Major privacy and security issue with eBay

[sodium419]

Here's how eBay could be used right now for criminals to find homes with known expensive items and break in and steal those items.

Starting many years ago, eBay started showing the title of all items you sold on your feedback page.  The feedback is very useful for buyers, but showing the items sold is a huge privacy and security concern, which I'll explain how it can be used against you.

Let's say you're fairly well off and collect expensive jewelry.  You like to buy new jewelry and sell jewelry on eBay you no longer wear.  Sounds harmless.  But the problem is a criminal can use this information against you.

A criminal lists a bunch of items for sale on eBay at cost.  You (and many others) buy something from him.  He now has your address.  He then creates a list of addresses and uses your selling history to compile a list of homes and probable items that could be in each home.  You filter to the top of his list as you're only 60 miles away, it shows you've been selling expensive jewelry for years, and you happen to have an $15,000 piece being sold right now (so he knows it's in your possession).   He scopes out your home and breaks in, stealing not only the $15,000 piece that was for sale, but the rest of your collection.  This can be made far worse if there's a criminal network setup across the country doing this, as it maximizes the chances of finding someone local and easier to target.

I know you can hide ALL your feedback, which also includes hiding items sold.  But you really need to be showing feedback if you're selling something (it may even be required).  What I suggest is eBay add a new feature to hide all items sold but still show feedback.  I've had an eBay account for 24 years and have 100% positive feedback.  I never want to hide my feedback.  But hiding the items I've sold is a huge security and privacy concern of mine.  As shown above, this could easily be used to target eBay members.  And a network of criminals could really create a nationwide (or even worldwide) problem.

I currently turn off displaying feedback when I'm not selling something, then turn it back on just for when I have something for sale, then turn it back off.  That only minimizes my chances.  The only current way to totally prevent this is to turn off all feedback forever and only use eBay for buying.  Probably not what eBay wants.

So, eBay, please add a feature to hide items sold.  I see it as a major security and privacy issue.

[sodium419]

It would look different as it would do this for previous sales.  Also, according to eBay, Private Listings only protect the buyer/bidders, there's no seller protection.

[katzrul15]

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@fern*wood wrote:

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@sodium419 wrote:

It doesn't hide previous sales from years ago.  Also, the "Private Listing" description doesn't say anything about hiding the sale on the sellers feedback page.  All it talks about is protecting buyer/bidders.  Further, for new sales, a "Private Listing" has negative annotations .

So no, this isn't a solution.  It's a fine suggestion, but only people selling porn or doing something deceptive use private listings.

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I fail to see how your suggestion would look any different than the private listing suggestion.  You want the feedback visible and the item hidden.  done   Old sold items are gone.

Frankly, if a criminal wants to try to find one of my listed items in my house---good luck.  I can't find them myself.

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😂

[soh.maryl]

Why would anyone be so reckless as to invite a total stranger into their home? 

[yuzuha]

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@maxine*j wrote:

My only comment, otherwise, is that anyone dealing in really valuable items, like jewellery worth thousands of dollars, ought to be concerned enough about theft to have some pretty hefty security already in place at their stores or homes or wherever they keep the stuff. 

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I was going to say. All of my really valuable stuff (that isn't even for sale on eBay) is kept in a safe deposit box at the bank for a reason.

[dnasilver]

Legit Auction Houses keep the clients name under wraps. Tell me one Auction House that posted/showed/released a buyers name after they bought that 2.5million dollar Monet Painting. Sellers name are only released/mentioned with the permission of said seller. 

[theteamsetguy]

Most people that have expensive jewelry like that will add rider to their insurance policy like myself. The riders don't add that much to the cost of the policy. If jewelry theft happens a lot the riders would be more expensive. 

[chapeau-noir]

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@mtgraves7984 wrote:

"A criminal lists a bunch of items for sale on eBay at cost.  You (and many others) buy something from him.  He now has your address.  He then creates a list of addresses and uses your selling history to compile a list of homes and probable items that could be in each home.  You filter to the top of his list as you're only 60 miles away, it shows you've been selling expensive jewelry for years, and you happen to have an $15,000 piece being sold right now (so he knows it's in your possession).   He scopes out your home and breaks in, stealing not only the $15,000 piece that was for sale, but the rest of your collection."

@sodium419 

Where I live, the criminals are strung out on drugs and not nearly as lucid, patient, intelligent or hooked-up to do this stuff, especially on the chance they'd get to burglarize your home at a later date.

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Someone broke into my 1997 Subaru (people get desperate), stole a busted GPS unit (but not the harness sitting right next to it) from the back seat, 20 cents from the console dish, and raked out the contents of our glove box and stole my mileage log.  😖  Someone else had a stack of worn-out car tires stolen from their front porch. We're not looking at a brilliant population subset here.

But...I wonder if I just quietly place a notice somewhere so people can come in and take all of my inventory, that I will have stacked (conveniently) in the road in front of my house.  They have to steal it all, mind, no cherry picking!

[mrdutch1001]

that's because there is no solution to your paranoia...the rest of the world has let this ship sail...life goes on...

[sodium419]

Not paranoid in the slightest.  It's just a simple suggestion for eBay to address a security/privacy loophole that criminals are probably using right now.

[dbfolks166mt]

    It's a risk like everything else in life. But like everything else in life there are steps you can take to mitigate this risk just like most B&M stores, banks............. I have very discreet video surveillance, alarm systems and personal protection devices covering and in my house. I feel far safer with those than anything eBay could do to mitigate the risk which they are not going to do anyway. 

[mrdutch1001]

and you expect eBay to implement something for every possible criminal scenario???

if the millions of sellers/buyers that use eBay were that concerned about such possibilities, they'd take their own action= not use the site.

I used eBay for 18 years selling everything from $5 to $15,000...and I never gave any thought to criminal activity associated with feedback. You really think the millions of users to eBay care about this topic???

If you are so hell-bent on this topic, perhaps you need to start your own site to sell on and put in every possible anti-theft/anti-criminal security YOU can afford...

[greatstuff80]

"that criminals are probably using right now"

That scammers have been using for YEARS and smart sellers know how to protect themselves. 

[maxine*j]

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@dnasilver wrote:

Legit Auction Houses keep the clients name under wraps. Tell me one Auction House that posted/showed/released a buyers name after they bought that 2.5million dollar Monet Painting. Sellers name are only released/mentioned with the permission of said seller. 

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True.  But eBay is not an auction house.  Apples.  Oranges.

=

[sodium419]

eBay can also mitigate this risk by adding the suggested feature.  I too have cameras, alarm, home monitoring, notification, hardened safe, personal protection, etc.  But not everyone does, and this is a simple OPTIONAL thing eBay can do to protect their customers.

[sodium419]

I already have every anti-theft/anti-criminal security just about anyone could afford.  But my topic is to prevent the physical security needed in the first place, by adding an OPTIONAL switch.  It's amazing how many people object so much to an OPTION to increase security/privacy.  What's the harm in a switch you never need to check unless you don't want to?  No one yet has given one good reason why it shouldn't be done.  My guess, those in opposition are already using the scheme outlined.