In a message dated 1/16/2007 4:13:48 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, [email protected] writes:
Has anyone bid, or won anything with these bidder identification protected auctions? The seller of the Zonophone-A is doing that with that particular auction. ==================== eBay has always had an option for keeping bidders private, but this is not the case here. Recently eBay instituted a new policy whereby anything that tops $200 becomes "protected." It's not the seller's choice. Instead of showing bidder IDs it shows "Bidder 1, " "Bidder 2" etc. This is an attempt to combat rampant fraud since so many scammers are sending fake "second chance" notices to underbidders. By hiding bidders on higher-priced items they hope to cut down on these scams. It will also prevent people from offering similar items to underbidders by private message. On the bid history page you can view some statistics on the bidders. Perhaps the most telling is the one that shows what percent of the bidder's total bid activity is with the particular seller. In the Zonophone auction, for example, the current high bidder has 42% of activity with the seller. That's certainly very high. It also shows the categories the bidder has been active in, so it's very easy to see if a person who spends most of his time buying Christmas ornaments is suddenly a player on high-end collector phonographs. The new system is far from ideal, and I confess I liked to see what other people were bidding on. But by the same token, I never liked airing my own bid history publicly so I guess I'm a hypocrite at heart! Overall I think this new system will have more pros than cons. (And it will hopefully stifle some of the con artists, pun intended....) Best regards, Rene Rondeau From [email protected] Tue Jan 16 18:29:47 2007 From: [email protected] (michael funk) Date: Tue Jan 16 18:30:25 2007 Subject: [Phono-L] Protected Bidding on ebay! In-Reply-To: <[email protected]> Message-ID: <000301c739df$5b88ca10$6b01a...@your4dacd0ea75> The new ebay policy of hiding member IDs for all auctions exceeding $ 200 is meeting with overwhelming disapproval by the ebay community. In my almost 9 years of trading on ebay, I have never seen such opposition to any new procedure or policy as I have seen with this clinker - and that includes fee hikes! Just check out some of the ebay discussions boards on this subject, and you will see what I mean. Some are suggesting that removing the transparency of the bidding process may be a blunder of such epic proportions that, if the policy is not reversed, it could well be the beginning of the end - something almost inconceivable just a couple of years ago. Of course, ebay's death has been prematurely reported hundreds of times before. My best guess is that this policy, sooner rather than later, will be quietly reversed. Michael Funk -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 7:57 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Protected Bidding on ebay! In a message dated 1/16/2007 4:13:48 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, [email protected] writes: Has anyone bid, or won anything with these bidder identification protected auctions? The seller of the Zonophone-A is doing that with that particular auction. ==================== eBay has always had an option for keeping bidders private, but this is not the case here. Recently eBay instituted a new policy whereby anything that tops $200 becomes "protected." It's not the seller's choice. Instead of showing bidder IDs it shows "Bidder 1, " "Bidder 2" etc. This is an attempt to combat rampant fraud since so many scammers are sending fake "second chance" notices to underbidders. By hiding bidders on higher-priced items they hope to cut down on these scams. It will also prevent people from offering similar items to underbidders by private message. On the bid history page you can view some statistics on the bidders. Perhaps the most telling is the one that shows what percent of the bidder's total bid activity is with the particular seller. In the Zonophone auction, for example, the current high bidder has 42% of activity with the seller. That's certainly very high. It also shows the categories the bidder has been active in, so it's very easy to see if a person who spends most of his time buying Christmas ornaments is suddenly a player on high-end collector phonographs. The new system is far from ideal, and I confess I liked to see what other people were bidding on. But by the same token, I never liked airing my own bid history publicly so I guess I'm a hypocrite at heart! Overall I think this new system will have more pros than cons. (And it will hopefully stifle some of the con artists, pun intended....) Best regards, Rene Rondeau _______________________________________________ Phono-L mailing list http://phono-l.oldcrank.org From [email protected] Tue Jan 16 18:36:43 2007 From: [email protected] (Daniel Melvin) Date: Tue Jan 16 18:38:09 2007 Subject: [Phono-L] Protected Bidding on ebay! References: <[email protected]> Message-ID: <003b01c739e0$579923e0$6501a...@danslaptop> I have always avoided auctions that hide bidders. I agree with Jeff's suspicions. I just don't trust sellers that hide things. It just feels wrong. I suppose many people have had OK transactions this way. It's not for me though. Dan ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 5:57 PM Subject: Re: [Phono-L] Protected Bidding on ebay! > > In a message dated 1/16/2007 4:13:48 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, > [email protected] writes: > > Has anyone bid, or won anything with these bidder identification > protected > auctions? The seller of the Zonophone-A is doing that with that particular > auction. > > > > ==================== > eBay has always had an option for keeping bidders private, but this is not > the case here. Recently eBay instituted a new policy whereby anything that > tops > $200 becomes "protected." It's not the seller's choice. Instead of showing > bidder IDs it shows "Bidder 1, " "Bidder 2" etc. This is an attempt to > combat > rampant fraud since so many scammers are sending fake "second chance" > notices > to underbidders. By hiding bidders on higher-priced items they hope to > cut > down on these scams. It will also prevent people from offering similar > items > to underbidders by private message. > > On the bid history page you can view some statistics on the bidders. > Perhaps > the most telling is the one that shows what percent of the bidder's total > bid activity is with the particular seller. In the Zonophone auction, for > example, the current high bidder has 42% of activity with the seller. > That's > certainly very high. It also shows the categories the bidder has been > active in, > so it's very easy to see if a person who spends most of his time buying > Christmas ornaments is suddenly a player on high-end collector > phonographs. > > The new system is far from ideal, and I confess I liked to see what other > people were bidding on. But by the same token, I never liked airing my > own bid > history publicly so I guess I'm a hypocrite at heart! Overall I think > this > new system will have more pros than cons. (And it will hopefully stifle > some of > the con artists, pun intended....) > > Best regards, > Rene Rondeau > _______________________________________________ > Phono-L mailing list > http://phono-l.oldcrank.org
