posted on August 17, 2003 06:33:27 PM new
I know there was a thread somewhere along these lines a while ago, but I am experiencing my first bidder with private fb.
What is the implication of this again? Should I cancel the bid?
posted on August 17, 2003 07:10:39 PM new
First, check and see the ratio of positves and negatives. Then run a search and see what else they are bidding on. If it's adult stuff, that's probably your answer. If that doesn't work, e-mail them, assuming there's time, and ask for an explanation. I had a newbie who didn't know any better and made their FB private.
posted on August 17, 2003 07:33:30 PM new
Also, if a person buys widgets such as gay and lesbian items, they don't want that to be known to others. They may not be out to family members who know their userid.
Also, they may simply don't want nosey relatives, friends and co-workers who may know their userid, know what they have bid on.
Also, they may be a celebrity who has feedback indicating who they really are.
When Rosie first started her charity eBay auctions, her feedback was public. When she started getting hate feedback (this was before transaction only feedbacks) her feedbacks became "private".
Also, they may buy high priced items and they don't want present sellers to know their history of spending. I know sometimes, for different reasons, I will check out my bidders' bid history. It kinda tells me what they have paid on similar/like items. I gives me an idea on how high they may have gone on my items (proxy bidding etc)
I know that "search" on a bidder may and does reveal some of this information, but not all users are aware of the ability to search their bids. If the bidder hasn't bid lately, the feedback can and does give me some of this information.
As long as their neg/pos ratio is good, I wouldn't worry about it.
posted on August 17, 2003 07:36:23 PM new
Usually it's a seller that has private feedback and not a bidder. There must be a few rare bidders that are paranoid and try to make everything about them on ebay as annonymous as possible. I'd be leery of a bidder with private feedback though as it may be an attempt to hide a bad rating.
-------------- sig file ----------- He who angers you controls you
posted on August 17, 2003 07:45:46 PM new
Just because a person has their feedback private, the number of neg, pos and neut feedbacks are still public.
After selling and buying on eBay for almost five years now, if I see that the rating was good, I would not cancel the bid.
posted on August 17, 2003 07:47:29 PM new
With private feedback you can still see what they are bidding on, a couple of my competitors have there buying ids private feedback but I can still find what they are bidding on.
posted on August 17, 2003 07:53:08 PM new
Thanks. Was initially concerned but you all have stated good reasons for the private. I did go and check and ratings are all positive, so should be okay.
posted on August 17, 2003 08:17:14 PM new
I have several ids. One I primarily sell with. One I buy with. The others are there to use for different things (one is to bid on a seller who steals my photo or my wording, so that it "freezes" the auction, they can't go in and change it ).
My primary seller id has a significant amount of feedback whereas my primary buyer id doesn't. Sometimes, it fools sellers in thinking I am new and have had a few try to take advantage of me.
My seller id was used years ago to buy with, but not anymore since I found my self competing with some of my regular customers.
So, maybe the person with the private feedback has an impressive feedback on their seller feedback.
).