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 Replies: 13 / Views: 2,026 |
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New Member
United States
1 Posts |
anyone using ebay has noticed the ubiquitous little 5 character usernames. (1***2) (a***b) etc. Is this some secret society? code? Who am I bidding against; a group of special dealers? Whats going on here? Can anybody explain this to me please? ... thanks ... happytradesco |
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Moderator
 United States
14463 Posts |
that is how ebay and most auction sites hide user names of the bidders |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3486 Posts |
Years ago ebay did use the names. I miss those days. |
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Moderator
Australia
16873 Posts |
To offer an example of how the abbreviations work: my ebay user name is "numismatichemist". If I were bidding on an item you were looking at, you would see me as "n***t". The ebay usernames "nobodyboughtit" and "narcissist" would also appear as the exact same abbreviation. As I understand it, you only see the full username if you are the person selling the item. Everyone else is clueless. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7648 Posts |
ebay started using the hidden ID's to prevent what they call "auction interference". Back in the "Wild West days" of ebay good intentioned eBayers would contact bidders who were about to be shafted with a counterfeit, whizzed or grossly overgraded coin (or other item). A lot of time this resulted in bid retractions and unpaid items and ebay was losing sales and credibility. So..... They went to the hidden ID format and it stopped the auction interference. They still have the credibility issues, though!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7375 Posts |
I'm ok with it because at least the same ID is used for the same bidder throughout the history of that particular auction. Helps me see who my immediate competition is. The "Private Identity" thing is what bugs me.
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Valued Member
United States
169 Posts |
I liked it too when you could see who was bidding but crooks always ruin it for everybody.back in those days people were getting bogus second chance offers,and with their ebay identity out there bidding on higher ticket items were liable to be contacted with all sorts of scams-I'm sure many unsuspecting people got burnt before ebay did this |
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
Quote:-I'm sure many unsuspecting people got burnt before ebay did this Exactly that. The negatives of showing everyones ID far outweighed the positives which eventually would have made ebay a failure when people didnt think it was safe to bid there |
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Moderator
United States
16681 Posts |
Exactly what Sap stated. It keeps bidders clueless as to who their bidding against.
swcoin.ecrater.com
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Valued Member
Canada
300 Posts |
Actually, they don't use the first and last characters in your identity. Rather, they use the second and second-last. For example my ebay name is something similar to RadHome. So instead of my being R****E, I am A****M. |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1005 Posts |
In the past as a seller the app would show the hidden name on the listing or the actual names under bidding activities.
I am not 100% sure but I think it is two random letters or numbers of your username.
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Valued Member
Canada
300 Posts |
Quote:
I am not 100% sure but I think it is two random letters or numbers of your username. Ah, you may be quite right, Bm0ney. I am guilty of using only my own ebay name as an example and generalizing it to everyone. *Staff edit, comment removed. It would make sense that they randomly selected any two letters or numbers in a username to make it less easily identified. Edited by Ravenzcoin
01/30/2014 9:51 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1373 Posts |
Reminds me of when I first started bidding on ebay. I'd look at the bid history for each item I bid on and only my name was shown; wasn't sure why at that time. So I changed my username to include the "***". I thought that using my real name would open myself up to scammers, etc. Now I know that I was the only bidder able to see my full user name at the time. Oops. |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1005 Posts |
My hidden name is the middle two out of fifteen letters. I signed out of ebay and checked something I have a bid on. |
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Replies: 13 / Views: 2,026 |
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Posted 01/29/2014 08:00 am
