Question:
I haven’t been lurking here much lately, and haven’t kept up-to-date with the latest eBay doings, but I’ve noticed recently that under bid history they now list the price progression thus far before the auction ends, whereas they used to keep that hidden until the auction is over. When did they start that? Also, I’m wondering what others think about it… do you like it or not? — Why pay money to have your family tree traced; go into politics and your opponents will do it for you. ~Author Unknown
Response:
… I’ve noticed recently that under bid history they now list the price progression thus far before the auction ends, …
Also discussed in thread topic: "Seeing Bids?" <http://tinyurl.com/6wyl5 on GoogleGroups. This apparently started in October 2004, with no announcement from eBay. No one seems to object. Is it a bug or a feature? Does eBay even know about it? Beats me. — http://www.access-one.com/rjn email4rjn AT yahoo DOT com NOT speaking for any employer, client or Internet Service Provider.
Response:
I haven’t been lurking here much lately, and haven’t kept up-to-date with the latest eBay doings, but I’ve noticed recently that under bid history they now list the price progression thus far before the auction ends, whereas they used to keep that hidden until the auction is over. When did they start that? Also, I’m wondering what others think about it… do you like it or not? — Why pay money to have your family tree traced; go into politics and your opponents will do it for you. ~Author Unknown
All they are doing is posting the bids that were there anyway if you closely monitored the activity on the listing. They are not giving you anything extra.
Response:
All they are doing is posting the bids that were there anyway if you closely monitored the activity on the listing.
Although I made that same argument myself, I’m not sure it’s true in all cases. In an NR auction, you can guess that each new leading bid tells you the amount of the previous bid + one bid increment (or less). But for example, in a Reserve auction, you previously wouldn’t get to infer the amount of the last bid below Reserve. They are not giving you anything extra.
We now get to see squirrely bidding patterns before close. We now get to see, before close, and with no effort, how many bidders are bottom feeders, and how many are serious. Although eBay is not a secret auction (all bids amounts except winner’s proxy were eventually revealed), I’m a bit surprised they’ve done this, because it tells other sellers what lagging bidders are willing to pay, and may set up off-eBay scenarios. Perhaps eBay figures that they’ve got the contact-a-member abuse under control now, and exposing bids in progress is no longer the fee-avoidance problem it once was. But exposing bids in progress can certainly enable other sellers to sail in with competing auctions with targetted BINs and/or shorter run-times, intended to siphon off bidders. — http://www.access-one.com/rjn email4rjn AT yahoo DOT com NOT speaking for any employer, client or Internet Service Provider.
Response:
… I’ve noticed recently that under bid history they now list the price progression thus far before the auction ends, … Also discussed in thread topic: "Seeing Bids?" <http://tinyurl.com/6wyl5 on GoogleGroups. This apparently started in October 2004, with no announcement from eBay. No one seems to object. Is it a bug or a feature? Does eBay even know about it? Beats me.
Funny you should think this was just snuck in, and only as recently as October. We had threads here about it already in August when it started, and had an earlier link to it’s reference where it was posted on the eBay General Announcements Board. The link is no longer good, the eBay page has already wiped it from the current board. The reference link has a date code of August 23rd, when eBay announced this new "visibility" feature. The old link: http://www2.ebay.com/aw/marketing.shtml#2004-08-23144342 The link to one of the first threads where this new bid history feature was referenced: http://makeashorterlink.com/?J14826A1A jim menning
Response:
Also, I’m wondering what others think about it… do you like it or not?
Doesn’t much matter. The high bid tells you what the second high bid was, and anything lower is excess baggage except as ancient history. — Outgoing mail is certified bollocks
Response:
Funny you should think this was just snuck in, and only as recently as October. We had threads here about it already in August when it started, …
I wasn’t up to date on a.m.o.e. at that time. Perhaps if I’d searched for "discussions that degenerated into usenet top-posting rants, I’d have found it" 
… it’s reference where it was posted on the eBay General Announcements Board.
I had browsed that, but it must have aged off already. Did eBay provide any rationale at the time? — http://www.access-one.com/rjn email4rjn AT yahoo DOT com NOT speaking for any employer, client or Internet Service Provider.
Response:
Perhaps if I’d searched for "discussions that degenerated into usenet top-posting rants, I’d have found it"
Yeah, that thread got (typically) out of hand! … it’s reference where it was posted on the eBay General Announcements Board. I had browsed that, but it must have aged off already. Did eBay provide any rationale at the time?
I can’t remember specifically how it was worded, but it was in regards to having a more open (honest?) trading environment. But if they really believed in that they should not allow anyone to create private feedback or private auctions. Have you checked out their "The Power of All of Us" philosophy? Take a few minutes and check out their vision of the eBay community: http://www.thepowerofallofus.com/flash.html You get to view the TV commercials there also. jim menning
Response:
Did eBay provide any rationale at the time? I can’t remember specifically how it was worded, but it was in regards to having a more open (honest?) trading environment. But if they really believed in that they should not allow anyone to create private feedback …
I would have no problems with (private)s if I could block ‘em. They can then ask to be put in my Exemption list until they, umm, arrange to have the graffiti from the feedback vandal removed. … or private auctions.
Easily avoided. But we’d probably see a lot less use of PAs and PABAs if we had stronger bidder management tools. Then, the PAs and PABAs would be almost entirely scams (instead of just mostly scams), and eBay would have to do something about them Have you checked out … www.thepowerofallofus.com …
Hardly. The very first and strongest message is that anyone on dial-up is not part of whatever eBay is pushing there. — http://www.access-one.com/rjn email4rjn AT yahoo DOT com NOT speaking for any employer, client or Internet Service Provider.
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