Bid history Anonymous

SYRACUSIAN

As the internet evolves, eBay continues to strike a balance between preserving transparency and protecting our Community of members. eBay 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.




Bid history of a Swiss 1926 20 francs gold

spoon

It would seem a much simpler fix to disable form emailing unless directed to a seller through the "Ask seller a question" link and better protect customer contact info across the board.

FilamCoins

I'm not sure I like this, as a buyer or a seller.

7Jaguars

Yes, I have seen this and think it utterly ridiculous as it entirely compromises a fair bidding environment. How woudl we as a buyer EVER know if we are bidding agains a real entity or a shill. Can we trust ebay to be the omnipotent arbiter? The opportunity for abuse is obvious and expanded.

ajaan

What gets me is this is for some auctions and not others.

Aethelred

I am also not sure I like this.

coinpictures

I bet the shill bidders are LOVING this.

Thanks Ebay!!!

*harumph*

satootoko

The whole idea stinks.

It was probably pushed by the Power Sellers we all know who sell coins (and other stuff) and object to people emailing their bidders with the truth.

Now that all bidding is private, I guess the Chinese counterfeiters won't have to use the private bidding dodge any more.

ajaan

All bidding isn't private. I can see the bids on this auction.

AuldFartte

Well, I see the difference right away:

Dimitri's example is a PowerScrewer™ ...

'Shroom's example is not ...



ebay.

coinpictures

I wonder: Is this a seller-configurable option or does Ebay arbitrarily decide which auctions get this treatment? What if one of my auctions gets "anonymized" and as a seller I don't want it to?

cosmicdebris

How the hell am I suppose to check up on competiting bidders to see if they are snipers or not.

RareBronzeCollector

If I read it correctly it's only on ebay.co.uk and only goes into effect when the bidding on an item goes over £100...



EBAY's Announcment on the subject....


***Trust & Safety: Introducing Safeguarding Member IDs***

21 November, 2006 | 11:03AM GMT


We would like to let you know about an important Trust & Safety initiative that will be launching on eBay.co.uk within the next few days.
Since eBay began in 1995, it’s been our job to balance the need for openness and transparency in the marketplace, with the need to protect our Community of members from the threats that have appeared as the Internet has flourished. As the Community has grown, we’ve had to take measures to protect our members that also reduce transparency.

From the beginning, any member of the Community could request the contact details of any other member and the bidding process was very transparent. As we grew, we limited communication to members involved in transactions with each other. Then in 2003, we eliminated the public display of email addresses from the site, and therefore required thousands of people to set up new User IDs. Naturally, as we’ve stepped up education and other efforts to improve safety, potential fraudsters continued their efforts to try to exploit our members.

The User IDs of members -- plus their member information such as feedback and previous bidding and/or buying activity -- have always been freely available to anyone visiting the site. Members have been able to access this information from the item page, bid history page, and Advanced Search by Bidder feature. Unfortunately, while bid history and contact information about trading colleagues are helpful when evaluating a transaction, and provide a level of trust within the transaction. fraudsters can use this information for potentially harmful purposes.

One way they use this information is to send spam emails, spoof emails, and fake Second Chance Offer emails. While legitimate Second Chance Offer emails are a great tool on eBay that give sellers the ability to offer another buyer an additional item they may have available, fake Second Chance Offers and other types of solicitations sent by fraudsters generally lure the targeted member off the eBay website and collect payment through an unsafe payment method, such as wire transfer -- all while providing the false impression that eBay endorses the transaction.

As our Community knows, the problem of spam, spoof and fake Second Chance Offer emails has not gone away. In fact, despite industry-leading efforts to educate the Community about online safety (eBay Toolbar, tutorials and safety messaging), partnering with law enforcement and industry groups, and investments in technology that make the site safer, we’ve seen this problem grow. Increasingly, sellers and buyers have turned to us for a solution.

Introducing the Safeguarding Member IDs Project
The Safeguarding Member IDs project is a new approach to auction-style listings that offers more privacy for our members through changing how bidding information is displayed. Following intensive development and review, as well as Community input, we believe the Safeguarding Member IDs project provides the Community with enough information about the bidders involved in an auction-style listing for them to feel confident in placing a bid -- without revealing actual User IDs. We’re implementing this new system on listings with a high bid of £100 or greater, which is where we believe it can have the greatest positive impact. The bid information for listings where the bid is lower than £100 will display as it does today.

Here’s what will change for listings with a high bid of £100 or more:

On the bid history page for each listing we’ll replace member User IDs with aliases (such as Bidder 1, Bidder 2 and Bidder 3) in the order of their bids placed. For each bidder involved in a listing, we’ll display the number of bids in unique categories that they’ve placed, a range that their feedback score falls within (i.e. 10-49, for instance), their percentage of positive feedback, their length of time as an eBay member, and the number of bids they’ve placed on the item. At the end of a listing, the winning bidder’s User ID will be displayed on the item page. Please note: Sellers will still be able to access bidder information on their listings through the Bid History page and the My eBay selling table.
In My eBay, members will no longer have access to the high-bidder column from bid and watch tables.
On the item page, you’ll only be able to see the high-bidder ID if you are the signed-in seller of the item or the signed-in high bidder.
Through the Advanced Search by Bidder link, we’ll only show completed listings within the last 30 days.
Future enhancements are being designed that will provide even more transaction data about the bidders and seller involved in a transaction. We’ll continue to update the community on these changes as these plans become finalised.

