[carnut2256]

Just checked in to an ongoing auction for a very rare and in demand WL, and noticed something odd. E Bay had now removed the bidders names and sustituted Bidder 1, Bidder 2, etc.

Never saw that before, and it causes me to wonder how I can watch out for other Hobby Talkers who may be bidding on the same item. I traditionally will e-mail a known/familiar HT member if they're bidding on an item I'm watching or bidding on as well, to prevent needlessly running up an auction that one of us may have a limit on and won't win anyhow. This really ends that

Is this something new, or have I been missing it?

 

[wlpaul]

They did that on the 12 WL car lot of Calendar Girls from Canada last week as well!!

I think it's better sometimes not to know who else is bidding, because that can get bids higher too.

 

[CTWLSMIKE]

Something new, just started. Apparently their reasoning is fraudulent offers for similar items are being made to bidders on auctions. I guess this way only the seller can see the bidders, and people like us who were trying to do good, can't do it any longer. Probably to e-bay's advantage, as are most things they do.

 

[rlyoung1]

Not all of the auctions have the bidders hidden. I just checked about a dozen auctions with bids and none of the bidders were hidden.

 

[PWSchuh]

I think it's an option for the seller to select.

 

[Macs_Little_Car]

I think its cool , makes it a real auction!! Exciting, now you may even think you have a chance when you can't see the names of the high rollers bidding

 

[Mr.Stubbs]

I don't have a problem with it but I would like them to show the entire bidder list after the auction has ended and not just the winning bidder.

 

[Reddwarf2]

Makes schill bidding easier.

 

[Lpgeoteacher]

Makes schill bidding easier.

This was my first thought

 

[CTWLSMIKE]

Makes schill bidding easier.

Yeah maybe they got tired of all the emails from members complaining about shill bidding. This way they save time from investigating and doing nothing. :tongue:

 

[Macs_Little_Car]

I think it was getting to be a problem with bidders being contacted by other sellers doing under the table offers to a seller's bidders and also there is a lot of scam second chance offers happening also

 

[midtown]

Too many people getting burned by fake offers. Plus ebay wants their cut.

 

[GeraldE61]

I like this idea, but it will help to hide any shill bidding going on.

 

[PettyRules]

I think its cool , makes it a real auction!! Exciting, now you may even think you have a chance when you can't see the names of the high rollers bidding

Poppycock! In a REAL auction you can see the person across the room and in a niche auction like diecast you very often know that person. Further, this only perpetuates shill bidding, as the observers no longer can tell, and only evilPay is there to police it. (You know they don't have the bidders' best interests at heart! Don't we?)

 

[Macs_Little_Car]

I was referring to the practice of not bidding on something because the person posts on the same BB you do. Just because someone saw an auction first does not give them sole right to bid on it

 

[carnut2256]

I was referring to the practice of not bidding on something because the person posts on the same BB you do. Just because someone saw an auction first does not give them sole right to bid on it

That misses a point though. If I see a familiar (read: Friendly) HT name bidding, I may sometimes contact them, and tell them my limit on an item. If their limit is honestly higher than that, I simply won't bid at all. No need to cost a fellow member more $$$ if I'm just driving the price up.

For instance, a car comes up that I will bid up to $50. I see you bidding already and PM you, telling you my limit and asking if you were going to go that high or how much higher. If you say you're capping at $75, I won't bid up to the $50. Why should I, it's only costing you money needlessly and I'm going to stop bidding at $50 anyway. This way, it COULD potentially keep the price much lower for you. Maybe you get it for $25, but I know it would have gone higher and I would have lost and cost you extra $$$ in the process.

It's the friendly thing to do, and if I can't see your name, I can't do this. E Bay wins all around with this, becaue the bids go higher and they get a bigger slice of the pie. Everytime I think they've reached the extremes of greediness, they manage to surprise me still.

 

[Macs_Little_Car]

Most times anymore I only bid by sniper, too many times I think my bids were run up on purpose, once I set my sniper program to work, I don't even look at the auction again... keeps me from upping my maximum!!

 

[TheDarkCutlass]

it is an option that the sellers put in place, not e-Bay themselves. The seller of said auction is the one that said "im going to keep their ID's private" for whatever reason, and then e-bay takes their extra chunk out of the pie for doing so.

So instead of blamming e-Bay, blame the person who put up the auction, they are the ones that did it.

 

[CTWLSMIKE]

it is an option that the sellers put in place, not e-Bay themselves. The seller of said auction is the one that said "im going to keep their ID's private" for whatever reason, and then e-bay takes their extra chunk out of the pie for doing so.

So instead of blamming e-Bay, blame the person who put up the auction, they are the ones that did it.

I'm not so sure in this case it's the same as the seller opting for it:

Here's what e-bay has to say:
--------------------------------------------------------------------
As the internet evolves, e-Bay continues to strike a balance between preserving transparency and protecting our Community of members. e-Bay has decided to change how bid history information is displayed so bad guys cannot target bidders with fake offers using this information. In certain cases, some bidders will no longer be able to view Bidder User IDs on the Bid History page. Your User ID will be shown only to you and the seller of the item you're bidding on. Other members will see an anonymous name, such as Bidder 1, applied consistently to the Bid History page.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[CJTORINO]

just one more reason to stay away from that place of evil.
to me, unknown, anonymous bidders will only add to the shill bidding they already have going on.
Personally, I dont use a 'sniper' program, when and if I bid, I just bid my maximum, and let the chips, or bids, fall where they may.
Sure, I've been on that site for 4 years, but my score is '6', because I get out bid on tons of stuff, or used to.
Now, I just dont go there anymore.
The sellers often wont leave any feedback, even after they have received payment,
and if there is a problem, that site ignores it in favor of the seller,
most times leaving the purchasers up a creek without a rowing implement.