posted on November 27, 2000 01:51:34 PM
I've been running under the same eBay name since I started, but am now thinking of using a brand new eBay I.D. - one for buying and one for selling.
I've run into a couple of my previous buyers when I've bid on the same auction as they have, and when I realize it, I usually won't bid again.
This is why I think I should be using 2 separate I.D.'s.
Any pro's & con's I should know about before doing it?
posted on November 27, 2000 01:58:48 PM
There are lots of good reasons for having separate buying and selling ID's.
For one, your buyers don't want to see feedback having to do with your purchase.
Another is that if you happen to deal with a bad seller and have to leave a neg, receiving a retaliatory neg isn't a big deal.
Your point about bidding against your previous buyers is also an excellent point.
There are plenty of other great reasons for having 2 ID's. Just be sure there is no interaction between the two. I have run into potential problems with this when I had placed a bid with my buying ID and was outbid, then accidentally placed one with my selling ID. It was no big deal, but I'm sure that if the "Ebay Detectives" found out about it, I would have been burned at the stake.
posted on November 27, 2000 02:04:14 PM
I started using a second id to buy under so that when I was bidding on items that were also bid on by my past customers, they wouldn't know it was me.
As for myself, I couldn't care less who bids against me, or if they snipe when they do. I've had sellers I've bought from outbid me for things, and I figure "No big deal", they just wanted it more than I did, but I know that not everybody feels the same. I figure it's safer if bidders who buy from me don't know that sometimes, I'm bidding against them.
posted on November 27, 2000 03:18:47 PM
I can't imagine not using a different id to buy and sell.
Also, I don't think that bidding from two different ids in the same auction counts as "interaction", particularly if one is not used to bid up the other.
Even if one is used to bid up another, so long as there's no hint of manipulation, it's hard to see anyone complaining.
Bid shielding type manipulations are surely "interactions", in the same category as shill bids.
posted on November 27, 2000 04:24:23 PMEven if one is used to bid up another, so long as there's no hint of manipulation, it's hard to see anyone complaining.
sg52, have you been reading the "Ebay Detective" threads? This is exactly the type of thing those people jump on.
I don't think that this interaction would be a problem with Ebay, but there are apparently lots of people out there who have nothing better to do than to look for things like this and then to launch personal vendettas against those involved.
And, using logic Monty Python would be proud of, the detectives see any attempt to defend one's self against such accusations not only as an admission of guilt, but as an implicit endorsement of shilling. Then you are really in trouble. Some people have even received threats of bodily injury.
Sad but true.
[ edited by amalgamated2000 on Nov 27, 2000 04:27 PM ]
