MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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Lots of stuff about stolen bikes on ebay recently & I'm sorry if I'm repeating any suggestions on here already, but isn't it about time that the likes of ebay were made to only accept auctions for goods if the seller had to input the item serial number?
Number wouldn't need to be published in auction but any known stolen stuff could be covertly alerted to the police and victims could send in their serial numbers for checking against anything they suspect as being their property. Serial number could then be published to winning bidder for them to cross check once goods are received?
Or am I deluded in my thinking?
Your deluded. eBay will not make any extra money for the extra effort so it will not happen..
Ebay aren't keen on private sellers anyway but if the powers that be could be sold on the idea it might at least restrict one market place for nicked stuff & also make people a little more careful about what they bought if they knew thy couldn't sell it on.
Would need people to make a note of their serial numbers too...
eBay is a gift to thieves but it's also a gift to the police. Although I've heard mixed reports about how well the two work together, it's easily searchable and because it's used for buying and selling you're quite likely to get an accurate home address from them too.
The inputting serial number idea is OK until you consider how many different goods are sold on eBay every day. I suppose they could have it apply just to bikes, electronics and motor vehicles but even then I'd imagine the logistics to be pretty tricky - it would be something along the lines of authorising a bank transaction, but it would have to be dealt with by one central server. Can't really see anyone putting this together if it doesn't increase profits, or actively harms them.
If you do want to register your property and increase the likelihood of it being returned by the police, try www.immobilise.com/