Hiding Bidder ID's on eBay

[collector]

This post is probably going to annoy a bunch of forum members, but so be it. I really need to get something of of my chest!!

As a preface to my "bitch" let me say that I have been on eBay since 1998 and have done at least 1500 transactions both as a buyer and seller. So, I do know most of the tricks, reasons why one does something, etc etc.

Now on to my "bitch" --- the use of Hiding Bidder Id's for most LED Watches, on eBay is really becoming annoying to me!!! I specifically say LED watches because this "trend" seems to be spreading among sellers in this category. My wife and I buy / sell many items on eBay, some are of less, equal or more value to most LED watches and I have not seen this annoyance generally spread to other categories. SPECIAL NOTE: I DO UNDERSTAND THE REASONS FOR THE HIDDEN BIDDER ID ON THE RECENT "HIGH VALUE" P1 AUCTION.

I personally have not and will not bid on any auction which has a hidden bidder ID. There is just to much opportunity for "funny" stuff - both on the part of sellers as well as bidders who have their own agendas. I recognize there are many honest sellers, but buyers / bidders also can have agendas.

Please do not tell me one uses this method to prevent "contact" with bidders on ones auctions. To say you don't want your auctions "ruined" is just nonsense. Also, to say you want to help the buyer because they are buying a watch to either savage for parts or resell it is pure bull. As a possible bidder, I want to be able to "trace / understand" such things. In addition, if you are a bidder and do not want to be contacted while an auction is in progress, just put the max you are willing to spend in your mind and "SNIPE". If you do not have the capability to snipe there are many "sites" who will snipe automatically for you. etc etc

As an example, of how this is costing some forum members money, I had bought FOUR LED watches (seperate auctions) from a particular forum member before they also started using the "hide the bidder option". I was more than pleased with my purchases and would have continued to "bid" on this members watches. Now I will not. I know my lack of bidding on their recent auctions has cost this member money because my "Max" bids would have been higher than what the watches eventually sold for. One might say I "missed out" but so be it. I have found there eventually will be another one. If not so be it - there is always "stuff" to buy.

To me, the bottom line is that there is no reason to hide a bidders ID unless you are selling something "X rated" and really have to hide the ID to generate bids OR IT IS A REALLY HIGH VALUE ITEM SUCH AS THE P1 was.

Am I alone in this feeling? What do other forum members think???

[pocketcalculatorshow]

I don't sell many LED watches anymore but I admit to utilizing the hidden ID feature on my eBay auctions.

The reason is to provide privacy for the high bidder. Forums like this one are popular now and we collectors often congregate in these places and chat about eBay dealings. While I haven't seen any criticism pop up on the watch message boards, I have seen it in other forums. Forum members will scold a fellow member for outbidding them or even critique him/her for "driving prices up" on an item that gets an unusually high winning bid. Perhaps the hidden ID feature will prevent the winner's risk of embarassment in situations like these.

Hiding the bidder ID also prevents the "search by bidder ID" function on eBay. Some eBayers have mixed feelings about this search function--German eBayers have laws in place protecting their IDs from working in this search.

I understand your frustration with the hidden ID option. But there have been shenanigans in auctions even before this feature popped up--it doesn't take much for a seller to build a second ID or have a few friends for shill bidding. I'll bid in auctions with the hidden bidder ID feature, I don't think twice about it.

I'm curious to hear others' thoughts on this.

[Synchroserious]

As my father always said, there is a reason for just about everything.Like if a person commited a hanus crime with no Knowledge of the victim,no real motive for money and no logic to the crime and then pleaded insanity,well that would still be a reason.
If anyone wonders why people do this.Just think about my first offering of a new RWR LE where people were too shy to be the odd man out and bid, in fear that a fellow collector might try to ostracize them as well for bidding high on something they don,t have while sitting on their hands.And yes it is also nobodies business who your potential clients are.I am not looking for pity or feelings that anyone owes me anything,but what is wrong about selling something without the ability of creepers?
I firmly believe I would have receieved some bids(high ones) had I hidden the Identity of the bidders on the first go.Just my opinnion

[Diginut]

I almost never bid on hidden ID auctions.

There is one member of this forum who luckily doesn?t frequent here too often, but he is an out and out scam artist with at least 6 ebay Ids registered in different locations and therefore different IP numbers etc, and he always uses hidden ID sales.

But I was once ?semi friendly? with this acquaintance, and he often boasted of his tricks. One of which was bidding on his own hidden ID auctions with his other Ids. He could see who the bidders were, and would more or less know who they were through various previous trades and sometimes through watch forums as well.

