ebay blocks search by bidder

[chaddurbin]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Bid history is probably next to be wiped out.

then after they can work on the code to automatically delete those pesky scans/photos as soon as the auction ends.

[Rollingstone206]

delete

[thetruthisoutthere]

Geez, I guess Ebay was losing a ton of greenbacks due to buyers of forgeries demanding refunds after they were alerted that they purchased a forgery.......

[HRBAKER]

So we think that ebay instituted this change to their entire site over forged autographs? Just asking as it probably represents .000000000? of their business.

[cardaholic]

Originally Posted by HRBAKER

So we think that ebay instituted this change to their entire site over forged autographs? Just asking as it probably represents .000000000? of their business.

Fakes of all kinds make ebay money - from purses to autographs.

[ibuysportsephemera]

eBay is doing everything it can to be Amazon.

Jeff

[auggiedoggy]

Back in the wild, wild west days of eBay when there were more holes in their security than a fishing net, people could see who outbid them on an item and even contact them. It happened to me. I placed a winning bid in the final seconds of an auction and within 5 minutes I received a nasty message from the person I beat out. Personally, I'm glad they hide the IDs. Who needs that nonsense!

p.s. What eBay needs to reinstate is the ability for sellers to give negative feedback to buyers.

[thecatspajamas]

Originally Posted by ibuysportsephemera

eBay is doing everything it can to be Amazon.

Jeff

+1 Anytime you wonder what eBay's motivation for doing something is, just ask yourself "how would Amazon do it?" I can hear the eBay execs now, "What? You mean Amazon doesn't tell everyone who bought that widget from Seller A? Then why the heck are we doing that? Get the code monkeys to strip that info out of there!"

Also remember that autographs, and sports collectibles in general, are a very very small part of the overall eBay pie. If they are doing something that affects every eBay user's experience, you can bet their reasons (however nonsensical) are influenced by something broader than our corner of collecting.

Update: Found this response from an eBay employee on one of their message boards:
"Yes, this is a new change to the site. We expect that with the features we're announcing today (new profile pages, collections, etc.) that there will be more visitors viewing each other's pages. Buyers may not want to share their past purchases with the general public, so the details on what items were purchased have been made private. You can still see someone else's buyer feedback and their ratings. The details on what they purchased and for how much are the elements that have been made private. Also, you can still search by bidder if you'd like from Advanced Search. If you click on a search by seller first, you will see an option to search by bidder as well."

As usual, in an attempt to make the site more attractive to new users (or at least, new users who don't want people seeing what they buy), eBay removes or hides functionality that established users actually find useful.

[HRBAKER]

Originally Posted by cardaholic

Fakes of all kinds make ebay money - from purses to autographs.

OK, so ebay is instituting these changes to make it easier for sellers to sell fakes of all kinds?

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by HRBAKER

OK, so ebay is instituting these changes to make it easier for sellers to sell fakes of all kinds?

Intended or Unintended, they are doing this in order to create less things that are reportable or easily tracked. Less headaches for Ebay, less overhead for them.......spreading the liability and expense out to others besides Ebay.