What is the Safeguarding Member IDs project?
The Safeguarding Member IDs project is a
new approach to auction-style listings that offers more privacy for our members
through changing how bidding information is displayed. We believe that this
change will help to balance the need for openness and transparency in the
marketplace, with the need to protect our Community of members from the threats
that have appeared as the Internet has flourished. We also believe the
Safeguarding Member IDs project provides the Community with enough information
about the bidders involved in an auction-style listing for them to feel
confident in placing a bid -- without revealing actual User IDs. We're
implementing this new system on listings where the high bid is $200 or greater,
which is where we believe it can have the greatest positive impact. The bid
information for listings where the bid is lower than $200 will display as it
does today.
Here's what will change:
-
On the bid history page for each listing we'll
replace User IDs with aliases in the
order that bidders place their first bid. For each bidder involved in a
listing, we'll display the category, a range that their feedback score falls
within (i.e. 10-49, for instance), their percentage of positive feedback,
their length of time as an eBay member, and the number of bids they've placed
on the item. At the end of a listing, the winning bidder's User ID will be
displayed on the item page. Please note: Sellers will
still be able to access bidder information on their listings through the Bid
History page and the My eBay selling table.
-
In My
eBay, members will no longer have access to
the high-bidder column from bid and watch tables.
-
On the item page, you'll only be able to see the
high-bidder ID if you are the signed-in seller
of the item or the signed-in high bidder.
-
Through
the Advanced Search by Bidder link, we'll only
show completed listings within the last 30 days.
Future enhancements are being designed
that will provide even more transaction data about the bidders and seller involved in
a transaction. We'll continue to update the community
on these changes as these plans become finalized.
Why is eBay making this change?
Since eBay began in 1995, it's been our
job to balance the need for openness and transparency in the marketplace, with
the need to protect our Community of members from the threats that have appeared
as the internet has flourished. As the Community has grown from the size of a
small town in 1997, to the size of a large country today, we've had to take
measures
to protect our members that also reduce transparency.
From the beginning, any member of the Community could
request the contact details of any other member and the bidding process was very
transparent. As we've grown, we've limited communication to members involved in
transactions with each other. Additionally in 2003, we eliminated the public
display of email addresses from the site, and therefore, required thousands of
people to set up new User IDs. Naturally, as we've stepped up education and
other efforts to improve safety, the bad guys continued
their efforts to try to exploit our members.
The User IDs of members -- plus their member information
such as feedback and previous bidding and/or buying activity -- have always been
freely available to anyone visiting the site. Members have been able to access
this information from the item page, bid history page, and Advanced Search by
Bidder feature. Unfortunately -- while bid history and contact information about
trading colleagues is helpful to evaluate a transaction and provides a level of
trust within the transaction – bad guys
can use this information for potentially harmful purposes.
As our Community knows, the problem of spam, spoof, and
fake Second Chance Offer emails has not gone away. In fact, despite industry
leading efforts to educate the Community about online safety (eBay Toolbar,
tutorials and safety messaging), partnering with law enforcement and industry
groups, and investments in technology that make the site more safe -- we've seen
this problem grow. Increasingly, sellers and
buyers have turned to us for a solution.
We believe the Safeguarding Member IDs project provides
the Community with enough information about the bidders involved in an
auction-style listing in order for them to feel confident in placing
a bid -- without revealing actual User IDs.
What is the timing of this launch for eBay.com?
Safeguarding Member IDs will launch on
eBay.com in early January, 2007. The feature has already launched on eBay Motors
(US), as well as on
eBay sites in the United Kingdom and Australia.
Future enhancements are being designed that will provide
even more transaction data about the bidders and seller involved in a
transaction. We'll continue to update the Community
on these changes as these plans become finalized.
How can I stay safe on the internet?
Remember these important online safety tips:
-
Never pay with Western Union or Money Gram – eBay strongly encourages its members to avoid
using instant cash wire transfer services such as Western Union or MoneyGram.
It's against eBay's
Accepted
Payments Policy for a seller to request payment via these methods as
they've proven
to be
unsafe when paying someone the buyer doesn't know.
-
Check My Messages to
verify the authenticity of eBay emails – Any email eBay sends you
about your account or requesting personal information will also be in My
Messages. Before responding to an eBay email asking for information about your
account or requesting personal information, verify it's authentic by checking
My Messages.
If it's not in My Messages, it's a fake email.
If you receive a suspicious email that looks like it's from eBay or PayPal,
please forward it to
spoof@ebay.com or
spoof@paypal.com. We will respond
(usually within minutes)
to tell
you whether or not the email is authentic.
-
Always Verify Second Chance
Offers – Sending fake Second Chance Offers is a common trick
used by fraudsters. If you receive an email with a Second Chance Offer for an
item you recently bid on, please check your My Messages inbox (located in My
eBay) on the eBay site to make sure the offer is authentic. If it appears in
My Messages with the title 'eBay Second Chance Offer for Item...', it's
authentic. If the Second Chance Offer does not appear in My Messages, or
appears with a different title, it is not legitimate and should be
ignored. Help us fight this, by reporting these fakes to
spoof@ebay.com
.
