What a load of hogwash

[blackburn_stevie]

I wanted to change my name so I jumped through all of the hoops until I got to the bit where I had to type in the User ID that I wanted to change TO. At this stage I was told that, "You can't use that user ID". No further reason or reasons were given. There was some info about possible names but all it said was that you could not use either an e-mail address or a URL. The name that I wanted to use was neither of those. To put it simply, I wanted to change my ID to qwerty. That was just because if eBay couldn't get their act together and so wanted me to sign-in 20 or 30 times a day, I wanted an ID that was quick and easy to type. 

I went on to the Live Chat section of Customer Support where I was told that the ID was already being used. That's fair enough, I thought, but then, some instinct made me get a bit bolshie and check who this person was. It turned out that he or she lived in Austrailia and had been a member since 1998. I got back on to Live Chat and explained that the ID was no longer being used so could they change my ID for me.

Here is the reply, word for word.

Jimmy Stone

Hello Stephen. I do realise how you feel about this instance. I can confirm to you that, although a member has already deleted their account on eBay, the information saved on us about their email address, User ID, etc. are still being kept, for security purposes. For this reason, the option to use a deleted member's User ID will not be possible for the said purpose.

Jimmy Stone

Although this is the case, you can still choose another combination aside from qwerty only. You can make use of number signs, etc to add it to the said user ID.

blackburn_stevie

I don't suppose that having a greater number of members on the books than those that are actually active on eBay does the accounting any harm either.

blackburn_stevie

Cheers

blackburn_stevie

Steve

Jimmy Stone

I understand your point on such.

Jimmy Stone

I appreciate the chance to explain this further for you.

Jimmy Stone

Thank you for contacting eBay Live Help, have a good morning. Take care.

OK, does what he said make any sence to you?

[cee-dee]

No.

There was a long-standing (antagonistic) member who had "a certain amount of F/B" who was eventually "rendered inoperable". Somehow, his user ID is in use (well it was the last time I looked) with a (0) F/B so how did that come about?

[aernethril]

This used to apply and as far as I know, still does.

when a person is removed from eBay, their ID is kept as it is - it is not anonymised by whichever process eBay decide to use, such as great long alphanumeric strings.

It used to be that any account which was closed meant that ID kept the ID intact and could never be used, but then it was decided that if someone closed their account, they were actively relinquishing their 'ownership' of that ID so it could go back into the melting pot after 30 days or more when the account ID was anonymised.

The reason IDs are not anonymised when they are given the boot used to be so that they cannot be used again either by the same person or someone else, and so cause confusion - also perhaps to make a clear distinction between those who just left and those who are persona non grata.

This is almost certainly why the ID that you want to change to, Steve, will not be released.

CeeDee - I think I know the story about that but not something we can discuss here.

[electric*mayhem*band]

Insert confused smiley here.......

[queenelsa83]

I was able to change my username ID easily enough 🙂

No problems here, but sorry to hear there has been for you blackburn_stevie 😞

[mustard-tree]

Have you tried some alternatives such as qwertyuio

I have been thinking about changing my id.  I would like the nickname you gave me, but not sure it would be accepted.

[margaret*e]

I would agree if I understood any of it.

[renomarvinm]

Well, you could try changing your name to:

QWERTYUIOP  - you're just adding UIOP here.

or just go one line down and try

ASDFG

or two lines down and try

ZXCVB

Personally, I like that one - it sounds like some sort of weird secret code you're setting up between yourself and some strange unknown group in the Balkans, or something - always good for a laugh.  Plus, the free surveillance you'll get will help protect your home - I think.