Is Ebay a fencing operation?

[pwd72s]

Interesting article in the morning paper here:


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Online e-fence shields shady deals
Arrests involving secondhand stores in Portland just scratch the surface of a trend in which thieves turn to eBay as a safe and profitable venue to hawk stolen goods
Sunday, December 18, 2005
NOELLE CROMBIE
and JOSEPH ROSE

Lisa Barrow wouldn't think of buying stolen goods. Yet the 47-year-old Georgia woman, who surfs the Internet with a lazy Angora cat purring in her lap, doesn't question the bargains she finds on eBay.

In August, Barrow wanted a Brita water filter for her kitchen sink but cringed at the $30 retail price. On eBay, a seller in Portland, Ore., was offering one as "brand new-factory sealed." She bid $11 and won.

With a click of the mouse, Barrow joined the ranks of unwitting consumers each year who buy hot property. The Brita filter, authorities say, was pilfered from a store somewhere in the West before it was sold to a secondhand dealer in Portland.

Retail executives and police from Massachusetts to California say professional thieves have discovered that eBay may be a perfect fence. Many crooks, they say, are abandoning flea markets, garage sales and back alleys for the online auction juggernaut, exploiting an around-the-clock network of bargain hunters that spans the globe.

Statistics connecting eBay to what many retail executives say is a rise in organized retail theft are hard to find. Still, police and retailers agree that eBay, which hosted 1.4 billion listings last year and sells about $1,400 in goods per second, has revolutionized shoplifting.

"It's a national fencing operation," said Joseph LaRocca, vice president of loss prevention for the National Retail Federation. All crooks need, LaRocca said, is a seller ID. "You can sell that merchandise nationwide," he said, "and you are making a significant profit doing it."

But eBay isn't about to start watching its site for sellers who might be listing stolen merchandise, said Hani Durzy, a corporate spokesman. "We can't do it and we won't do it," he said.

With eBay featuring more than 60 million items at any given moment, Durzy said, the company has no way to verify the legitimacy of each listing. It's not eBay's job to play price cop and question bargains, Durzy said.

"It's not in our community's best interest, it's not in anyone's best interest, to just assume that based on what someone is selling that it's automatically stolen," Durzy said.


Guys, the story goes on for more pages, if you want to read it all, check the website here:
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1134798908252870.xml&coll=7&thispage=2

My point? I dunno, I was just reading the used parts classifieds here, complaints about a ripoff advertiser. Seems to me that he's small potatos compared to Ebay...let your concience be your guide.

[masraum]

It's happened before, people have been caught. It's just a better way of doing what they were already doing. Kind of hard to come to a decision. No way to tell what you are getting, so should you deprive yourself or just give sellers the benefit of a doubt. I guess at this point there's pretty much no way really to test as a buyer so it rests solely on the shoulders of the original legitimate sellers (retail, etc...) to make themselves safe.

[89911]

I've thought this all along. It just doesn't make sense when you see item for sale at such a price below cost! I'm sure plenty of the stuff disappears from loading trucks and stock rooms everywhere. It's hard to hold Ebay accountable, since its no different then selling in the newspaper, it just gets to a lot more people.

[tabs]

Hey didja see that low mileage Green 72 911S listed on E-bay..the seller was in SO Cal and the car had Oregon plates....hmmmm makes U think?

[widebody911]

People are just now getting wise to eBay as a den of thieves?

Craigslist is the other one.

[RallyJon]

You'd think law enforcement would love Ebay. Once you identify that an item is stolen, you have several ways of identifying the seller. First, a new registrant on Ebay must provide a credit card. You also have an e-mail address, a paypal account (linked to a bank account) or a physical address to send payment. Lots of tools for a cop to use.

[RallyJon]

Ebay is also way too willing to cancel an auction. Send Ebay an e-mail saying that an auction is for stolen (or counterfeit) merchandise. They will remove the auction immediately.

Unfortunately they do this even if the item is real and not stolen. Ask me how I know.

[89911]

Originally posted by 89911
I've thought this all along. It just doesn't make sense when you see item for sale at such a price below cost! I'm sure plenty of the stuff disappears from loading trucks and stock rooms everywhere. It's hard to hold Ebay accountable, since its no different then selling in the newspaper, it just gets to a lot more people.

Actually, maybe the should be held accountable, they are the ones make billions off it. Its hard to prove though. I just got an iPod shuffle as a gift at work and I already have one. It use to be I would be stuck with it with no receipt Now, I listed it on eBay for what they are new and it sold in a day. I just hightly doubt all that mechandise on eBay our "gifts".