Phil,
There will be as many suggestions as posts here. Human nature.
I've bought two performance cars via. eBay in the past two years.
I would never have bought either if the auction was private or
the sellers information hidden. As someone else mentioned -
too many scammers.
Where an automobile is concerned, I'd want to get to know
the seller as best I could before plunking down my hard
earned $$. That's exactly what feedback is for. BTW, I rarely
bid on private auctions unless I know the seller from other
non-private auctions I've won from them.
Pony up to the bar. Go with a non-private auction.
You may want to consider masking the last three ( 3 ) numbers
on the VIN tag to protect yourself from scammers. That is
a touchy subject and one that many members here will undoubtedly
care to expand upon.
JMHO
Steve