How do I stop the sign in page showing my User ID?

[myjunqueyourtreasure]

So much for "privacy" ebay.

I've tried several browsers, cleared cache, cookies, history, changed my site preferences and it still shows my real first name at the top of the ebay page (even before I log in) and my User ID on the sign in page.

[eburtonlab]

@myjunqueyourtreasure 

I've tried several browsers, cleared cache, cookies, history, changed my site preferences and it still shows my real first name at the top of the ebay page (even before I log in)

I have noticed that while it usually says "Hi Erich!" when I am signed in, and "Hi! Sign in or register" when I am signed out -- sometimes it says "Hi Erich! (sign in)" which seems odd to me.

I believe that first name is taken from your registration information (Account settings: Personal information: Edit information) if you want to change that to an initial or something else.

and my User ID on the sign in page.

If you mean the user ID is prefilled in to the sign in field, that is stored in your browser. Clearing your browser cache will not remove that. In Firefox, it is listed under Options, Privacy & Security, Logins & Passwords.

If you want to avoid leaving traces of your eBay presence behind, one way is to use a private or incognito window to browse eBay, and then be sure to close the window when you are done.

[berserkerplanet]

>>"Hi Erich! (sign in)" which seems odd to me.

I think that is due to the eBay dp1 cookie - it contains user's first name, and I believe the pages pull it from there when not signed in.

Deleting that cookie (or all ebay cookies for good measure) should disappear the first name when not signed in.

I use an old Firefox addon to help with quickly sanitizing after visiting sites - "Close n Forget". One click on the toolbar icon closes the tab and deletes that site's cookies (doesn't get all of them though - only the base domain ones - but generally enough for most purposes). Discontinued and not available for FF Quantum versions, but similar addons might exist.

[myjunqueyourtreasure]

Pretty sure this an ebay coding thing rather than a browser setting as it suddenly started happening any any browser.

[eburtonlab]

@myjunqueyourtreasure 

Pretty sure this an ebay coding thing rather than a browser setting as it suddenly started happening any any browser.

But not in a private or incognito window of a browser. So there should be some combination of clearing browser saved usernames/passwords, clearing browser cookies, and making sure that your eBay account does not have "keep me signed in" set in the site preferences that should stop your username from populating that field.

If you are signed in with google or facebook and have ever used either of those to sign in with eBay, that might also remember you, so you may have to unlink those from your account as well.

[eburtonlab]

@myjunqueyourtreasure 

I just tested a browser, Chrome, that I rarely use on this machine; I deleted my saved usernames and passwords from the browser, then deleted all cookies. I went to ebay.com and at the top it said "Hi! sign in or register". When I used the sign in link, my username was not prefilled in the field, but when I clicked on the field my username did appear in a dropdown. I am not sure where that was stored, but I was able to delete it by highlighting the username and hitting shift-delete.

Closed the browser and reopened, went back to ebay.com, back to sign in, and now no more username when I click on that field.