Interesting article from the US boards on buyers, feedback, and privacy isses

[dutchman48]

Interesting read

http://engineering.nyu.edu/press-release/2014/07/17/buyer-beware-nyu-researchers-uncover-security-br...

Rumors are starting to float re blocking buyers

[cumos55]

eBay has already made many adjustments in relation to this study.

Look at what has changed in the presentation of feedback... and then other aspects in relation to  information about buyers....and what they buy.

There have been major changes....  and probably more to come 

and all in relation to this one study.....

The cyberattack.... the Hack in February-March... started it all... and made people look more closely at privacy in a more broader sense  as opposed to just the information that disappeared with the Hack...

[mr.elmwood]

It wasn't that long ago that you could see a lot oh what people bought. It was regular fodder on other boards. For some reason, many sellers think it is their god given right to see everything someone has bought, no matter what.

Eh?

Another example of why feedback is going away. That is a way of tracking buyer, sellers, products, prices. No-one's business where my money goes. when I go to Safeway, do they check and say "Oh! I see you have been shopping at the Co-Op, care to explain? Maybe we should block you from shopping here?".

It isn't allowed in the real world, it should not be allowed here.

Make FB strictly a counter of buying and selling. eBay can maintain their own internal controls on each group.

Which is more representative? Take Brande or Pierre for eg. Their FB scores of 9100 and 26000 pale in comparison to their true volume of units and transactions. What do ya figure, maybe 50,000 and 150,000? Those numbers tell me a lot more than the worthless FB score.

I bet eBay would like all tracking of buying and selling, plus FB, to all go away. The junkies, however, need their fix.

[tobyshitzu]

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 That is a way of tracking buyer, sellers, products, prices. No-one's business where my money goes. when I go to Safeway, do they check and say "Oh! I see you have been shopping at the Co-Op, care to explain? Maybe we should block you from shopping here?".

It isn't allowed in the real world, it should not be allowed here.

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Not exactly same, but many major US retailers do share info and look into what their customers are up to by submitting and getting reports from  https://www.theretailequation.com as a way to combat fraud.  It ties  frequency of returns ,Return dollar amount,  Whether the return is receipted or non-receipt, Purchase history to a drivers license.  If they don't like what they see they deny returns based on the buyers record.  Very very similar to why an ebay seller would like the information we used to have on what the buyer is up to 

[mr.elmwood]

Oh, heavens, I know all of that. Did you know, that in Winnipeg, the average liquor store customer shops at four different stores? Airmiles tells the LC that.

Perhaps my example was not quite right. Perhaps a better example would be the person behind me at Safeway having access to my buying habits? That is what eBay has been doing. They have been allowing unrelated parties to see unrelated information.

I can still see what sellers are selling, for how much, and when. Hum? Is that really any of my business? I can still see what buyers are buying.

[rose-dee]

There were always two sides to this equation:

a)  One side was ease of marketing and, (on eBay particularly) what I used to refer to as "cross-pollination", where sellers would benefit from prospective buyers seeing what others bought.  Many commercial sites still do this in a limited way ("see what others who bought this item also bought");

b)  The other side is privacy.  As Mr. E. says, do I really want another buyer seeing what I've bought (and what I've paid for it?).  The even more insidious issue with privacy of course is privacy invasion, or worse, outright identity theft and/or fraud. 

We all know this, but as I see it, the equation used to be a more or less balanced one on eBay.  The benefits of "cross-pollination" outweighed the risks of any serious infringements on privacy.  Or maybe nobody really cared or thought seriously about others seeing their buying habits openly.  EBay used to tout the "open marketplace" moniker -- I don't hear that anymore. 

Now the equation is a lot heavier on the privacy side.  I think we've all had our eyes opened, not just on eBay, but across the web, over the last 5 years or so.  Now it probably takes very little effort for someone with the skills and the motives to "break into someone's life".  A few bits of data on eBay, and you're soon through the door.

I get the feeling a heck of a lot more information is being gathered about us -- constantly -- than we're unaware of.  It makes sense to limit outside access to the sources we are aware of. 

Many people (including me) now have alternative IDs for buying, partly for that reason.  For me, the other reason was that I don't always want my sources of raw materials, etc. open for everybody (including competitors) to see.  I suppose I've got to the point where the cross-pollination is less important to me as a seller than protecting my buyers from peepers or creepers.