Why are our personal buying accounts accessible to others. "Friend" stole my ideas!

[lickbum88]

I had a "friend" steal my jewellery buying/selling ideas. She is buying from the same Ebay sellers and selling my idea. She has been accessing my account to see what companies & items I purchase and then copies me. Unfortunately she has no creative intelligence of her own! I don't like having my account information open to the public. Is there any way of staying completely private ?

[theundercutter]

Unfortunately, unless the listing is private any one can see your purchase history in feedback. You can do two things: Buy outside of eBay OR request your seller not leave you feedback.

But I see you made your feedback private, which is fine if you aren't selling 

[reallynicestamps]

Sellers who buy on eBay often have two accounts : one for buying and one for selling.

The number of accounts you have is not limited. All your accounts can use the same Paypal account but you need a different credit card for each one. 

If your seller is stealing your text or your (own) pictures, you can Report her to eBay. This is not allowed. If you are using your supplier's text and photos this is not an option.

You can watermark your pictures. 

You can host your pictures on a third party site. If your competitor steals a photo you can switch it to something 'creative'.

[reallynicestamps]

Do you seriously sell under that name? How many potential sales have you lost by turning off buyers who do not appreciate vulgarity?

[2011limey1]

You're SO right - I certainly wouldn't even LOOK at items, no matter what they were, or what I want under this name! Talk about a "serious" seller?! OP?