Hello 'onwardrep',
It means that the buyer has set up her (his?) feedback so that none of the comments or items are visible. One only sees the feedback score. Sellers cannot have 'private' feedback, - for obvious reasons. The fact that you lost the auction is because you did not bid as much as the other person. Have a look at the following link to tell you all about making your feedback private:
http://pages.ebay.ca/help/feedback/profile-public-private.html
It is not recommended, except maybe around Christmas if you are worried the kids might find out what you bought them, that sort of thing. If you are bidding on an item and you have private feedback, and if a seller is uncomfortable with that, the seller can remove your bid and block you. Understandably, - we are all a little leary of people with something to hide. It is a seller's right to remove any bid and block any bidder for any reason.
Something to think about. 🙂
