[drcy]

In a defense of eBay, I'm sure one reason they block bidder ids was to prevent off eBay sales. I think trying to prevent this was legitimate on their part, as many buyers and sellers abused the system that way.

Having said that, one essential eBay newbie tip I used to give was never to bid in an auction that hid bidder ids, as the practice was mostly used to prevent nefarious activity including shilling and to prevent others from tipping off bidders that an item was a fake or a scam. Then eBay turned and made all bidder ids private.

If it were up to me, bidder ids would be shown, but, as is often the case, eBay users who tried to game the system (breaking the user agreement by using eBay as a cheap advertising for off site sales) are part of the reason eBay hides the ids.

In short, every one's going to Hell. Oh sorry, Leon, I meant to say Heck.