why do sellers keep bidding history secret?

[3andnomore]

I always thing it is a bit dodgy....i.e. maybe they are bidding themselfs on it to get the price up or something like that....

so, what is that option actually for?

So they can buy used underwear and no one knows?

lol....hm...that thought never occured to me, lol!

However, I tend to bit on Gameboy stuff, DVD's and Books without sexual context...so....why use it for that, lol!

If items are listed for 10 days they are automatically private listings. No idea why though!

I always list my items for 10 days & they've never yet been private

Isn't it just bids over £100 that are automatically kept private to stop the dodgy second chance offers that used to go on?

You can choose to make your listing private if you're selling sex toys or stuff like that.

this was definately a low cost item and not a sex thing....

I've often wondered. It certainly puts me off because it seems they have something to hide.

glad I am not the only one who thinks it's a bit odd...

do you mean this? -

Protecting bidder User IDs *

26 March, 2008 | 08:00AM GMT

From 31st March, we'll start hiding the User IDs of members bidding on all auction-style listings on eBay.co.uk and eBay.ie. All bidder IDs on the Bid History page and the high bidder's ID on the View Item page will be masked.

The winning bidder's ID will be shown once the listing has ended but the other bidders' IDs will remain hidden. Sellers will still see all the bidders' IDs on their listing when signed in, and each bidder will see their own ID when signed in.

hm....it was just different with this listing compared to others I have bid on recently....

must check, maybe it wasn't different at all....wonder why they done it...

I know once when I was bidding on an item I was outbid - I then recieved an email from a different seller stating they were also selling the item I had been outbid on & would I like to buy it from them.

Maybe it's to stop that kind of thing?!

hm...possible