PDA

View Full Version : Is ebay version of "Big Brother" watching?



Chrissy
April 18th, 2019, 04:19 AM
Several times now, I have been advised that I've received a message from a random ebay seller offering me a lower price on an item that I "have shown an interest in."

I'm quite a compulsive "watcher" and watch hundreds of ebay items. Obviously I don't buy all of them, well they aren't all pens or inks for a start, :) but I have received lower price offers on items that I have never contacted a seller about.

Therefore, ebay not only knows what ebay ID is watching an item, it clearly passes on this information to sellers, who can then choose to send an offer to watching potential ebay buyers. The message usually advises me that the seller has sent the offer to "other buyers as well as me," so I need to "act quickly."

This is something I wasn't aware of. Did everyone else know that it can happen?

Deb
April 18th, 2019, 04:34 AM
I didn't know but it doesn't surprise me. The technology exists and they will use it. Everyone's at it. I recently dumped Google because of the tracking.

carlos.q
April 18th, 2019, 06:08 AM
Just because you're not paranoid doesn't mean they're not watching...

46472

usk15
April 18th, 2019, 09:10 AM
hmmmm, good to know

Deb
April 18th, 2019, 09:13 AM
DuckDuckGo. It may be an intensely stupid name but at least they don't report back on your every movement like Google.

FredRydr
April 18th, 2019, 10:38 AM
DuckDuckGo (https://duckduckgo.com) search engine with Brave (https://www.brave.com) as the browser. But also don't log in to eBay until bidding or buying, and don't use payment through eBay and PayPal. Oh, eBay logarithms will fight back, especially with alternative payment.

Deb
April 18th, 2019, 10:48 AM
The Tor browser (https://www.torproject.org/)also protects your privacy.

Chrissy
April 18th, 2019, 02:21 PM
DuckDuckGo (https://duckduckgo.com) search engine with Brave (https://www.brave.com) as the browser. But also don't log in to eBay until bidding or buying, and don't use payment through eBay and PayPal. Oh, eBay logarithms will fight back, especially with alternative payment.
It may only be me but I would never buy anything through ebay unless I could pay by PayPal. :(

Deb
April 18th, 2019, 03:57 PM
DuckDuckGo (https://duckduckgo.com) search engine with Brave (https://www.brave.com) as the browser. But also don't log in to eBay until bidding or buying, and don't use payment through eBay and PayPal. Oh, eBay logarithms will fight back, especially with alternative payment.
It may only be me but I would never buy anything through ebay unless I could pay by PayPal. :(

I would be the same.

Anne
April 18th, 2019, 06:15 PM
I don't think there is any such thing as privacy anymore, if it ever existed.
Personally, I have not experienced what you describe, but I have had a spam email sent to me recently from an Ebay seller that I have never purchased from simply
asking me to view products in his store. What disgusts me is that Ebay does not protect their members better from this.

AndyLogan
April 20th, 2019, 12:44 PM
I've received a similar email (through the ebay messages) about a fountain pen I was watching. An offer for the pen that had a great discount, didn't bite the bullet, now I still see the same pen being offered for sale (after 3 months) with the original price.

calamus
April 23rd, 2019, 09:57 AM
Do Brave or Tor have anything in common with VPN technology? And how do we know we can trust them to be what they say they are?

BlkWhiteFilmPix
April 23rd, 2019, 03:28 PM
Yes.

eBay prompts sellers who've listed an item that's being watched to send an offer to the watchers.

And as soon as an item sells and the seller submits feedback, eBay prompts the seller to list some more.

As the late Dan Fogelberg sang in "Blind to the Truth (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReLcCENZ18I)' in 1990: "Corporate bosses snicker as they watch the profits soar. They don't care what they make next month as long as it is more."

VertOlive
April 27th, 2019, 08:47 AM
Yes.

eBay prompts sellers who've listed an item that's being watched to send an offer to the watchers.

And as soon as an item sells and the seller submits feedback, eBay prompts the seller to list some more.

As the late Dan Fogelberg sang in "Blind to the Truth (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReLcCENZ18I)' in 1990: "Corporate bosses snicker as they watch the profits soar. They don't care what they make next month as long as it is more."

For what it's worth: I have been an eBay seller for 19 years and this has never happened to me, either as a buyer or a seller. Not sure what that means, and certainly not naive enough to think I'm not on the radar, just FYI.

