Why do people have m***5 as eBay names??

Question

is this the persons actual name? or is it just a cover if their bidding a lot?

Thanks

Answer 1

It's NOT shorthand. Several months ago, Ebay changed the way the bidders names' are displayed in an auction that's still open. It's an anonymous name randomly generated BY EBAY. It doesn't actually mean those characters are part of the bidder's name. It's to protect bidders from being spammed or scammed or harassed by other bidders.

If YOU bid on something, you'll be able to see YOUR name, but no one else's -- only that there are other bidders.

Answer 2

It is e-bay's way to protect the bidders identity and safety. However, the person who has the item for bid is able to see the bidders full user name.  

From Ebay:

eBay limits how your bid history information is displayed by using anonymous names. Your complete user ID is shown to the seller of this item only. Bidders are assigned anonymous names, such as x***y. These anonymous names are used consistently across all auctions that exceed a certain level.

Note: Anonymous names may appear more than once in the bid history and may represent different bidders from different auctions.