Private sales on Ebay

maro11

I am really new to ebay and I noticed that some listings with bids say "private bidder etc"
Can anyone explain this to me, is it a cover up for something?
Thanks
Mary

durham_girl

Have you looked at feedback and seen that usually there is a link to the item won/sold? In private listings the link will not be available and only the seller will be able to see you have bought the item. Nothing sinister, it's usually used when the seller thinks that the buyer won't want anyone to see what they're bidding on/bought.

xanthe

It could be sinister they could be selling fake stuff such as memory cards, usb sticks, etc.

bordercars

just bought an item, it was a private sale. it was a medical aid , posted in a plain wrapper.

iieee

It just means that the title of the item won't show in the buyers feedback. Used a lot in clothing auctions (so people can't see your size) or items of a "personal" nature that you might not want your friends to know about. I don't see what it's got to do with fake items?

POSSETTE

I bought an electric flea catcher not long ago, that was listed as private,as i presume not everyone would like people knowing they have fleas in house!!

PS We didnt!!:D or it didnt work i suppose:huh:

xanthe

http://sosfakeflash.wordpress.com/2009/01/21/ebay-private-auction-listings-ebay-fake-flash-sellers-prefer-victims-learn-the-meaning-the-hard-way-a-guide/

I won the bid for a 32gb usb drive and the seller had 10000+ feedback score. But when I checked the feedback most of them were "private". I didn't know what that meant so I googled it and the above link came up... the seller was also listed on the site!

too_much_debt

Sometimes people do this if the item is something like pregnancy tests where the buyer might not want it showing up on their feedback page or maybe lingerie.

[Deleted User]

Yes I bought ovulation sticks and pregnancy tests and it was private.

maro11

Thanks for all your replies. The items I am looking at are garden furniture sets. Nothing private about that unless I am missing something!!
I notice that these auctions start at .99p for an 8/10 piece garden set that retails for around 2K. I thought it was a way of increasing the bids or something.
But what do I know!!
Maro

TurkishDelight

maro11 wrote: »

Thanks for all your replies. The items I am looking at are garden furniture sets. Nothing private about that unless I am missing something!!
I notice that these auctions start at .99p for an 8/10 piece garden set that retails for around 2K. I thought it was a way of increasing the bids or something.
But what do I know!!
Maro

It could be, yes.

I don't know if you've heard of shill bidding, but it is basically using another account or a friend to bump up the price of auctions.
If people can't see the bidders history then it's harder to spot and report.