Ebay bidding

[sunflower68]

I noticed, as I have been off ebay for a bit, now the bidders are listed as names such as o***r (made that one up) rather than bidder's real ID.

I see this in the bidding list and it has each bidder as a 4 or 5 digit name with stars, as above, in middle of name.

However I was then looking at a seller who was doing very well for herself, 15-20 bids on each item of baby clothing; some stuff going for £30 for a second hand designer set. When I looked at the bidders, each and every one for each item for sale states "Private listing - bidder's identities protected." Does it mean she is bidding herself under another guise?

[sunflower68]

he he!!

[jomifl]

just snipe with your max price then it doesn't matter what others are getting up to.

[rccatnap]

Very unlikely. Ebay would soon get wise to that and the member would be cut off. (Now there's a horrible thought!). The letters and stars are made up by Ebay, not the bidder.
When you list an item you get the choice to hide or not, the bidders' identity. Simple as that. As a potential buyer, add the item to your watch list and you can soon get an idea which bidder has won, purely through their individual Ebay shorthand IDs. The repetition of those IDs just indicate that their bids have been automatically increased by virtue of their maximum bid already placed. Nothing underhand. Hope this helps.