eBay Forcing User ID

appleblossom

Flyonthewall wrote: »

Then you have too much time to waste. Still, you just change it slightly. Add a character, take a character away, change a character e.g. o to 0 or i to 1. Or think of a backup username. It's ebay, it's not a life or death decision to get the perfect username (especially as you can change it).

I 'think' the poster of that comment was being sarcastic in the fact that it took the OP months to choose a username - I admit I've spent minutes sometimes when my wanted name isn't available, but I think even after a few hours I'd give up thinking of one let alone spending months on it.

Flyonthewall

appleblossom wrote: »

I 'think' the poster of that comment was being sarcastic in the fact that it took the OP months to choose a username - I admit I've spent minutes sometimes when my wanted name isn't available, but I think even after a few hours I'd give up thinking of one let alone spending months on it.

Possibly. I'd forgotten the OP said it took them so long. My comment is still right, perhaps should just be aimed at OP lol.

I spent hours trying to get a username once for PSN - I thought of loads and each time the system said it wasn't available I thought of some really random things, wrote it different ways, it wasn't having it. Longest it's ever taken me to get a username. I hope the OP never wants to sign up with PSN because if they get the same problem I had it'll take them years

unreal2014

You all assume I spent every waking minute of each day considering something so simple. I did not. I simply spent time over the course of that period considering what I may or may not use.

Perhaps this should have been stated in the first place and I was too assuming that people would simply understand this. I was wrong.

Flyonthewall

unreal2014 wrote: »

You all assume I spent every waking minute of each day considering something so simple. I did not. I simply spent time over the course of that period considering what I may or may not use.

Perhaps this should have been stated in the first place and I was too assuming that people would simply understand this. I was wrong.

Perhaps you should say what you mean because we're all going by the quote below which sounds like you spend most of your time thinking about it.

unreal2014 wrote: »

After much time had passed I had decided on the username (or user ID) I wish to use, this taking several months of thought, and time, and creation of a whole new email account, just for this purpose

We're assuming it because that's what you wrote and therefore what we understood to be the case. You can't complain about us having a lack of undestanding or even assuming things when we're going by exactly what you wrote.

Anyway, even so, it shouldn't take that long to come up with a username. At most it should take a few minutes one day and perhaps a couple of extra minutes if that one is taken or too many characters.

Ralph-y

I hope you take this as a 'well intended' post ......

I would like to make a few observations if I may ....

As a computer user with over 20 years experience then you should be a bit more 'savy '.....

" I have found the eBay response to be lacking any empathy or respect for me, as a valued customer, what-so-ever."

Ebay , in the most part do not care in the least about individuals .... This would / should be apparent reading many forums such as this humble one...... IMHO

" I just find it yet another tedious eBay "policy" and wanted to vent, is this not OK and what these forums are for."

yes they are , but any one (should) knows that you will get many answers not to your liking :-(


"I will no longer be using ebay unless they change this hideous policy and invasion of privacy. "

I am not to sure what your understanding of Privacy laws are in the UK.

Sadly there is no definitive privacy law.

There are many other laws that may contain sections that pertain to this subject.

IMHO your time would have been best spent with a quick warning like 'be careful ' cos Ebay may show some or all of your real name if you start a new account ......

then

visiting sites such as

http://www.findlaw.co.uk/law/government/constitutional_law/fundamental_rights/500284.html

and

http://www.yourrights.org.uk/yourrights/privacy/

You may well have found something that you could have brought to Ebay's attention , and going by Ebay's last response then possibly have taken the matter up with appropriate organisations........


And finally to any one looking to keep them selves as private as possible , with maximum privacy ...... should stay off forums / social sites / any mass participation sites such as Ebay. Using emails in general is at best not wise :-( The down side is that making such efforts to hide one's self is likely to bring attention down on you from the 'state'

Ralph Twiss:cool:

shazzak_2

giantmutantbroccoli wrote: »

I've tested this out, and found that if you enter an unusual name the username generated is quite close to to the full name, so I'm guessing if you have a more popular name you're more likely to get a username with random letters in it.

Out of pure curiosity and because I DO have a unique name (insomuch as there are only 3 other people with the same name in this country - my husband and 2 daughters) the above does not apply. I signed up with my real name and ebay came back with szazak.fxugmob08. This contains my first initial and three letters of my surname in the wrong order. There are a total of 11 letters missing from this username that are in my actual name. You would have to be some sort of super detective in order to locate me from this username.

I could not agree any more with some of the comments on here that the OP should not be so frivolous with their own security if they have previously been in danger. Is buying and selling on ebay that important? I think not.

unreal2014

shazzak wrote: »

Out of pure curiosity and because I DO have a unique name (insomuch as there are only 3 other people with the same name in this country - my husband and 2 daughters) the above does not apply. I signed up with my real name and ebay came back with szazak.fxugmob08. This contains my first initial and three letters of my surname in the wrong order. There are a total of 11 letters missing from this username that are in my actual name. You would have to be some sort of super detective in order to locate me from this username.

I could not agree any more with some of the comments on here that the OP should not be so frivolous with their own security if they have previously been in danger. Is buying and selling on ebay that important? I think not.

You're bias due to how it worked for you, it does not always work this way and sometimes, not always but sometimes, it will not do this, and is not always completely random.

In no way, shape or form have I ever said it will do this every single time. I have not, and simply wish to state that sometimes in rare cases that it will. Try any name for example that you know nobody has on earth because it really is that unique, perhaps two words that aren't names even, just to give the purest example.

For all anyone knows, ebay may have been following this somehow and have altered the random generator in place to create the process, even though this is highly doubtful.

I would suggest to ebay that forcing it to be random and not use a members details to avoid this in future.

campdave

unreal2014 wrote: »

For all anyone knows, ebay may have been following this somehow .

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Flyonthewall

unreal2014 wrote: »

You're bias due to how it worked for you it does not always work this way and sometimes, not always but sometimes, it will not do this, and is not always completely random.

In no way, shape or form have I ever said it will do this every single time. I have not, and simply wish to state that sometimes in rare cases that it will. Try any name for example that you know nobody has on earth because it really is that unique, perhaps two words that aren't names even, just to give the purest example.

For all anyone knows, ebay may have been following this somehow and have altered the random generator in place to create the process, even though this is highly doubtful.

I would suggest to ebay that forcing it to be random and not use a members details to avoid this in future.

Yeah, in rare cases it might but then why get upset, warn others not to sign up with real names etc. Chances are it was a one off that won't happen again.

What if in some rare case I happened to put in your name? I wouldn't know it was your name, it would just be a unique name/username I happened to think of. Whether as a name I made up in case it used my name for the username or whether I changed it to that after, that could happen. Would you consider that a privacy issue?

Should I be worried about using a random name or username in case someone might try to track me down? I mean, the name could belong to someone somewhere or the username might be used elsewhere by someone else. In that sense ebay generating a username, no matter how they do it, is no worse than someone deciding it themselves.

ivavoucher

Even if the full name is very rarely used then eBay is in the wrong. (sorry eBay lovers) and I can understand how this would upset anyone feeling vulnerable. The fact it is totally irreversible, as in it stays on record and is publicly viewable in your account forever, only goes to compound the problem and obviously means that the account cannot be used by the OP.

A lot on here seem to disagree or they don't bother to read and digest.

Why come on here and insult and snigger at a fellow poster who has come here for help?

bordering on abuse