Ebay, private listings

[NAILTRAIL96]

Just an off shoot of the shill bidding thread.
Who uses the private listings option, ie bidders id hidden? and why.
I don't ever bid in these and don't see the point of them unless you're trying to hide something.
If I'm wrong and there's another valid reason I'd like to hear it.

 

[cyfa2809]

For errr 'intimate' items they seve a purpose.

Not a fan otherwise though.

Do you think it may go hand in hand with shill?

 

[NAILTRAIL96]

Ebay now covers bidders ID's but still allows you to see if the same bidder is bidding over and over again.
So the only thing a private listing hides is how many times bidders are bidding.
Why would you need to hide that?, or am I missing something.

Maybe ebay recognises it's better to have shill bidders than be without so allows loopholes that encourages it but isn't seen to condone it.

 

[cyfa2809]

Business is business i suppose. Cant expect a company to be taking our money and not actually put it to good use can we! Haha.

 

[Ernie]

To be honest..i can see why they hide the bidders i.d..i am guilty of this and i am sure others are...i have gone through the advanced search on the bidders i.d. and located other stuff bidders have been bidding/bid on..i have bid on it/set my auctionsniper and won some lost some..so really i have poached a poacher if that makes sense

Have not done this for 4 to 5 years..since Ebay brought in this policy

Has this been done to me yes..of course it has.. you win some you lose some

Ernie

 

[NAILTRAIL96]

But surely thats info thats already out there.
If an auction is live then you could find it any number of ways.

 

[highlandsflyer]

I don't like bidders being hidden, it has changed the way I 'suss' out bidders on Ebay. I have used pre approved bidders a lot in the past, for high value items. Seriously cuts down on hassle.

 

[bojangle]

I think some categories are private listing as standard, Don't quote me but i think selling cars are private listings. I remember selling something and i couldn't change it from private!!! Cheers ebay!!

 

[Neil]

I've bought quite a few things, over time, which looking at my feedback show as private listings - not sure why, because none were items you'd expect to be listed for, um, "private" reasons.

There's a big gap in my knowledge, because I never sell anything on ebay - but I assume people have reasons for doing this, far from the items being of a risqué variety.

 

[KDM]

I think private bidding is a relic that was used before Ebay started hiding the full bidders name.

More now I find it's used by those operating shill bidding as even with the altered names you can see the same bidders.

an example, a particular seller of watches kept getting bid up by the same buyers say with the distorted name of e**t with a 296 feedback. Now that same distorted name stays where ever they bid.

having been called out a few times and ebay obviously had words now all that persons auctions are private bidders to hide the shilling better.

If I see private then I tend to assume fraud so do not bid on it.