eBay

jond1956 · ‎11-25-2017

what are the advantages and disadvantages to letting Allow buyers to remain anonymous to other eBay users

ted_200 · ‎11-25-2017

I just think it's a "big brother is going to take care of you, there's no need for you to know what's really going on, we keep everything secret for your own protection" mentality. I might be willing to buy into that more if eBay had any credible history or track record of performing in that manner. They don't do much of anything even when it's right out in the open for all to see - all hiding this does is help eBay hide the problems and hide their inaction.

They made bidder IDs anonymous. They made user IDs anonymous in feedback. There were ways to deal with the second one... make your feedback Private! They even used to let you see others' bid histories (didn't even have to buy or win anything!). This was all to keep the Auction process transparent, which gave users a sense of trust that the process was fair.

I have no idea how eBay ever got to be some www selling giant icon... in the days when every other site was losing money hand over fist and folding up shop faster than 11 Main, no less... if these policies were really as awful as eBay now claims they were.

The Floggings Will Continue Until Morale Improves.

the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth · ‎11-25-2017

Nothing is ever fair when there are people out there willing to cheat and scam. I don’t want those people having my information. If buyers trust auctions less to protect others then so be it. They don’t have to participate.

nobody has any right to know what I am buying but the seller for that particular item. Other people need to myob.

solarshift7 · ‎11-25-2017

@jond1956 wrote:
what are the advantages and disadvantages to letting Allow buyers to remain anonymous to other eBay users

I've got one account that sells some fetish items so the buyers obviously want to stay anonymous. In our FAQs we offered to NOT leave FB upon request before buyers placed their orders but over the years almost no one took us up on that (I know, buyers don't go digging for the Q/A stuff). Last summer I had a guy purchase using his seller account...he was pretty embarrassed but asked if we could remove the FB after the fact so his buyers wouldn't see where he was purchasing from. We spent a lot of time on the phone talking with Ebay about the situation but they refused to remove the FB. The buyer was extremely upset. We now leave FB only upon request and our buyers seem very pleased with the extra invisibility.

spokesbird · ‎03-21-2018

I agree. I have changed my listings to private, because it's nobody's business who my buyers are (even if they are disguised), AND as you said, nobody can contact them to steal away their business. As a buyer, I lost many wins on vintage collectibles because in the old days, buyers could see what other people were bidding on. I stayed away for years. It was so defeating.