MoCo police want more stringent laws for selling on eBay
By: Alan Suderman
Examiner Staff Writer
March 2, 2009
Montgomery County police want to strengthen county laws to make it harder to sell stolen goods on eBay — a move some merchants selling through online auctions said wasn’t needed.
Police and the county’s Office of Consumer Protection are supporting proposed legislation that would require eBay retailers — individuals or businesses that sell customers goods on the online auction site for a fee — to report their merchandise to police in the same way pawnbrokers do.
Under current county law, pawnbrokers have to report all their transactions to police and hold items for a certain period of time.
Police said the law, which was written in the early 1980s, has been helpful in recovering stolen items but needs to be updated to keep pace with technology.
“We are trying to catch criminals with pencils and paper instead of computers and technology and our citizens are being hurt,” Montgomery County Chief of Police J. Thomas Manger wrote to the county council.
But treating eBay sellers like licensed pawnbrokers “would force many small Internet businesses to close down” Michael Hadad, the owner of an iSold It on eBay franchise in Gaithersburg, said in a letter to the council.
Hadad said his company provides a valuable service to individuals who don’t have access to the Internet, and also puts money back into the community.
Hadad said the eBay is “safe and transparent” and “a very unlikely outlet for stolen property.” The online auction site already requires that sellers post much of the information the county currently requires from pawnbrokers, including pictures of the items, and model and serial numbers, Hadad said.
David Cohen, owner of another eBay seller, Soeztosell4u, said he sells mostly collectibles and knick-knacks and doubts thieves would try to use his services.
“I have not seen a problem whatsoever,” he said.
But Manger said that it’s “impossible” for police to know whether stolen items are being sold by eBay sellers unless they report what items they are selling.
Manger said the proposed legislation, which would also lengthen the period sellers have to hold on to items from 18 to 30 days and prohibit children from selling items, is important “given the inevitable crime-rate increases that are likely to occur because of the recent economic slowdown.”
A County Council committee is scheduled to discuss the proposed legislation March 19.
