Just a heads-up, folks. Used to be that if an eBay user changed their username, there was a little icon. Seems to me that such a user had sunglasses for a while, to indicate a name change. Also, I recall there being a way that you could look up the users' history on name changes as well.

This appears to no longer be the case. Case in point, there is no user ur-gelis anymore. Instead, he now goes by the name datsun-parts. I can find no place to verify this, but did hunt through the forum here to find a link to one of his previous auctions, and sure enough, the username is now datsun-parts.

One more example of eBay taking care of its sellers, at the expense of buyer information.

Thanks for that one Arne.

We have a couple of less than famous identities on Australian Ebay and if we do not already have the change you described it is likely coming our way. There are some bidders and sellers that I just stay away from and it looks as though they can now conceal their identity. Good one Ebay.

Another issue that I do not like is one where the identity of the bidder is hidden once bidding goes above AUS$200. I really do not like secret auctions and I often want to know who I might be up against. what there previous bidding history or tactics might have been etc. I am sure that there are reasons for this change but the advantages seem to go to the seller.

I recently had to open a dispute with a seller which was eventually resolved , but no thanks to anything to do with ebay. Never heard a word nor saw anything from ebay outside their automated processes.

In the past I have reported misleading item descriptions and even one seller who made me a direct offer for an item that had just been sold by auction - not a single response from ebay.

I do not know just what it takes to get ebay cranked up but I would agree that they are probably more likely to get active if it threatens their income or commissions.

We can only keep in mind the often repeated BUYER BEWARE when it comes to ebay.

The ID history is still displayed. It can be seen by clicking on More Options at the upper right of the User Profile page.

I noticed this as well and was planning on looking into it. Thanks for bringing this topic to light. Hopefuly we can all learn something more about this process.

But credit where credit is due. You may have noticed that the "eBayer formerly known as ur-gellis" now has public feedback. No credit to him, all to eBay. As quoted on the Private Feedback info page:

"Important: If you have a private Feedback Profile, you will not be able to sell items on eBay."

http://pages.ebay.com/help/feedback/reputation-public-feedback.html

This is a handy tool for researching Ebay feedback. Congrats on selling your caps Arne. I was watching that one and hoped/thought you would have gotten more. Just depends on the timing I guess.

http://www.toolhaus.org/

Thanks for that link Ron. Very handy. I was just looking at our primary subject's feedback via Toolhaus. Very scary to think I ever considered buying anything from him. I always thought that it was not possible to change names on eBay and that you had to basically start over/fresh if you did so. Guess not.

I've had 3 different Ebay Id's myself and am also associated with a group of others globaly. Not that I'm trying to be dishonest or pull anything over on anyone. It is just a method of conveniance. Anyone living in Canada or other countries can relate to the difficulties encountered when shopping worldwide. But there are other groups that test the limits of the law and Ebay policy and others who are outright crooks.