Ebay bidder identification possible?

[comick1]

I was checking out a thread where a person talked about a number of watchers but no bidders and then somebody else responded that he occasionally watches items in order to keep dibs on what it sells for because he has the same issue in similar grade or the like.

 

Q: Is it possible to circumvent the "privacy safeguards" eBay has put in place in order to figure out who the underbidder was on an auction? I seem to recall somebody on these boards finding some roundabout way of figuring that out. . .maybe via Google search or something like that? Distant memory and I have no idea what to search for.

 

Yes, I have a comparable copy of an item that went for enough money that contacting the underbidder makes perfectly good sense. The auction's already done, so I don't have any personal qualms about doing so. It'd be different if the auction was in progress, but this is not the case.

 

Ideas?

[thirdgreenham]

You can only do that on Earth 2.

[zuulioso]

I was checking out a thread where a person talked about a number of watchers but no bidders and then somebody else responded that he occasionally watches items in order to keep dibs on what it sells for because he has the same issue in similar grade or the like.

 

Q: Is it possible to circumvent the "privacy safeguards" eBay has put in place in order to figure out who the underbidder was on an auction? I seem to recall somebody on these boards finding some roundabout way of figuring that out. . .maybe via Google search or something like that? Distant memory and I have no idea what to search for.

 

Yes, I have a comparable copy of an item that went for enough money that contacting the underbidder makes perfectly good sense. The auction's already done, so I don't have any personal qualms about doing so. It'd be different if the auction was in progress, but this is not the case.

 

Ideas?

 

You want to offer an item to a bidder on somebody else's auction? If I understand you correctly, I would have to guess that eBay would probably have issue with that. Why wouldn't you just run your own auction? What am I missing?

[mrmyst]

You can only do that on Earth 2.

[Warren Oates]

avoiding the fees, doing business with ebay at all Those are two things that would be nice.

[comicstock]

You can only do that on Earth 2.

 

 

 

 

 

[Tony S]

I was checking out a thread where a person talked about a number of watchers but no bidders and then somebody else responded that he occasionally watches items in order to keep dibs on what it sells for because he has the same issue in similar grade or the like.

 

Q: Is it possible to circumvent the "privacy safeguards" eBay has put in place in order to figure out who the underbidder was on an auction? I seem to recall somebody on these boards finding some roundabout way of figuring that out. . .maybe via Google search or something like that? Distant memory and I have no idea what to search for.

 

Yes, I have a comparable copy of an item that went for enough money that contacting the underbidder makes perfectly good sense. The auction's already done, so I don't have any personal qualms about doing so. It'd be different if the auction was in progress, but this is not the case.

 

Ideas?

 

The short answer is no, there is no way to reliably do this. Sometimes, with some regular sellers, you can get a good idea of who bidders are based on previous feedback that has been left and their feedback score. That is - they have purchased from the seller before, have left/received feedback and are bidding on more of their auctions.

 

The reason the identities are anonymous is just so people cannot do what you want to do. eBay also tries hard to make it difficult to send an email that says "I have a book just like you bid on - would you like to buy it for $$$". That email would get blocked.

 

I'm not saying I absolutely would not respond to such an offer, but I would be very cautious. Anyone can send an email saying they have anything for sale after all. So you may well find such an offer would be ignored by the potential buyer for fear of it being a scam.

 

You might try offering your book on the for sale thread here on the boards. No fees here either.

[lizards2]

I think greggy might keep tabs on what the coded bidder is in relation to the real bidder. Not sure if that's occasionally shuffled or not. I know at one time he knew the code to one of my eBay profiles.

 

 

I was checking out a thread where a person talked about a number of watchers but no bidders and then somebody else responded that he occasionally watches items in order to keep dibs on what it sells for because he has the same issue in similar grade or the like.

 

Q: Is it possible to circumvent the "privacy safeguards" eBay has put in place in order to figure out who the underbidder was on an auction? I seem to recall somebody on these boards finding some roundabout way of figuring that out. . .maybe via Google search or something like that? Distant memory and I have no idea what to search for.

 

Yes, I have a comparable copy of an item that went for enough money that contacting the underbidder makes perfectly good sense. The auction's already done, so I don't have any personal qualms about doing so. It'd be different if the auction was in progress, but this is not the case.

