I will like to take this opportunity to introduce a new project “Safeguarding Member IDs”. Safeguarding Member IDs (SMI) is a significant step forward in protecting eBay's bidders, who have increasingly become targets for unwanted commercial and malicious spam, such as phishing, spoof, and fake Second Chance Offers.

SMI adds a new layer of privacy by replacing specific User IDs with aliases (bidder 1, bidder 2, bidder 3, etc.). To ensure buyers continue to feel trust in the bidding process, SMI also provides an updated Bid History page with aggregate information about the bidders involved in a given listing, as well as their other recent activity with the listing's seller.

We're implementing this new system on listings with a high bid of Rs. 9000 or greater, which is where we believe it can have the greatest positive impact. The bid information for listings where the bid is lower than Rs. 9000 will display as it does today.

Here's what will change:

1. On the bid history page for each listing we'll replace member User IDs with aliases (such as Bidder 1, Bidder 2 and Bidder 3) in the order of their bids placed. For each bidder involved in a listing, we'll display the number of bids in unique categories that they've placed, a range that their feedback score falls within (i.e. 10-49, for instance), their percentage of positive feedback, their length of time as an eBay member, and the number of bids they've placed on the item. At the end of a listing, the winning bidder's User ID will be displayed on the item page. Please note: Sellers will still be able to access bidder information on their listings through the Bid History page and the My eBay selling table.
2. In My eBay, members will no longer have access to the high-bidder column from bid and watch tables.
3. On the item page, you'll only be able to see the high-bidder ID if you are the signed-in seller of the item or the signed-in high bidder.
Through the Advanced Search by Bidder link, we'll only show completed listings within the last 30 days.
4. Future enhancements are being designed that will provide even more transaction data about the bidders and seller involved in a transaction. We'll continue to update the community on these changes as these plans become finalized.

To learn more, please read our Frequently Asked Questions. I know you'll have more questions, so I will be hosting a workshop shortly after this project launches. Please stay tuned to the Announcements board for day and time.

Sincerely,
Sharat Digumarti
Senior Manager – Trust and Safety