Back in January, eBay changed its search procedures limiting the amount and types of information that could be seen in active auction and in bidder searches. From Ebay’s FAQ
Can members search for one another using the “Items by Bidder” option under Advanced Search?
A member can search for another member using Advanced Search, “Items by Bidder”; however, only completed items won in the last 30 days will be displayed. In contrast, today’s functionality displays all the items the member has bid or won in the last 30 days.I use Items by Bidder to find other sellers with listings I might want to bid on. Will I lose this ability?
You will lose the ability to see open items a member has bid on in the release in early January. We hope to provide slightly more transparency in a release later this year.
In addition, eBay hides the bidder ID’s when the bidding reaches over $200 on any item.
Now many people used to know the bidder ID’s of there ‘competitors’ and would search under their ID’s to see if those ‘competitors’ had found anything their own searches had missed. This is certainly one of the reasons why sniping became such an integral part of the eBay bidding process. Many Bidders were unwilling to tip their hand by showing an interest in a specific item until the final moments of an auction.
Well the changes that took place in January have now been at least partially undone as announce by eBay on April 30th.
1. Enhancements to Search by Bidder. When members use the Search by Bidder feature (found under Advanced Search), they’ll now be able to see all the details of that bidder’s bidding activity on items below the $200 threshold.
2. Sellers can use Advanced Search to research potential buyers. Sellers will be able to use Advanced Search to conduct full research on their current bidders for a 48 hour period after the bid is placed. In addition, they will also be able to research the activity of any member who sends them an Ask Seller a Question email or uses Best Offer within a 48 hour period of the email/offer being sent.
3. Safeguarding Member IDs on listings with a Reserve or Buy It Now over $200. If a bidder bids on a listing where the Reserve price or Buy It Now is above $200, their ID will be anonymized just as if they had placed a bid over $200.
4. Anonymous bidder IDs for Best Offers. The IDs of buyers on the Best Offer history page will no longer be fully displayed to viewers – the last part of their ID will be hidden by asterisks. However, the seller of the item will be able to see the ID in full, as before.
So on items below $200, in Advanced Search; Items by Bidder you will once again be able to follow the competition.