 

Ideas?

[mrmyst]

[Dr. Balls]

You used to be able to do that years ago, but not anymore.

[mrmyst]

You used to be able to do that years ago, but not anymore.

 

[Tony S]

You used to be able to do that years ago, but not anymore.

Yeah. I actually bought two books that way maybe eight years ago. MTU 1 9.4 and TOD 10 9.4. He contacted me just like the OP wants to - right after an auction where I was the underbidder. It worked out fine, but I checked out the person really well before agreeing to the sale.

 

Still have the books. Nice CGC Old label goodness....

[Buzzetta]

I was disappointed that eBay ended this practice. While I would not do off-eBay sales back then, I did like to drop the underbidder a note to let them know that I had the item listed in another auction on eBay that was closing in x days. I did that a couple of times. Sometimes the person bid on my stuff. In other cases they didn't.

 

In some cases I was contacted and directed towards other peoples auctions.

[Tony S]

eBay wanted to stop the practice since it doesn't put money in their pockets. But it also keeps more experienced collectors from letting noobs know that they are about to get taken. How many AF 15's get sold by a low feedback seller in Germany? Sometimes eBay stops the auctions, but mostly they seem to be about three days late.

[Bill1]

When I first started buying on Ebay in 1999, my user name was my email address! After awhile, they made me change it.

[passion4comics]

EBay has blocked legitimate emails where anything that could resemble a telephone number or cryptic email address was included. I have to figure out what part of my email it doesn’t like. Usually it’s a Best Offer and I’m pointing the buyer to recent sales numbers on EBay. It thinks it’s a telephone number.

 

Another BIG issue I had was other comic collectors having to wait until I posted feedback to let me know the book I just bought was purchased by them a month prior with restoration and the seller keeps on trying to sell it as unrestored. Now I try to wait until CGC comes back with a grade before leaving feedback. Good luck. EBay protections and feedback 90-days, CGC turn around more than 110. I was just burned with a PLOD and have to eat it.

 

My theory is that EBay was making money hand over fist when it was the Wild West. Back when feedback wasn’t groomed. When people could contact each other openly. Sure there were outside sales, but for the most part you were able to trust the seller more because if someone left horrible feedback it wasn’t pulled a day later. It was better then for buyers and sellers than it is now.

 

 

 

[telerites]

I remember the thread you are referring to. I'm search impotent so I couldn't find it. I thought it had something to do with a couple of steps of google searching item numbers and/or feedbacks but I've slept multiple times and been through a divorce since then so faulty at best is my memory.

[dgarthwaite-migration]

EBay has blocked legitimate emails where anything that could resemble a telephone number or cryptic email address was included. I have to figure out what part of my email it doesn’t like.

 

The typical red flag is the "@" symbol. "com" and "net" can reveal and email address. Free/Common email domains are easily identified: gmail, hotmail

 

DG

[VintageComics]

EBay has blocked legitimate emails where anything that could resemble a telephone number or cryptic email address was included. I have to figure out what part of my email it doesn’t like.

 

The typical red flag is the "@" symbol. "com" and "net" can reveal and email address. Free/Common email domains are easily identified: gmail, hotmail

 

DG

 

Flags are also on key words like "privately" and "end listing". I tried to notify a bidder tonight that a book he was bidding on (using the Make An Offer feature) sold privately and I forgot to end the listing and eBay wouldn't let me send the message during the "decline offer" until I removed those words.

 

 

[dgarthwaite-migration]

EBay has blocked legitimate emails where anything that could resemble a telephone number or cryptic email address was included. I have to figure out what part of my email it doesn’t like.

 

The typical red flag is the "@" symbol. "com" and "net" can reveal and email address. Free/Common email domains are easily identified: gmail, hotmail

 

DG

 

Flags are also on key words like "privately" and "end listing". I tried to notify a bidder tonight that a book he was bidding on (using the Make An Offer feature) sold privately and I forgot to end the listing and eBay wouldn't let me send the message during the "decline offer" until I removed those words.

 

 

I think eBay will be the next Myspace.

You don't restrict the users. The internet does not work that way.

 

DG