1) eBay is committed to being an open and collaborative online marketplace that protects users and combats crime through partnerships with retailers and law enforcement. 2) eBay has partnered with the National Retail Federation to fight organized retail crime and provide a unified approach to addressing the issue. 3) eBay investigates suspicious activity on its platform and works with retailers and law enforcement through programs like PROACT to identify criminals and prevent stolen goods from being sold.

1. [SOLUTIONS SHOWCASE]
>>eBay
eBay’s Commitment to
Openness and Partnership
by Paul Jones
A
fter spending over 25 years in the of technology to carry out crimes and fraud. eBay stands out as
retail loss prevention industry with an Internet leader in working to actively fight fraud and crime
retailers such as Limited Brands and because it’s the right thing to do and best way to serve our
Sunglass Hut International, as well as with user community. It’s important to note that some other online
the Retail Industry Leaders Association, I’m platforms haven’t taken this active and aggressive approach in
proud to be part of a talented team of trust detecting and eliminating fraudulent activity and bad actors.
and safety professionals at eBay, who work eBay’s commitment to openness means that we have had
diligently to protect the site and its users. My Paul Jones is to be more innovative and resourceful meeting our goal of
Global Director of
mission is to assist eBay with the company’s Asset Protection protecting users and combating crime. This challenge is not that
continual outreach and relationship building for eBay. different from what my friends in the traditional retail industry
with both retailers and the law enforcement face in their environments every day. Some retailers might
(LE) community. attempt to reduce shrink losses by locking up merchandise
We’re proud of our recent announcement about our unified above certain price points, cable or chain soft goods, or inspect
partnership with the National Retail Federation (NRF) in the every customer’s bag when they exit the store. However, we all
fight against lost profits via organized retail crime (ORC)
activity. This agreement ensures the nation’s leading online
marketplace and the world’s largest retail trade association are
jointly committed to attacking these issues with retail leaders,
federal, state, and local LE agencies, while leveraging technology
advances, including LERPnet and PROACT. This collaboration
places criminals on warning that abuse of online marketplaces
for fencing stolen goods will not be tolerated. This collaborative
approach assures support and combined lobbying efforts around
enhanced and meaningful legislation combating ORC, and
enacting laws that mandate increased punishment and penalties
for major offenders.
Also, we’re thrilled to be sponsors of the Fusion Center
at this June’s NRF loss prevention conference in Atlanta, and
look forward to the synergies created by encouraging open,
collaborative sharing of solution-based ideas addressing the
ORC challenge with retail executives, NRF leadership, and the
LE community.
Our Commitment to Openness
It’s eBay’s goal to be the largest, most open, dynamic, and
efficient global online marketplace. We believe that giving
the widest possible range of buyers and sellers access to our know these somewhat antiquated techniques negatively impact
platform best serves consumers and empowers the greatest the customer experience, reduce sales growth, and most often
number of hard-working, entrepreneurial individuals and small have unproven correlation to shrink-reduction efforts.
businesses. At eBay, we too must balance the need to provide a pleasant
As an e-commerce pioneer, eBay faced decisions early in the trading experience and protect the privacy of our users, while
game about how to deal with the challenge posed by the very proactively preventing criminals from abusing our platform and
small percentage of Internet users who tried to take advantage users. I’m proud of eBay’s extensive and recognized efforts
67
LossPrevention May – June 2010

2. [SOLUTIONS SHOWCASE]
>>eBay
investigation immediately commenced that identified that the
user had recently shifted to almost exclusively selling diabetic
test strips. Based on a joint investigation and further research,
including some control buys of the product, the user was
identified and subsequently arrested for possession of
stolen goods.
We are fully committed to being good corporate citizens and
remain one of the most trusted e-commerce brands in the world
today. And engaging with us is easy; just contact me or Stoney
Burke at paul.jones@ebay.com or sburke@ebay.com.
We strongly recommend you become familiar with the tools
that already exist to members of the eBay community, like the
seller feedback mechanism and buyer history functionality. The
platform was built so buyers and sellers can communicate, learn
about each other, and feel comfortable with conducting business
interactions. If you bid on or purchase an item on eBay, you
have access to additional seller information as well. And, don’t
ignore eBay’s advanced search function, as one of the unique
features of this option allows users who may be investigating
assisting LE and LP professionals in combating ORC issues, and thefts or losses of a particular item to monitor for listings of
our continued efforts to develop and implement innovative those items.
solutions addressing that challenge.
What’s Next?
Partnering with Retailers You have my personal commitment that we will continue to
We are willing to assist when retailers’ best efforts and their build effective strategies by collaborating more closely in 2010
own loss prevention programs are defeated, as eBay continues and leveraging the strong partnerships and technology with the
its work with law enforcement and retailers to stop crime in NRF and FBI. We are still in the early stages of implementing
their stores. Theft is a societal problem, and eBay is also a victim internal reforms, and the best is yet to come.
of this crime. It is an unfortunate fact that with any channel of Earlier this year, we introduced a new operating function
commerce, whether brick and mortar or an Internet commerce within our government relations group, called Global Asset
site, there are criminals who attempt to beat the system. As we Protection. This structure will horizontally support and align our
work to tackle this issue, we must be realistic about the impact pyramid objectives, and houses the Regulatory & Policy, Data
the Internet has had on ORC. With the birth of the Internet, we Analytics & Tools, and Investigations groups that support the
didn’t see the birth of ORC. corporate mission. These groups are led by our Deputy General
If anyone attempts to abuse our site, we’ll help send them to Counsel, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney.
jail. eBay supports increased funding for law enforcement and Our evolution includes shifting the priorities and focus of
increased penalties for ORC offenses. Our interests are aligned our well-trained global Fraud Investigation Teams into a more
with ensuring bad actors stay away from our community. proactive role. We will continue dialogue with our internal
Our teams are working diligently to improve and continue business unit partners to advance and create new tools to vet,
building strong relationships with retailers and the LE deter, detect, and prevent stolen goods from reaching the
community as an active investigative partner. We take every site, and notify the true owners. Our cross-functional business
opportunity to educate them about our programs, including partners are fully aligned on strategy and are truly excited by
enhanced systemic rules, filters, and clear policies around this paradigm shift in relation to our operating business model.
preventing fraudulent activity. Membership in PROACT has We look forward to a long and productive partnership
grown to more than 200 retailers who are actively participating with you.
in this joint sharing of information to detect bad actors.
PROACT helps retailers work directly with eBay’s trained
Fraud Investigation Teams to report suspicious activity and
investigate potential cases of theft. For example, a retail
investigator contacted their assigned PROACT investigator after
using the available APIs on the site and became suspicious
of a seller with a significant amount of diabetic test strips. An
68
May – June 2010 LPportal.com