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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
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    Lightbulb Thoughts on eBay bidder privacy?

    eBay hides the usernames of bidders on auctions that others view, obscuring all but the first and last letter of the username. It's considered a privacy feature. For example, usernames may change from:

    joebloe ---(becomes)---> j***e
    xyzcollectibles ---(becomes)---> x***s

    eBay shows the feedback count with the username, but that's about it. So as you look at an item and debate whether to bid on it, you may see the following (as a hypothetical example):

    j***e (5) bid $x
    x***s (0) bid $y

    I understand that there is a lot of fraud risk and all that, but sometimes it seems a little silly to hide the username. I have been on eBay over ten years, and I still can't view peoples' actual usernames unless they bid on my auction or unless I'm buying from them. :p

    It would be vaguely akin to having to use Web Hosting Talk without seeing peoples' usernames. Imagine if The Dude was obscured as t***e.

    I kind of wish that eBay let registered users view usernames. What do you guys think?

    -mike
    Mike G. - Limestone Networks - Account Specialist
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  2. #2
    It has been like this for years and it is a safety feature. I use to do a lot of business on ebay however there has been an increase with criminals on the site, ive had my run in with them even.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Zoom Active View Post
    It has been like this for years and it is a safety feature. I use to do a lot of business on ebay however there has been an increase with criminals on the site, ive had my run in with them even.
    That is true. I remember the "good old days" when it was all more open. (I registered on eBay back in early 2000.)

    There is indeed a lot of apparent fraud. I watch a number of listings, and I receive the "Security notice: eBay listing removed" notices concerning others' auctions fairly often. :/

    I'm still against the hidden eBay usernames, though. Imagine if you were simply z***e?

    -mike
    Mike G. - Limestone Networks - Account Specialist
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  4. #4
    eBay use to be great, had several stores and did pretty well. This was back in 2002 when you could operate a dvd business and make a killing. Lots of fakes and people from china on eBay now though .

  5. #5
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    If I remember correctly, they used to not obfuscate the usernames and this was a recent addition within the past 5 years or so.

    -Daniel

  6. #6
    Join Date
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    Quote Originally Posted by SC-Daniel View Post
    If I remember correctly, they used to not obfuscate the usernames and this was a recent addition within the past 5 years or so.

    -Daniel
    I remember trying to bid on a Ipod on Ebay like 5-6 years ago and I was getting a Spam message trying to sell me 1 from random people with like every bid.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Mike - Limestone View Post
    I'm still against the hidden eBay usernames, though. Imagine if you were simply z***e?

    -mike
    Exactly what is your reasoning behind wanting to see the usernames? Pure curiosity? I don't really know if there is an actual need for other bidders to be able to see the usernames. The comparison you've made to WHT hiding usernames can't possibly be apples to apples since WHT is obviously a forum of people holding conversations and you need to know who you are talking to. On the other hand, when bidding on eBay it seems to me it may be irrelevant who is bidding against you.

  8. #8
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    It's to prevent contacting bidders by unsolicited sellers, which used to happen all the time (and I've been on Ebay since 1997). For example, there's an auction to sell a Playstation 3 for $250. Some random guy wanting to sell his Playstation 3 can just look at all the users who've bidded on that auction (which means confirmed interested buyers), and contact them directly offering theirs for $225. The real seller loses money and Ebay loses money.
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  9. #9
    Personally I don't mind people seeing my userid on ebay when I'm bidding for something but an argument could be made for privacy. Lets say you're bidding on something and someone at the last second comes in and snipes it, so you in your rage get the person's ebay ID toss it into your favorite search engine and find their twitter account because the buyer so lazily used the same userid for both, where the person has so helpfully put their first name and last name as well as city on twitter, which you use to find their linkedin profile as well as their facebook page

    You send them a friends request on FB, because a random person requesting to add you as a friend on FB isnt suspicious</sarcasm off>, and then you go about adding all of the person's friends with a fairly innocuous comment like "I'm friends with *insert ebay buyer's name here* and he/she says you're pretty awesome. Then after a while you have all of the buyer's friends on FB and you add them to a special friends list and post messages on your wall where only his friends who are in the list can see accusing the ebay buyer of being a pedo and a grandma raper.

    But I doubt that would ever happen, it's not like there are people on the internet with too much imagination and time on their hands.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nich View Post
    It's to prevent contacting bidders by unsolicited sellers, which used to happen all the time (and I've been on Ebay since 1997). For example, there's an auction to sell a Playstation 3 for $250. Some random guy wanting to sell his Playstation 3 can just look at all the users who've bidded on that auction (which means confirmed interested buyers), and contact them directly offering theirs for $225. The real seller loses money and Ebay loses money.
    I suppose so. eBay seems torn on the entire thing.

    When they acquired Skype, it was partly -- apparently -- to allow buyers and sellers to more easily communicate with each other about seller listings using the Skype technology. But then eBay scrapped that completely.

    -mike
    Mike G. - Limestone Networks - Account Specialist
    Cloud - Dedicated - Colocation - Premium Network - Passionate Support
    DDoS Protection Available - Reseller Program @LimestoneInc - 877.586.0555

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
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    As long as I can see who's auction I'm bidding on, I don't care who else is bidding, makes no difference to me whether I see their usernames or not

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