Online auctions are a convenient marketplace for buyers and sellers. Sellers can reach a national audience of consumers and buyers can research, bid and buy from wherever they can connect to the ‘Net.
As auctions and other online marketplaces prosper, they face new regulatory challenges. Online retail sites are being blamed for offline shoplifting, and some legislative proposals would make online marketplaces liable for making sure that items sold on their sites are not stolen. Yet given that almost half of all retail inventory losses are due to thefts by store employees, we know that e-Commerce is not to blame. Laws targeting online auction sites would therefore fail to correct core retail security problems while unfairly burdening e-Commerce.
