Saturday, June 18, 2005
EBay Drop-Off Stores Balking at Regulation
The pirate statue had seven days to leave Massapequa, N.Y. And leave it did. The owner of the statue, which is made of resin with a height of 6 feet, recently took it to the QuikDrop store on New York's Long Island to have it photographed and put up for auction on eBay for 14 days. An online bidder from Utah paid US$750, and the store's workers packed it and were preparing to send it.
Next in line were 59 videotapes containing several years' worth of "I Love Lucy" episodes, a pile of aluminum wheel rims and a Happy Holidays Special Edition 1988 Barbie.
Such troves of junk are innocent enough. But as more eBay drop-off stores spring up around the United States to help redistribute the accumulated cargo of an acquisitive culture, some public officials worry that they could become unwitting fences for stolen goods. As some states push to regulate the mushrooming industry, eBay and the stores are joining together to oppose oversight.
States like California and Florida are debating whether drop-off stores like QuikDrop International, AuctionDrop and iSold It should be governed by laws that apply to pawnbrokers, secondhand stores and auctioneers, laws aimed at preventing the sale of stolen items.
The focus on drop-off operations is intensifying because they are multiplying rapidly. According to eBay, there are more than 7,000 locations listed in the company's directory of independent businesses, or trading assistants, that sell on behalf of others and offer drop-off services. Many of these, including about 3,800 AuctionDrop locations in UPS Stores, are retail-style storefronts. And hundreds more of these stores are expected to open in the next year. The stores and eBay have no corporate connection, but they are closely linked. EBay's revenue growth is based in part on signing up new eBay sellers; the drop-off stores help bring into the eBay fold people who might be reluctant to hold an online auction themselves.
In California, where the number of drop-off centers has grown particularly quickly, secondhand dealers are required to report transactions, fingerprint people selling items like high-priced jewelry and electronic equipment, and hold the data for 30 days. Ebay is lobbying against a proposed law that would set up an electronic database to track stolen goods sold at secondhand stores in California. The state attorney general recently released an opinion that the drop-off stores should be classified as secondhand dealers. EBay asked that the bill exempt the centers from regulation, but such an exemption has not been written into the bill.
"We simply cannot see the need for any of this legislation," said Tod Cohen, vice president for government relations at eBay, which is based in San Jose, Calif. Laws governing pawnbrokers, secondhand dealers and auctioneers, he said, "make no sense for our business." Some law enforcement agencies argue that drop-off centers could well become new conduits for stolen items as Internet-based crime rises.
So far, there has been little evidence of stolen goods passing through drop-off stores. But law enforcement officials say that is because there is no easy way to track stolen items flowing in and out of the centers. "People are using pawnshops less and less," said Danny Macagni, chief of police in Santa Maria, Calif. "These eBay drop stores don't have to notify us like a pawn shop, so stolen property could be sold and we'll never even know about it."
The drop-off stores typically take in an item, photograph it, and put it up for sale on eBay. If a sale goes through, the store sends the seller a check, minus a store commission that is often as high as 35 percent, a fee for eBay and other payment processing charges. If the item does not sell within a certain number of days at QuikDrop, the owner is asked to retrieve it.
Macagni said that as more commerce and crime move online, increased monitoring of online sales can only help. "If we wait," he said, "we won't have the ability to deal with this issue."
State and municipal laws regulating pawnbrokers and secondhand dealers vary, but they usually require that dealers report transactions to the police, hold items for a certain period before selling them and even take fingerprints of their customers. California, Florida and Texas have been considering legislation that would impose regulations on drop-off stores. And in New York City, where secondhand stores must obtain a license and maintain transaction records for police inspection on demand, the Department of Consumer Affairs is considering the question of whether the stores qualify as secondhand stores, said Dina Improta, a spokeswoman for the department.
But eBay executives and store owners say criminals are not likely to walk into a drop-off store, offer personal information , leave a telephone number and wait for a check to arrive in the mail.
Brought to you by the Guardian eCommerce Safe Site Privacy Seal Program.
Next in line were 59 videotapes containing several years' worth of "I Love Lucy" episodes, a pile of aluminum wheel rims and a Happy Holidays Special Edition 1988 Barbie.
Such troves of junk are innocent enough. But as more eBay drop-off stores spring up around the United States to help redistribute the accumulated cargo of an acquisitive culture, some public officials worry that they could become unwitting fences for stolen goods. As some states push to regulate the mushrooming industry, eBay and the stores are joining together to oppose oversight.
States like California and Florida are debating whether drop-off stores like QuikDrop International, AuctionDrop and iSold It should be governed by laws that apply to pawnbrokers, secondhand stores and auctioneers, laws aimed at preventing the sale of stolen items.
The focus on drop-off operations is intensifying because they are multiplying rapidly. According to eBay, there are more than 7,000 locations listed in the company's directory of independent businesses, or trading assistants, that sell on behalf of others and offer drop-off services. Many of these, including about 3,800 AuctionDrop locations in UPS Stores, are retail-style storefronts. And hundreds more of these stores are expected to open in the next year. The stores and eBay have no corporate connection, but they are closely linked. EBay's revenue growth is based in part on signing up new eBay sellers; the drop-off stores help bring into the eBay fold people who might be reluctant to hold an online auction themselves.
In California, where the number of drop-off centers has grown particularly quickly, secondhand dealers are required to report transactions, fingerprint people selling items like high-priced jewelry and electronic equipment, and hold the data for 30 days. Ebay is lobbying against a proposed law that would set up an electronic database to track stolen goods sold at secondhand stores in California. The state attorney general recently released an opinion that the drop-off stores should be classified as secondhand dealers. EBay asked that the bill exempt the centers from regulation, but such an exemption has not been written into the bill.
"We simply cannot see the need for any of this legislation," said Tod Cohen, vice president for government relations at eBay, which is based in San Jose, Calif. Laws governing pawnbrokers, secondhand dealers and auctioneers, he said, "make no sense for our business." Some law enforcement agencies argue that drop-off centers could well become new conduits for stolen items as Internet-based crime rises.
So far, there has been little evidence of stolen goods passing through drop-off stores. But law enforcement officials say that is because there is no easy way to track stolen items flowing in and out of the centers. "People are using pawnshops less and less," said Danny Macagni, chief of police in Santa Maria, Calif. "These eBay drop stores don't have to notify us like a pawn shop, so stolen property could be sold and we'll never even know about it."
The drop-off stores typically take in an item, photograph it, and put it up for sale on eBay. If a sale goes through, the store sends the seller a check, minus a store commission that is often as high as 35 percent, a fee for eBay and other payment processing charges. If the item does not sell within a certain number of days at QuikDrop, the owner is asked to retrieve it.
Macagni said that as more commerce and crime move online, increased monitoring of online sales can only help. "If we wait," he said, "we won't have the ability to deal with this issue."
State and municipal laws regulating pawnbrokers and secondhand dealers vary, but they usually require that dealers report transactions to the police, hold items for a certain period before selling them and even take fingerprints of their customers. California, Florida and Texas have been considering legislation that would impose regulations on drop-off stores. And in New York City, where secondhand stores must obtain a license and maintain transaction records for police inspection on demand, the Department of Consumer Affairs is considering the question of whether the stores qualify as secondhand stores, said Dina Improta, a spokeswoman for the department.
But eBay executives and store owners say criminals are not likely to walk into a drop-off store, offer personal information , leave a telephone number and wait for a check to arrive in the mail.
Brought to you by the Guardian eCommerce Safe Site Privacy Seal Program.
