What do you think of "Private Listings" on Ebay?

Lostintranslation

Twenty five years or so ago, I didn't mind them because they protected the names of your bidders from other sellers who might try to steal one from you. But Ebay changed all this and I don't know what purpose it serves anymore. But I do not trust a seller who uses them now. It makes me think they are using shil bidders. i just recently went through 10 full pages of items listed by one seller under this format. Virtualy every item for auction had a bidder, but mostly had many bidders. I sold on Ebay for 20 years. I never had all my auctions get bids in one week. How do you guys feel about these?

Shurke

They seem unnecessary to me. But whatever floats a seller’s boat, I guess. I’ve been a bidder in a handful of such auctions over the years. Won a few, lost a few. Nothing seemed untoward in the ones I took part in.

MFeld

While I suppose that there can be legitimate reasons for them, they tend to make me suspicious as to the seller’s motives.

mbogoman

IMO, they are hiding something. Shill bidding, most likely, but that's just my opinion after 25 years on Ebay...

DennisH

@mbogoman said:
IMO, they are hiding something. Shill bidding, most likely, but that's just my opinion after 25 years on Ebay...

This, 100%.

johnny9434

No, that's like doing business in a dark ally. No 👎

Jzyskowski1

I spend too much time on eBay
When I see a “double knot super secret “ I leave and move on. Always sounds like someone’s gunna get a hiney spank if they are caught bidding. Don’t like it no sir don’t like it 🐴

logger7

I may be old fashioned but sorry I don't understand the lack of transparency. In a world where much of our activities are transparent, those who try to cloak transactions somehow on eBay no less, should maybe consider some more premium venue. And frankly who cares on items under say $1500-$2000, I never had much luck selling things on eBay over that any way.

derryb

Why the concern? You have ebay, Paypal and your credit card protecting you. Focus on the item you want, not the one you didn't buy.

U1chicago

I don’t care much if it’s an item I want and the seller’s feedback is fine. It’s possible someone is shilling but even that isn’t an issue as long as I stick to the max I’m willing to pay. And if it’s a more unique item, where else will I find one?

Cougar1978

I dont like screwball stuff like that. Hardly ever see those. Would not buy…..

jkrk

On a very high priced item (on E-Bay) they may serve a purpose? While, I am cynical enough to wonder whether it masks shill bidding....

I wonder whether some bidders might not wish to publicly show that they can pay substantial sums through E-Bay.

CaptHenway

If I am on the fence about bidding on an item this would probably tip me to no.

rte592

It doesn't help the seller, I don't care how you spin it.
If two bidders want to fight it out that's what auctions are for.
With the bidders concealed names now (*+$;"+_) how would someone figure out who is who.
I also think private bidders are suspicious.

rte592

I but a $0.99 bid in on an item and watched it for a week.
I had high bid all week.
Today the auction is closing and I check back in and no it says I'm the high bidder BUT the reserve isn't met.
WTF?...that wasn't there all week.

derryb

I wasn't aware of any case where another bidder/buyer's ID is made public. Private or scrambled, makes no difference to me all I need is the seller's ID.

spyglassdesign

@derryb said:
I wasn't aware of any case where another bidder/buyer's ID is made public. Private or scrambled, makes no difference to me all I need is the seller's ID.

Interesting. I wasn't aware that they scrambled the user id's automatically; the last time I used ebay before last year was in the 90's. So it really doesn't matter if it's private or not, there's no way to tell who is bidding. Only thing you can see is if multiple people are bidding if the first and last character are different.

I had a guy freak out about 2 bidders on one of my auctions because they were bidding against each other only a few seconds apart, to the point the cha-ching on my phone was actually getting annoying. I guess he never used a mobile app because when you go to bid, it has an amount at the bottom you can tap to bid... suggested bid amounts, and it's near instant and can keep hitting the button over and over until you win (or give up). I've done it many times myself when I am trying to win an auction without going overboard... I'm also assuming some people use third party software to place bids as I got snipe bid out of an auction with milliseconds to go thinking I had won yesterday, then didn't.

@rte592 usually you can't add a reserve after the fact so I have no idea... that is odd.

ctf_error_coins

I never check.

I never check feedback.

I never check for shills.

I just buy the coin if the price is right.