IP Address Change Not Enough?

[Trader914]

I have no problem changing my ip addresses. But recently, I have heard from a very knowledgeable tech that changing the ip address alone is not enough to hide from eBay. He said that eBay (and other sites) tracks people using the MAC addresses of the various devices, not the ip address. So if you only change your ip addresses, eBay will know who you are (if you have used the same device before with a suspended account).

For ex, if you use a dial-up modem to access the internet, you will get different ip addresses but your MAC address (of the modem) will always be the same. Same goes for changing the ip address of a cable/DSL modem. Even if the ip address has changed, the MAC address of your router or the NIC card will be the same as before and, therefore, eBay will eventually figure you out. The MAC address of the cable/DSL modem that are issued to you by your ISP also has unique MAC addresses but those MAC addresses are not visible to eBay and they would have to send a court order (or something similar) to your ISP to get the MAC addresses of the cable/DSL modem. However, the MAC addresses of the devices in your system (router, NIC card) WILL be visible to eBay and can be used to track you.

IS ALL THIS TRUE???

If it is true, then the only solution I can see (as written in the book) for managing multiple accounts is to buy several different routers and switch them around with different accounts you set up. Or you can b=install several different NIC cards but this will be more difficult as there are only limlited # of expansion slots in most PCs.

Any thoughts from knowledegable techs would be appreciated.

[KingRay]

Doesnt seem to be a problem to anyone else on here. No the IP isnt the only thing but if you dont have the book and understand the way to deal with stealth accounts then trying to explain it all in this post would be a waste of time.

Do you have the book at all? do you understand stealth. (other tahn just changing IP's)

Answer that and we can go further.

[Trader914]

Yup...I read the 50 page book, if that is what you are referring to. The book does not mention the MAC address issue at all.

[Trader914]

Well...the book does mention few things about MAC address but not directly to my question.

[KingRay]

I see what you are saying but everyone on here that I know of just changes IP and user accounts when going from one account to another. It has worked for all of us so the issue you speak of must not be a problem then.

Thats all I mean.

I have many accounts and never have any issues. I see people with dozens of ebay accounts with no problem. They just jot down the IP on a note pad and keep track of them.

[Sandy D]

If you would see the long list of IP's I have and know that I have to go down the list every single time I log in or out of an account it would probably drive most people nuts.

It is my method and it works perfectly as I have not had a single account linked to another since I joined this forum that I can remember.

One single digit different and you are good to go.

Many use Excel, the rest of us use the old school write them down and check them.

[BMW524]

i may just be assuming this but doesn't your mac address change when your ip address changes or is it just the other way around that when your mac address changes your ip does. if my assumption was right then they wouldn't really be able to track your mac address.