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Durbin Targets E-Bay Merchants Who May be Stealing Their Wares
The Illinois Retail Merchants Association has the ear of Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, and says it's backing legislation he's crafted that would address large-scale retail theft.

The association says store goods are being stolen by professional merchandisers, then turned around and sold on the Internet site E-bay and in flea markets.

Durbin says so far, E-Bay hasn't wanted to work with prosecutors on such thefts. "E-Bay has a policy of strict anonymity of sellers. They won't tell you who the seller is," Durbin said. "This bill that we've introduced, will at least require the disclosure of the address of a seller. I wish it had more. But the idea is to have stricter penalties, to have more effective surveillance of this kind of activity."

The bill would strengthen penalties for such crimes, and require E-bay sellers to have a valid physical address that would have to be posted.

The Merchants Association says clothes, drugs, baby formula, and other items are most likely to be lifted, and have their tags changed or expiration dates altered.

Durbin says he first became aware of the problem when Home Depot discovered a drill that was to be exclusive to its chain was being sold by an E-Bay member, and the member had 11,000 of them.
08 10 08 by Newsroom
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