eBay now shows bids before auction ends?

UncleJoe

Did I miss something?

I looked at some active auctions and clicked on the bids link and there were all the bids of the bidders. Is this new or a programming mistake by eBay?

Joe.

Peaceman

I saw that too.... ?

thebeav

Hi Joe,
It appears to be a new feature as reported in a previous thread a few days ago. Of course, the high bidders maximum is never displayed.
Looks like a new possible tool to determine bidders bid patterns. I like it.....
Paul

UncleJoe

Thanks for the info.

Of course, the high bidders maximum is never displayed.

However, if the high bidders bid is not a full increment above the underbidders bid then you know it is his/her's max bid.

Even greater reason to only place snipe bids.

Joe.

ziggy29

I like it in principle as long as the high bidder's proxy isn't shown, but...it also looks like it would make it easier for an unscrupulous seller to cancel some bids they weren't confident about. If a couple of zero-feedback bidders have high bids of (say) $200 and $205, and a long-time eBayer and known reputable member has a $195 underbid, it's a lot easier to cancel the top two bids -- you've lost only $10 and you get a much better feeling that the transaction will complete. If you don't know where the third bid is (if the bids are hidden until the auction closes), it's not easy to do that, as you may not know whether the bid is $195 or $95.

So while I can see some benefit to it, it also seems like it has the potential to be abused by sellers who may take a few bucks less in order to "cherrypick" their buyers.