From a recent Auction I looked at:

quote:

As online shopping evolves, eBay continues to focus on preserving our marketplace's open and level playingfield whilst protecting our Community of members. We have decided to change how bid history information is displayed so unscrupulous people cannot target bidders with fake offers using this information. In certain cases, some bidders will no longer be able to see other bidder's User IDs on the listing page. Your User ID will be shown only to you and the seller of the item you're bidding on. Other members will see an anonymous name, such as Bidder 1, Bidder 2 etc.

Interesting!?

R2

Nice politically correct statement by eBay.
Unfortunate for us. I turned in a shill bidder by watching the bids, and doing some back round checks.
I wont be able to watch my own back any longer!?!

On the Auction Listings Board on Ebay, I have REPEATEDLY pointed out that Ebay did this to stop the Fraudulent Second Chance Offers....

Problem is, They solved that problem by creating a Shillers Paradise.

As far as preventing shill bidding, I see the change as a major improvement. Actually “proving” someone was a shill was difficult, typically unproductive, and the research was VERY time consuming. Now, by clicking on “View”, one has a better tool to spot a shill bidder (assuming one gives a rat’s arse about shills). Hopefully ebay will support this improvement on all auctions, and not just those over $200.

If anything, with the additional information provided (“View”), I can see this change discouraging shills.

I also like that other’s can’t see what I was willing to pay for the item in a previous auction that I may have lost. AND, it’s nice to know that this will prevent stalking, although sniping eliminates that issue.