and making off-Bay offers to anyone he's buying Louisville Colonels stuff from I say that jokingly, but I understand that scenario has played out many times (even among Net54 members) with competitors stalking each other to interfere with the other's eBay dealings.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by thecatspajamas

I noticed this as well. I hope that it's only temporary, as it was one of the few useful tools remaining, but with it actually being disabled rather than just hidden, I fear that it's gone for good.

As for why one would use it, I sometimes like to look and see what other items a new-to-me buyer has made when I get an oddball offer from them on one of my items. Just another way to make a quick character judgment sometimes when the buyer is otherwise unknown to me. For example, if they're giving me down the road for daring to ask $1000 for something, and they offer to "take it off my hands" for $200, but I look at their history and it shows they have never bought anything over $20, it's really hard to take them seriously.

It can also be useful in some cases for investigating unusual and shill bidding, and as Tom said, just seeing what your buddies have bought lately to see if they need an impromptu "congrats!"

Oh, and it's also useful for stalking Tom and making off-Bay offers to anyone he's buying Louisville Colonels stuff from I say that jokingly, but I understand that scenario has played out many times (even among Net54 members) with competitors stalking each other to interfere with the other's eBay dealings.

Yup, all of the above. It's one of the few tools left for a seller to help protect themselves from sketchy bidders.

Like the guy you have blocked because he has too many unpaid items on his record, he contacts you and asks why he's blocked, and you go and look at his bidder list and noticed he has bid on 100 things in the past week, look deeper and see he had a ton of retractions and is just generally a problem bidder.

Or the guy who can't pay you until next month because his grandmother is in the hospital, his dog just died, and he needs to pay for surgery on the bunyon on his big toe...but you look a little deeper and see he's still throwing out bids and spending thousands of $'s, getting feedback from others, but for some reason can't pay YOU.

It's just a general way to suss out fishy bidders, and as mentioned already, keep track of some of the suspected shillers.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by 4815162342

+1 I'm sure you have a good reason, but a saved bidder search sounds kinda creepy.

I used to use it to see what card doctors whose IDs I knew were buying.

[ooo-ribay]

Originally Posted by Rollingstone206

What constructive purpose do you use this search for

as others have said, I use it to keep tabs on two friends who collect the same stuff as me. It would let me know if I had missed anything. I hope they bring it back...

[Wite3]

I always hated the search by bidder function...

Back in the old days (before snipes), I had two buyers who would let me essentially do all the work (searching, finding, etc.) and then bid the hell out of me (not meanly, they just had more money).

I also did not like it back when I tried to turn over stuff I found. I would have people email me constantly with things like "I see you got it for $12 but you listed it at $300!!" Well, yes I did, because it was originally listed in the wrong category, with no picture, and Mantle misspelled Mantel!!

Drove me crazy...now...not so much since i rarely search and bid like before and when i do, I snipe.

Joshua

[autograf]

Useful on many levels......kind of like accurate bidder feedback.....but they jacked that up too. The 800 lb gorilla sleeps where they want to though.......

[whiteymet]

Another useful function of the bidder search is you could look at your own bidder page and see the ebay bidder ID of those who won the auctions you bid on.

It let you see others who collect what you collect.

MISS it BIG TIME