In a message dated 1/17/2007 6:37:58 P.M. Mountain Standard Time, trainman007 at prodigy.net writes: I might be missing something here, so please clarify, if you would. What exactly does knowing the bidders actual eBay user IDs provide to you as regards "protection" that Bidder 1 etc. does not? Rich The phonograph community is really very small. When you've been in this game for a while, you get to know who the knowledgeable bidders are. When I see a potentially rare item attracting bids from knowledgeable collectors, I am much more likely to bid myself. This affords a certain degree of protection from buying mistakes. I'm sure everyone has his or her own system for providing security in bidding, but I think it is unfortunate that eBay has chosen to remove some of my security. ---Art Heller