[Milsurplus] eBay Hiding IDs does NOT Work

[J Forster]

I'm not confused. I was pointing out the trivial way a scammer can get
many bidder IDs for fraudulent second chance offers (by putting up a
clone) and that eBay hiding IDs does not protect against that. It does
somewhat hinder what you suggested though, not bidding against friends.

I was not personally interested in the sale .

Best,
-John

============

WA5CAB at cs.com wrote:

> John,
>
> I think you're confused.  Although I don't like the bidder ID hiding
> either, as I used to look at who was bidding on something I was
> interested in and often avoided bidding on it if a friend or good
> customer was at or near the top of the bidder list.  But the bidder
> ID's have never been hidden from the seller.  If you look on the
> bidder screen, it clearly says so.
>
> I do concur that this was a fraudulent auction.  The seller account
> was set up the day that the ad launched.  And there are several other
> signs if you just look for them.  I'll suggest that your friend should
> have been suspicious about the second auction, given all the signs.
>
> However, although I do not like defending eBay as they have done
> several particularly stupid things recently that were deliberately
> designed to screw sellers, they never do anything designed to hurt
> buyers.  The hidden bidder ID's did prevent the crook in London (or
> wherever he actually is - note the translation warning message) from
> sending 2nd Chance offers to bidders on the original auction.  Which
> is exactly what the hidden bidder ID was intended to prevent.
>
> I've no interest whatsoever in the hardware involved, but if I had,
> when I saw the several warning signs in the second auction, I would
> have thought up a few trick questions to send the seller.  Or just
> assume it was a scam and gone on.
>
> In a message dated 6/15/2008 10:05:57 PM Central Daylight Time,
> jfor at quik.com writes:
>
>> Here's a a perfect case of why eBay hiding user IDs from other
>> bidders
>> does not stop fraudulent "Second Chance" offers:
>>
>> The first auction, ending on May 15, 2008 could well have been
>> legitimate. The price is high, but not out of the question:
>>
>>        Hewlett Packard Laser Calibration System     Item number:
>> 300222289987
>>
>> Earlier today, a friend emailed me about this auction:
>>
>>       Hewlett Pacrkard Laser Calibration System    Item number:
>> 250257487810
>>
>> He bid on it, but was outbid. Then today he got a Second Chance
>> offer
>> from the seller.  There are very few of these systems out there,
>> BTW.
>> There is absolutely no question that the sale pics were copied,
>> because
>> one of the cases shown is not HP. Also, compare the text. I'll bet
>> all
>> the bidders on the latter sale got second chance offers too.
>>
>> This is a perfect example that eBay is not really trying to prevent
>> fraud, because they apparently make bidder IDs available to sellers.
>
> Robert & Susan Downs - Houston
> <http://www.wa5cab.com> (Web Store)
> MVPA 9480
> <wa5cab at cs.com> (Primary email)
> <wa5cab at comcast.net> (Backup email)
>
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