- but why would anyone want to search this information out especially someone from this forum - that's the part about this whole post / thread that - should I say - creeps me out
are you like being the dpf police??
I don't think it is creepy. I personally find it more creepy when someone thinks that because they are hiding behind user names on the internet that they can say one thing here and think that nobody can see or figure out what they are really doing.
I run across, let's say....."interesting" things on ebay all the time. Half of the time it is on accident but sometimes I am looking for the information. We are a very small community and if you participate in it long enough then you are bound to connect some dots. Here are some things I've found in the past along with the reason I found them:
1) Who bought a specific pin because it is one I am looking for - I was looking for this on purpose so that I can get an idea of who might have it and what it might take to get it. Finding difficult pins sometimes requires some detective work.
2) Who bought a pin because I was watching it or looking at a specific seller's feedback - this is mostly on accident. On a couple of occasions I have been watching a pin or ran across some feedback that caught my eye, mainly because of the price tag. When I'm scanning through and see $500, I stop and think "what was that". Then all of a sudden I see who bought it and think to myself "interesting.....this person just posted on the boards claiming to know nothing of this pin's value...." or "interesting....this person just claimed that they paid half the price for this pin but this says different....". Those aren't exactly things I'm looking for, but when I see them, I take note. I think it speaks to their character that they would lie about such a thing when they could just keep their mouth shut.
3) I look at (typically masked) bidders to identify shill bidders or people that are just bidding up an auction with no intention of following through with the sale. I try to avoid bidding on these auctions or am very careful about what I bid because bidding against someone like that can end up costing you money because they are falsely driving up the price. After watching these bidders over time I can sometimes figure out their ID. Keep in mind, the reason I care is because they are bidding on the things I want, not because I just have nothing better to do.
4) Sellers playing pricing games - this I found mainly on accident because I looked at a seller's other items. I then say that they had two of the exact same pin listed, on at $400 and the other at $700. That got me wondering "why?" and the only thing I could come up with is that they were trying to make their lower (still overpriced) item look more appealing. If someone is just surfing, comparing prices, and doesn't know any better they might say "Wow! Others are listed at $700! $400 must be a great deal!!!" Doesn't make much sense to me, but that's all I could think of....
5) It can give you an idea of who you can trust and who is safe to trade with - I rarely do this personally because I typically go for the higher end pins that don't have many scrapper/counterfiet issues, but I can see where it would be benificial. If you can see that someone is buying scrapper lots, do you really want to trade with them? Even if they are laundering them first? By continuing to buy them they are just adding to the problem.
I guess I don't really see the difference between looking at ebay activity and checking references. It is all out there for the public to see, why not use all the information available to make an informed decision? If you were hiring a babysitter, wouldn't you want to look into their background so that you can be sure you can trust your children with them? Or if you are buying a used car, wouldn't you want to know the car's history? This is similar, just on a much smaller scale. Pins as a hobby is not cheap when you do it legitimately. I don't want to deal with untrustworthy people or those that cheat the system because in the end all they are doing is hurting the hobby and those that play by the rules. Couple that with the fact that we are on the internet and you never know if people are who they say they are.....I for one will use every resource I can so that I can protect my self and my purchases. I don't see that as creepy, just being informed and not turning a blind eye to what is really going on.