Chrissy
April 27th, 2019, 09:16 AM
It has never happened to me as a seller. Only as a buyer. :(

VertOlive
April 27th, 2019, 11:27 AM
It has never happened to me as a seller. Only as a buyer. :(

If it's any comfort, our friend who has the furniture store down the street from us employs a firm to somehow capture your phone if you walk in the door of his store and then send his ads to sites you frequent. e.g.: when I'm on FPN, his local store ads are featured on the site. Don't know why it hasn't tracked me to FPG.

BlkWhiteFilmPix
April 27th, 2019, 01:40 PM
"Expect more apps to slip permission to track you with iBeacon into those terms of service and privacy policies you don't read. Hypothetically, a retailer with its app on your phone could tell iBeacon to turn the app on when you're in or near the store, send information about your being there to a database and then pop up some advertising."

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2013/12/10/your-iphone-is-now-a-homing-beacon/#7f2d84636fc1

Easy fix - keep Bluetooth off.

proteus
April 30th, 2019, 02:27 PM
I have not been here on this platform before.

Read Chrissy's comments with interest.

For many years I regularly monitor eBay UK, USA & Canada for pens I want but have never experienced what has been mentioned.
( am ex UK Yahoo & QXL auctions before eBay bought both of them, now I am showing my age ! )

I think you will find that there is a vastly bigger problem on the Parker pen section of eBay UK - chinese scammers / hackers using old accounts.
It started 18 months ago.

Over the last 3 months they have started selling pens using these old accounts.

Have alot of the names used - not sure I would wish add them here.
Can add a current seller ( there are about 20+ at present ) if anyone is interested.

KrazyIvan
May 1st, 2019, 10:00 AM
I think it's just an enhancement to what has already been available for some time. As a seller I was given the opportunity to send out offers to people that bid. The system would send out second chance opportunities when an item is resisted. It seems that they have narrowed the target market down to increase sales.

proteus
May 1st, 2019, 01:58 PM
20 years ago eBay in the UK was a very primitive interface charging pennies.

( Yahoo UK auctions & QXL UK were in their prime and free. )

Now eBay is a vastly sophisticated engine.

After they bought the internet bank that is PayPal for billions, it all changed completely.

The only objective is money, if you still think they care about any thing else – try phoning or contacting the help line ( to be fair, all big business is that way, not just eBay )

All current internet sales technology is all about algorithms based on your IP address.

Look on the side on your ebay console, it shows previous things that you have looked – it is not magic

Jon Szanto
May 1st, 2019, 03:40 PM
The only objective is money, if you still think they care about any thing else – try phoning or contacting the help line ( to be fair, all big business is that way, not just eBay )

I happened to do that just yesterday. I was able to speak with someone within a short time, and about 10 minutes later, after some discussion, the matter was handled to my satisfaction. I was somewhat surprised, but it simply reinforced my tendency to examine an issue myself, rather than relying on hearsay and anecdotal stuff. I'm sure there are bad experiences aplenty, but mine was not one of them.

Chrissy
May 1st, 2019, 09:16 PM
I have had several positive experiences when speaking with ebay, but you sometimes have to wait for them to phone you. :)

Chrissy
May 3rd, 2019, 12:55 AM
I think it's just an enhancement to what has already been available for some time. As a seller I was given the opportunity to send out offers to people that bid. The system would send out second chance opportunities when an item is resisted. It seems that they have narrowed the target market down to increase sales.
Sellers have always been able to send out 2nd chance offers to underbidders when the winning bidder fails to follow through. That's actually quite different, as the seller then automatically has the bidders names on his item as it ended.
What I'm drawing attention to is that, at least, for Buy it Now items, sellers are now being advised by ebay which ebay ID's are actually watching their items; ebayers who haven't bid, or bought from them before, or even sent the seller any ASQ messages. These are completely random ebayers. The sellers can then send out special offers to any or all of them. I've never known ebay send ebay ID information of "watchers" to sellers. This information isn't something that shows up in the seller hub. Only the number of "watchers" is shown.

calamus
May 3rd, 2019, 10:16 AM
I think you have to be logged into eBay when you look at stuff to be notified when the price drops, etc.

Chrissy
May 3rd, 2019, 10:19 AM
I think you have to be logged into eBay when you look at stuff to be notified when the price drops, etc.
Yes, I think you're right. :)