Bidder 1, bidder 2 etc

[MrsSnape]

I'm bidding on console games for my boys for christmas.

Something keeps happening quite a lot though and that is whenever I bid, someone else bids but the bidder is named as "bidder 1" or "bidder 2" with private info etc.

Am I being thick or is this basically the sellers alter ego bumping up the price?

When you list an auction, you can keep the bidders names private. Sellers have been known to pinch buyers, iykwim. I don't know if that is the actual reason though.

The sellers has made the lsiting private so only s/he can see who the highest bidder is.

Could be very innocent could be they are getting a friend of thiers to bump up the price.

The only time I tend to make my listings private is if I'm selling something that is very popular (have found people email the bidders saying 'Oh I have that item for sale too will sell it to you for £X & the bidder has cancelled their bid) or something people might not want showing in their feedback - like an Ovulation kit (they might not want everyone to know they are TTC )