Your thoughts on e-Bay "private listings"

[bigcitydave]

I'm always hesitant to bid on cans that are "private listing, bidders ID protected" Just seems like the user ID of the seller is listed, so why all the secrecy?

[pinnacle-project]

I have no idea why some people do that. Maybe to hide the bidders so they can use a second account to bid the item up. It's probably wrong of me to assume something bad but why else would they do that? I will be interested to see what other thoughts people have.

[bigcitydave]

I can't think of any honest reason why anyone would do it.

[iggyks]

Duplicate post, please delete.

[iggyks]

I thought that was only for, umm, dirty pictures and such! Is it a Tennent's girl can auction?

[bigcitydave]

No, actually it's a Blatz cone.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Blatz-Old-Heid ... 1438.l2649

[Flat_Top]

I think it is left over from when you could see the bidders IDs. Now that the user IDs are hidden, not sure it is useful.

[bigcitydave]

I know the user ID has been eliminated on bidding but now they show a code with the the number of feedbacks after the code. Ex. 3***7 (59)

[Beercanpete]

I have had a few sellers who did this for me. Every time I've done it, a seller and I worked out something for an item, usually a lot that had been posted earlier but did not sell. The seller has then put the lot on eBay with a message to me, and I've purchased it. Maybe it's so that someone can increase their feedback ratings?? Or maybe it's hard to pass an email address through eBay, so this allows a buyer to use PayPal more easily? I don't think I'd handle a transaction this way, but I've never had any problems with the sellers who have.

[OhioCanGuy]

No, actually it's a Blatz cone.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Blatz-Old-Heid ... 1438.l2649

I was going to bid on that Blatz can, but the number went higher than where I wanted to be (prior to the last 20 seconds), so I didn't. Really nice example BTW and probably worth the final number! I messaged the seller with a question and he/she was very quick to respond with good information. Didn't even notice the "private listings" thing until it was mentioned here.

Why do some sellers use it? I have absolutely no idea. As stated, ebay now obscures bidders ID's. I suppose in a normal bidding process, without the private listings tab turned on, you can at least see how many unique bidders there are and at what bidding level. Really somewhat pointless until the auction is over, then it IS useful information. As we all know, many winning bids come in at the end and often by someone that had not previously bid. If a can goes for $400, it's interesting to know how many different bidders were say, above $350.

[bigcitydave]

Thanks for all the info guys. Makes me wish I had bid on the Blatz.