F/A Ebay Sealed B-17G with rare decals

Ha! That's not the name of the second nose art. It's "£5 & Breakfast" IIRC. Meaning the price to spend the night with a lady, breakfast included. Suprising to see Monongram using nose art that's that raunchy.

~Michael

What's up with this auction? When I went to look at the bidders and their bids, it said "private auction-bidders ID withheld" and didn't list what they'd bid. Is this something new? Jerry 47

Not new. It is an option.

No, eBay always hides the bid amounts until the auction is over. All you're allowed to see is the current bid. One reason for this is if the current high bidder had outbid the previous person by only 1 cent -- everybody would see it and know that's his high bid, because the difference is less than the bid increment.

As for hiding the bidder's IDs, sellers have had that option for quite a while. They can make their auction "private", so that only the seller can see who bid on his item.

It's intended for use when the seller thinks some buyers might want privacy, such as potential embarassment. ("Oh my god, why on earth did you bid on that model kit? EVERYBODY knows it's a piece of junk!" ;-) )

But I don't know why eBay would put this option in the control of the seller. Some people might have reasons for privacy that wouldn't occur to the seller or that wouldn't apply to other buyers, such as keeping an intended gift recipient from knowing about the purchase. They should let each bidder decide for himself when he places a bid.

Yeah, you're right about bid amounts being concealed during the auction. However, this is the first "private" auction I've seen on eBay. Jerry 47