Ebay Private Listing For Bidders, Why?

I just won an auction in which the identification of the bidders is shown as "private listing - bidders' identities protected". See here http://www.ebay.com/itm/G-1604-Inva...p=true&rt=nc

in a "normal" auction, my ebay ID is scrambled and all anyone could see is the number of my feedbacks.

Why would a seller choose this type of list? Is there a legitimate rationale since I don't see how otherwise my identify would be public.

Thanks,

Larry

*** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. ***

They may not want you to see who is bidding and how many times that person has made a bid. I dont like bidding on items I cant see feedback ratings on. That is just me though. Seems fishy to me. On the other side, there may well be good reasons why the seller may do this. I would let some other folks weigh in on this subject.

I always wondered about the extra layer for shill bidding.

https://www.thebalance.com/pros-and...ings-1140347

Its a personal choice some sellers have their whole ebay shop in private mode for their own reasons. Probably they have a regular bidder who bids on everything and they don't want other bidders to see that. The bidder could be legit but other bidders may read him as a shill when he is not. And some bidders prefer to keep their id private. There's no proof it means shill bidding. Shill bidding can occur just as easily when you can see their feedback. The main point here is if your bidding set a limit. If you win at that limit you should be happy you got the item. I will never bid above my limit weather the seller is set at private or not.