There are legitimate and illegitimate reasons for a seller to choose the Private Listing option. (You should be aware that YOUR bid on that item is/would be attributed to the same "Private listing--bidders' identities protected"--note the plural; you see your own ID in the bid list only because YOU are the one logged in under that ID). Private listings protect the winner's/buyer's (they apply in fixed price listings also) ID to a greater extent than in ordinary listings (a***b type alias; though the legitimate differences are getting fewer and fewer as eBay is getting more and more opaque with ordinary listings it is still possible, with some effort, to match a feedback left from a buyer's profile with its appearance on the seller's profile to find the item information). Legitimate reasons include the sale of items where the buyer would most likely want his/her identity kept private (adult materials, medical supplies, spygear, etc.) and that the likely buyers of the item are a small tight community (small and tight enough to know each others' ID aliases) where one might be reluctant to bid against another. You guessed at the main illegitimate reason (the term is "shilling", the seller using other accounts to place bids).
My rule of thumb is that if the majority of sellers of the item or very similar ones use Private Listings (especially if they use it for their fixed price sales) then the reason is probably legitimate. If not, I go with one of the majority of sellers who don't use it. Or I might discount my bid so that there isn't enough room to run it up past where I would be very happy paying. (It could be that the seller has a legitimate, or at least non-illegitimate, reason for choosing PL, that the others don't, in which case I might get a bargain if my higher paying competition is scared off.) AND the best way to avoid having the price you pay if you win be higher than it should be because of shilling is to wait until the last minute to bid your TRUE maximum without regard to what others have bid or don't appear to have bid; if you don't let YOUR bid be affected by shill bids and you don't give the potential shiller time to probe YOUR bid, the price you pay will be based on a legitimate valuation independent of your valuation: either the maximum bid of the next highest legitimate bidder or the true minimum selling price of the seller, within an increment or so.
Note: if there isn't already a bid by someone else on the item, the only way to tell it is a PL is to look WAAAAAAAY down on the item's Listing Page (past the point where you'd think there would be any information about this particular listing) for something like this:
"This is a private listing and your identity will not be disclosed to anyone except the seller."
After a while of not being on eBay, I started to bid on something and found all bidders except me were “private listingsâ€. I understand this and now wonder how I can also be so listed. But, it seems this may just be a way for seller to bid up their item. I hesitate to bid because all 50 bidders could be same person, the seller! So how does eBay recognize or stop such a practice?
Bidders cannot be "private listings". The auction is the private listing.
Per Ebay: Private listings allow buyers to remain anonymous when they bid on or buy an item. Usernames are hidden from other members viewing the listing and can only be seen by the seller.
I already explained how it can't be the seller.
Only YOU will see your user i.d. in the bidding history, no one else can.
If you are very concerned, don't bid on private listing auctions.
Nope, there is absolutely no way for a seller to bid on their own items.
Some buyers like to have listings private for some of the same reasons they have their feedback private. They don't want other family members to see what they are shopping for or buying on Ebay and I'm sure there are many other reasons too.
woodland_gnome
·3 years agoThere are legitimate and illegitimate reasons for a seller to choose the Private Listing option. (You should be aware that YOUR bid on that item is/would be attributed to the same "Private listing--bidders' identities protected"--note the plural; you see your own ID in the bid list only because YOU are the one logged in under that ID). Private listings protect the winner's/buyer's (they apply in fixed price listings also) ID to a greater extent than in ordinary listings (a***b type alias; though the legitimate differences are getting fewer and fewer as eBay is getting more and more opaque with ordinary listings it is still possible, with some effort, to match a feedback left from a buyer's profile with its appearance on the seller's profile to find the item information). Legitimate reasons include the sale of items where the buyer would most likely want his/her identity kept private (adult materials, medical supplies, spygear, etc.) and that the likely buyers of the item are a small tight community (small and tight enough to know each others' ID aliases) where one might be reluctant to bid against another. You guessed at the main illegitimate reason (the term is "shilling", the seller using other accounts to place bids).
My rule of thumb is that if the majority of sellers of the item or very similar ones use Private Listings (especially if they use it for their fixed price sales) then the reason is probably legitimate. If not, I go with one of the majority of sellers who don't use it. Or I might discount my bid so that there isn't enough room to run it up past where I would be very happy paying. (It could be that the seller has a legitimate, or at least non-illegitimate, reason for choosing PL, that the others don't, in which case I might get a bargain if my higher paying competition is scared off.) AND the best way to avoid having the price you pay if you win be higher than it should be because of shilling is to wait until the last minute to bid your TRUE maximum without regard to what others have bid or don't appear to have bid; if you don't let YOUR bid be affected by shill bids and you don't give the potential shiller time to probe YOUR bid, the price you pay will be based on a legitimate valuation independent of your valuation: either the maximum bid of the next highest legitimate bidder or the true minimum selling price of the seller, within an increment or so.
Note: if there isn't already a bid by someone else on the item, the only way to tell it is a PL is to look WAAAAAAAY down on the item's Listing Page (past the point where you'd think there would be any information about this particular listing) for something like this:
"This is a private listing and your identity will not be disclosed to anyone except the seller."
lady_madonna
Mentor3 years ago@queen-of-torts
It is not possible for a seller to bid on their listing, not to mention illegal.
queen-of-torts
OP3 years agoAfter a while of not being on eBay, I started to bid on something and found all bidders except me were “private listingsâ€. I understand this and now wonder how I can also be so listed. But, it seems this may just be a way for seller to bid up their item. I hesitate to bid because all 50 bidders could be same person, the seller! So how does eBay recognize or stop such a practice?
lady_madonna
Mentor3 years ago@queen-of-torts
Bidders cannot be "private listings". The auction is the private listing.
Per Ebay: Private listings allow buyers to remain anonymous when they bid on or buy an item. Usernames are hidden from other members viewing the listing and can only be seen by the seller.
I already explained how it can't be the seller.
Only YOU will see your user i.d. in the bidding history, no one else can.
If you are very concerned, don't bid on private listing auctions.
mam98031
Mentor3 years agoNope, there is absolutely no way for a seller to bid on their own items.
Some buyers like to have listings private for some of the same reasons they have their feedback private. They don't want other family members to see what they are shopping for or buying on Ebay and I'm sure there are many other reasons too.
queen-of-torts
OP3 years agoThank you!
mam98031
Mentor3 years agoYou are very welcome.
mam98031
Mentor3 years agoNope, it simply is not allowed by Ebay whether it is a regular listing or a private listing.