Safeguarding Member IDs - Launch plans
Even the smallest changes on the eBay marketplace may have unexpected effects, and we want to move forward carefully. While we are cautious of making changes to the site during the Christmas period, we feel strongly that this is the right thing to do for the Community.

We rolled out these changes on eBay Motors in the United States a couple of weeks ago and we have decided to adopt these changes for eBay.co.uk starting next week. If all goes well, we could implement the Safeguarding Bidder IDs project on eBay.com in early 2007.

To learn more, please read our Safeguarding Member ID Frequently Asked Questions.

Regards,
The eBay.co.uk Team

CIVITAS

I'm amused by the fact that eBay used the term "bad guys."

satootoko

<< <i>We rolled out these changes on eBay Motors in the United States a couple of weeks ago and we have decided to adopt these changes for eBay.co.uk starting next week. If all goes well, we could implement the Safeguarding Bidder IDs project on eBay.com in early 2007. >>



The limitation to UK is very, very temporary.

SYRACUSIAN

I'm not sure if anybody noticed, but if you place your cursor on view, the new system provides a lot of information on each bidder, information that would have taken a lot of time to retrieve before. So I guess, as far as the shills go, they have that covered.

notwilight

I like it. It provides anonymity that many coin collectors perfer yet gives you info on the bidders and keeps the seller from looking dishonest by making the auction private.

it has already been put into effect in the uk but has been announced to be implemented here soon and will only apply to moe expensive auctions. Low price auctions will be unchnaged.

7Jaguars

How does it prevent the seller from looking dishonest? I think it is a setup for shill bidding and blows away even more of the trust factor between buyer and seller - we have absolutely not a clue who bidder 1,2, 3 or whoever may be.

wybrit

It's a wide open portal for shill bidders.

However, keep in mind that Heritage and other auctioneers do not reveal the identities of their (other) internet bidders.

coinpictures

Just found out something new today: Europe can be a haven for shill bidders. I was a little suspicious of a bidder in an auction I won overnight (low feedback, no auctions they've won are even remotely coin related, two bump-ups in the last day of the auction).

So I go to do a search by bidder to see what other auctions they've bid on in the last 30 days and am greeted by this:

Not possible

Privacy laws in some European countries do not allow us to pass on information involving bidders from those countries. If you want to find all auctions this user has bid on, please contact the user directly by email.

Nice.

theboz11

I like the idea as a preventive to "second chance offers" from shill sellers.

MacCrimmon

<< <i>Privacy laws in some European countries do not allow us to pass on information involving bidders from those countries. If you want to find all auctions this user has bid on, please contact the user directly by email. >>



It's been this way in Germany for at least 6-7 years.

ajaan

Here is my two cents worth.

I can a couple advantages of not having the bidders listed. One for the seller, and one for the buyer.

First the seller.
Let's say there are 15 bids on a coin you are selling. Someone else is thinking of bidding on the coin and he or she looks at the bidders list and notices his friend is bidding on the coin. The new potential bidder likes the coin but really doesn't 'need' the coin and doesn't want to bid against his buddy. So he doesn't place a bid causing the coin to potentially close at a lower price. If the bidder list was hidden, the new bidder might have never known his buddy was a bidder and he might have placed a bid.

For the buyer.
I am convinced there are some people on eBay who get their gollies by running an auction up with no intent of becomming the high bidder and buying the item. A bidder really wants an item. He places a bid and becomes the high bidder. His name is listed on top of the bidders list as the high bidder. Later he decides he REALLY wants the coin, doesn't use a sniper program, so he increases his bid. His name is now the top two names on the list. Later he decides he REALLY REALLY wants the item and increases his bid again. Now he has the top three places on the bidders list. Some comes along, looks at the bidders list and sees the same three names on the top and just for fun decides to bid on the item just to get the price higher. If the names weren't listed then others buyers would not have known the high bidder held the top three places on the bidders list.

Someone might say that no one would increase their high bid two more times like in my second scenario. Well it does happen and did happen to me last night. auction

Conder101

<< <i>I like the idea as a preventive to "second chance offers" from shill sellers. >>


But it also guarantees that no one can warn the bidders that they are about to get screwed by a scam seller. (Even if you are willing to violate the eBay rules against it.) This new "feature" will go along way toward multiplying the fraud on eBay.

SYRACUSIAN

If the names weren't listed then others buyers would not have known the high bidder held the top three places on the bidders list.



How's that? He will still see that bidder 5 (for ex) holds the top three spots on the list.


As for the seller, I think that he can see the bidder's names during the entire length of the auction, otherwise how would he be able to cancel a bid from an unwanted bidder if he wishes to do so?



The one good thing for buyers about this IMO, is that if we like a coin, we don't have to worry anymore that someone might see our handle among the bidders' list and place a bid just for that reason, resulting in an increase of the total amount and an eventual bidding war or even loss of the coin. They'll have to make educated choices of their own now.

ajaan

<< <i>How's that? He will still see that bidder 5 (for ex) holds the top three spots on the list. >>


If eBay handled it this way, then it wouldn't do any good. I was thinking eBay might just give a new buyer number for every BID, not bidder.

SYRACUSIAN

Aaah, I see, but no: look at bidder 3 and bidder 6



ps: as for the shills, the 30 day summary with the percentages with the same seller, bids to unique sellers etc, give a serious help as to if a bidder is a shill or not.

ajaan

If that's the case then perhaps the only answer is to keep all the bidding private but many people don't like these private auctions. There are no easy solutions.