He is quite successful at max?ing out his auction prices, clever photoshopping of pics, and devious descriptions of them so that hes always got a get out clause. I wont detail what these are as they will identify him a bit obviously as it?s a trait in all his auctions. Not only that, but the last auction I had with him was for a very expensive pulsar and what turned up didn?t last very long, and on an internal investigation was a totally buggered module with a pulsar plastic back stuck over the mess beneath. Quite well done too. It took months to reverse the deal, and ebay/paypal suspended his account and so on, but this didn?t matter because he still had 5 others. After getting most of my money back the same damm watch turned up on ebay again, under one of the other ID?s but this time using fuzzy photos and a bland description like it was an estate find and he didn?t know what it was etc etc, which didn?t explain why the serial numbers were edited out ?. Pity because I would have loved to have revealed the truth to the winning bidder. Poor sod was out of pocket by nearly $1,900 ?.

So, in summary, I will not bid in hidden ID auctions or hold one myself.

JMTPW.

[Synchroserious]

Hi, Diginut, It sounds like you definetly had a bad experience with a person Hiding their ID for fraud purposes.I do respect your decision and reason.It just shows there are pros and cons to "Hide ID or not to" with either resulting in a lost bidder somewhere.

[Planet-LED]

I too have a high level of distrust for sellers that hide ID's. I won't bid on their watches.

[Synchroserious]

Ok,great maybe that will help people.I don,t know much about it and don,t plan on selling there much.

[Diginut]

Hi Synchroserious,

people were too shy to be the odd man out and bid, in fear that a fellow collector might try to ostracize them

I hear what you say about this point, but feel that most people who really want something will either bid anyway as they just cant be bothered by what others think, - OR - use another ebay ID to bid with, such as their partners ID or perhaps a little known about reserve ID theyve set up.

Also, if I recall correctly, when you advertised your recent high value RWR watch, I think some bidders may have been put off becuase your feedback was very low at the time yet the item for sale was a high value item from a relatively unknown seller at the time, and (I think) you had a high opening price too.

Again, just this is just my two penniesworth.

[Majestyk]

Well I guess I better respond to this since I'm now using private auctions. Earlier this year I found it very obvious that people were contacting my bidders and offering them the same or similar items. Bidders would just suddenly lose interest in my auctions WAY before the reserve was met and it was happening for quite awhile. Then I found out from one of them that they were contacted by someone offering the same watch. So to private auctions I went. My bids are much improved now, since I've done this. And I can assure anyone, there is no funny stuff going on.

Very soon I'm going to mention in my auctions that if the winning bidder wants to see the final auction bidding list, they can. However, if any bidder wants to be excluded from being publicly viewed on the list, they can contact me before the end of the auction and I'll remove their name.

If anyone has a suspicion that a seller is shill bidding, than just email Ebay regarding it. Also, if you want an item bad enough, you should never bid anymore then your willing to pay. Just put in the top bid that you are willing to pay and nothing more.

By the way the seller that Diginut is talking about isn't me. :)


Jeff (Aka Majestyk)

[collector]

Hate to bring up this thread again, but I really really hate auctions that hide bidder ID's. I know that my business really is nothing in the overall scheme of things, but I've personally bought 6 LED's this past week - NONE from sellers with hidden bidder ID's.

Just venting again!!!

[Majestyk]

I had someone, a few weeks ago, thank me for having private auctions. He was bidding on someone else's auction, for a TI watch, and someone contacted him offering him the same or similar watch. I guess he hated that so much, he now prefers private auctions.

I don't know why sellers don't do what I do (if asked) and just give the bidders list to the high bidder, after the auction.


Jeff

[collector]

Update to my previous post-

The ONLY EXCEPTION I would make to my own rule about not bidding on Hidden Bidder ID Auctions is Jeff's aka Majestyk auctions. He is 100% Honest, Reliable, Provides Accurate Descriptions (No Weasel Wording), No gouging on shipping charges, etc. and does offer to let you see the Bidders list post auction.

Wish all eBayers sellers who use hidden bidders ID's were like Jeff!!!

[Fitron]

Wish all ebayers sold stuff which was as high quality as Jeffs.

[retroleds]

There is one person I am so convinced is using shill bidding, I just won't buy off their hidden ID auctions....it's just a gut thing. I still participate in some hidden ID auctions, but I try to use the "put in my MAx and stay there" logic. Generally speaking I don't care for them - I like to know who's bidding for a variety of reasons. Some sellers of super high priced items might use them so that some high bidders can't mutually agree to stop at a particular price. HIdden IDs maintain maximum paranoia for the buyers.

Slightly off topic question: is it in poor taste or against Ebay rules to contact a fellow bidder you recognize and to tell them you are going to bow out at your current price?

Frankly, I have never been contacted by someone during or after an auction ends with an offer to buy something else - really, NEVER. Occasionally a seller has offered me something after I have won an item - if we have no history of business I generally tell them I will get back to them after I receive the first item.