-
Download the eBay Toolbar and the PayPal
SafetyBar – The
eBay
Toolbar includes Account Guard which indicates when you are on a
legitimate eBay or PayPal site, and alerts you when you are on a known
fraudulent site.
PayPal's
SafetyBar detects fraudulent emails in
your email
program and puts them in the spam folder.
-
Monitor your account regularly for
suspicious activity
– Prevent problems by staying alert and catching any suspicious activity early. We
recommend that you log into your eBay and PayPal accounts frequently
to ensure that all the transactions listed are legitimate. Be suspicious of
any email that requests personal information – Be cautious of other emails that request
you to click a link and submit your financial or personal
information. If in doubt, call or contact the institution first to verify
the authenticity of the email. Many of these emails will impart a sense of
urgency and require you to do something. For example, your account has been
suspended, click here to learn more. Do not click on any links in this type of
email if you cannot verify it is authentic. Only enter your financial
information on secure websites. Check that a website is secure by looking for the
closed lock symbol near the bottom of your browser window. And, of course,
use a payment method such as PayPal, which lets you pay
without sharing your financial information with the person receiving your money.
PayPal also
covers you
100% against unauthorized money sent from your account.
Will eBay lose trust of buyers by
hiding bidder information?
It's very important
that eBay buyers trust our buying process. That's why we are developing an
approach that will give members information about relevant bidding and/or
selling activity of the members involved in an auction-style listing without
revealing specific User IDs.
We launched the first phase of
Safeguarding Member IDs on eBay Motors and eBay sites in the United Kingdom and
Australia. The results on each of these sites indicate that these changes
are having the right kind of positive impact we are striving for. As a result,
we are launching Safeguarding Member IDs on eBay.com and eBay sites in Canada in
early January, 2007.
Future enhancements are being designed that will provide
even more transaction data about the bidders and seller involved in a
transaction. We'll continue to update the Community on these changes as these
plans become finalized. While we believe Safeguarding Member IDs is the right
thing to do for the Community, we're taking a cautious approach to
implementation to avoid any disruption to the marketplace. We'll be monitoring
the impact of these changes carefully, and we'll continue to listen to our
Community's
input.
After the changes to Bid History are
launched, how will eBay detect shill bidding?
First, eBay is committed to prevent shill bidding from
occurring on our site. It's important to remember that, while the public will
not have access to User IDs under the Safeguarding Bidder ID site changes, eBay
will continue to have the same access to information that we have
today.
eBay takes the issue of shill bidding (the use of a
secondary bidding account to increase the level of bidding and the apparent
value of an item) very seriously. Shill bidding is a violation
that, when detected, leads to an immediate suspension or
sanction. In addition, shill bidding is a crime in many states.
In the last several years, we've invested heavily in
shill detection systems that enable us to proactively detect and investigate
possible shill bidding scenarios with a higher rate of accuracy than ever
before. Our backend systems collect more information on selling and/or bidding activity than our Community has access to, so
we can detect patterns and ascertain identities much more accurately.
With the information provided as part of the
Safeguarding Member ID project, we believe that members will still be able to
detect and report suspicious activity. While we proactively search the site for
shill bidding, we do appreciate the reports from the Community of
suspicious activity and will continue to investigate them and take action where appropriate.
If I
can't see the User ID of the member who outbid me, how do I know that the bid
was legitimate?
We've spent a lot of time
analyzing how our members use the bidding information today. The Safeguarding
Member ID project was developed based on
many conversations with members. They told
us their needs during the bidding
process, as well as their concerns about safety.
While specific User IDs will
not be visible, individual bidders will be identified on by an alias (such as
bidder1, bidder2, etc.). For each bidder involved in a listing, we'll display
the category, a range that their feedback score falls within (i.e. 10- 49, for
instance), their percentage of positive feedback, their length of time as an
eBay member, and the number of bids they've placed on the item. Please see the
picture below for an idea about the information that will be displayed.
Future enhancements are being designed that will provide
even more transaction data about the bidders and seller involved in a transaction. We'll continue to
update the Community
on these changes as these plans become finalized.
Naturally, if you ever suspect any suspicious activity, you can report it as
you do today through the
eBay Toolbar or through Help on the site.
If I'm a
seller, can I see the bid history on my own listings?
Yes, if you are the seller you will continue to have access
to the User IDs for the bidders on your active listings through the Bid
History page and the My eBay selling table.
What will
the impact on 3rd party tools be?
Some third
party tool providers will need to make adjustments. Please work
directly with these service providers for more details.
How will
members spot malicious bidding or attempts by others to interfere with the site?
Malicious bidding is an action perpetrated
against a seller. In this case, a logged-in seller will still be able to see the
member User IDs on the Bid History page. A seller can also click through to a
bidder's eBay My World page to view their feedback. Through the feedback pages,
a seller will be able to see a bidder's most
recent items where there has been feedback exchanged.
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.
