posted on October 27, 2000 09:15:22 PM
Forgive me if this has been covered before. I can't find the answer. I am bidding on an auction for a collectible item and wondered if this person has bid on these items before so I tried to check on their previous auctions and received this message. Is this only Germany or all other countries?
Not possible
German privacy laws do not allow us to pass on information involving bidders from Germany. If you want to find all auctions this user has bid on, please contact the user directly by email.
posted on October 27, 2000 09:35:57 PM
I've never seen this message before. In US, you can search by bidder, including completed auctions. Don't know about other locations though.
posted on October 28, 2000 03:43:01 AM
This is because their laws are different.
We are going to wish they were like that here in the US in a few years. The Swiss for example have the right to privacy spelled out in their constitution. In the US it is only implied and subject to endless interpretation by the courts. Well - we see how they interpret it. If someone can make money by ignoring your privacy they all think it is a fine thing.
One thing the founding fathers just did not think to put in the US constitution because at the time nobody could foresee the electronic gathering and sorting of information. Of course you can ammend the constitution - they did it to allow income tax.
posted on October 28, 2000 04:39:16 AM
Under EU directives which entered into force earlier this year, every member state (see list below) now has a common set of rules for any person or organisation who wants to deal with personal data. This means anything from medical records to credit
histories to personal contact details, including e-mail addresses, and buying habits.
Anyone who collects such information *has* to register with the national data protection organisation and allow access to their database by persons who think their info has been handed out. eBay COULD allow bidder search, but it would open them to an amazing amount of regulation and legal hassle.
Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom
posted on October 28, 2000 04:47:34 AM
I tried to find the bidding history on a zero feedback bidder recently and ran into the same brick wall. I'm not sure I understand how 'fair' this is to sellers that like to know a new bidder hasn't bid on 12 million dollars worth of merchandise.
posted on October 28, 2000 06:06:13 AM
IMO, the bidding histories and bidder's search functions on Ebay provide too much information. A person should be able to view and read someone's feedback, but what a person buys and how much they spend is their business and should never be made available to the public. Even the high bidder in a private auction can be indentified through the item link in the buyer's or seller's feedback. (which is why we always explain this to winning bidders in our private auctions, and they usually agree to skip the feedback exchange)
Here is where the problem lies...
Issue #1 - Some bidders may spend in excess of $50,000 in a 30 day period on valuable items. This qualifies them as a perfect target for crime. Since their email address is made public, it doesn't take much to connect that with their real name and address. A couple hours on the internet, and you know which houses have the good stuff, thanks to Ebay. If the person is a dealer and maintains a website, it gets even easier. Altavista search engine even gives you a map and directions to their shop, and the WhoIs domain registration gives you their name.
Issue #2 - The person that bids on your Art Glass item may also have peculiar taste in other items that may be embarassing to them. Just because you sold them a $2.00 item you found at a yardsale doesn't give you a right to dig through their history.
Issue #3 - Rather than pay for listing fees and run auctions, a person can easily search the closed auctions and find prospects for their products. They can not only find out who collects that type of item, but they can see how much they are willing to pay.
Issue #4 - You can use and exploit this information to your advantage and benefit from it at the expense of other sellers. Look for items similar to high ticket items you have to sell. Watch that auction and see where the bids go. Pull the bidding history on every bidder in the auction to make sure they are serious collectors and willing to pay top dollar. Check what day and time the auction is scheduled to close. Then list your auction so it will close around the same time on the same day. (using a 3 or 5 day auction ) Typically, these bidders will be online the last day to check on this auction and will usually scan the listing for other items while they wait. If you time it just right, and can make your listing show up immediately before or after the item with all the bids. Type the title of the listing in the same style as the other seller so the bidders will think it is from the same collection and will be more likely to look at it. Chances are, you will sell your item for top dollar in 3 to 5 days rather than 7 to 10. This results in fast and easy sales for you, and often a lower closing price for the other seller. People always ask on this board: When is the best time of week or day to have your auction end? The answer is, when similar items that already have a lot of bids are scheduled to end.
posted on October 28, 2000 07:01:08 AM
I was just curious as to whether the person I'm bidding against in the auction is a serious collector or this is a one time deal for them. You're right, it's not really anyone's business what someone else is bidding on.
I think, however, that if ebay is makes the bidding history of some bidders inaccessible because of the laws of their country, then this should be an option available to bidders in other countries as well. I don't think it's fair that bidders from these countries can access our bidding profile and we can't access theirs. I'm surprised too, that the laws of their country would apply here. ebay is an American company isn't it? Just as the laws of America apply to foreigners when they visit this country, I would think the rules of the company they do business with apply to them as well.
posted on October 28, 2000 07:18:38 AM
london4 -
The persons whose bidding history is inaccessible are living IN Germany or other EU member countries. Local law applies to the use of their information.
eBay has a German branch, that must follow ALL the German laws, just like any company that does business in Germany must.
posted on October 28, 2000 09:59:07 AM
No way. I want it all kept open, whenever possible. Speaking as both a buyer and a seller, I am willing to take the risks. Closing sources of information, to me, would create more problems than it solves.
If we can't see bidders' history in certain countries, due to eBay's desire to avoid litigation, that's unfortunate. However, I don't advocate making everything closed because citizens of one or many countries are allowed to do it. I don't even support making it an option because I believe the "bad guys" (shill bidders, etc.) would be the very first to use it and it would therefore become a stigma not unlike the stigma that is *sometimes* (NOT always) attached to private feedback.
posted on October 28, 2000 10:22:02 AMbrighid, What difference does it make if you don't know what the person bought? As long as you can see the fb--good transaction, paid on time, etc., what difference does it make what the item was?
The current situation bothers me because it the playing field is not level. I am bidding on a collectible item that I've bid on before. The buyer from Germany can check my bidding history and knows exactly how high I've been willing to bid in the past and how often I've bid on this particular item. I, on the other hand, don't even know if he/she's bid on this item before, much less how much he/she's paid for it in the past.
posted on October 28, 2000 02:34:25 PM
Ebay wouldn't be facing mere litigation if it allowed EU citizens information to be handed out willy-nilly. They would be facing the EU and, most likely, the government of the country in which the citizen is located.
And Europeans should loosen their privacy laws to even the playing field with Americans? How about Americans tighten up their privacy standards to come on line with Europe? Ebay is GLOBAL, not local, any more.
I'll keep the privacy offered here, thank you very much.
posted on October 28, 2000 03:01:44 PM
I know I can't see a German bidder's history, but what about the contact information. Are the German bidders or sellers immune from that information?
