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EBay tightens policing of stun-gun sales in New York

Posted on: Tuesday, 11 October 2005, 13:15 CDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. No. 1 Internet auction company eBay Inc. has toughened up its policies blocking sales of stun guns to residents of New York state, after an investigation by the state's attorneys.

The move, reinforcing a state law that bars citizens from possessing electric-shock weapons, is a small blow for leading manufacturer Taser International Inc., whose shares dropped to a near-two-year low. Shares of eBay also fell slightly.

"We've worked with the New York Attorney General's office to provide them with information on people that were breaking their state laws as well as to make adjustments to how we message what our policy is to eBay users," said Hani Durzy, an eBay spokesman. "We don't want people using eBay for illegal activities."

The move was welcomed by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who said in a statement that it "will help ensure that the Internet is not used to facilitate illegal activity."

New York is one of only seven U.S. states that ban electronic "stunning devices." Sales of such weapons, which are used by many law enforcement agencies nationwide, are legal in most of the country.

Extending its usual procedures, eBay will now send an electronic pop-up message to anyone from New York bidding on a stun gun warning that the transaction is illegal in the state.

Ebay's published guidelines for members now also make it clear in which states it is illegal to buy or possess a stun-gun device.

The company's move comes after talks with the attorney general's office, following an investigation by state attorneys in Rochester, New York, into the brisk trade of stun-guns on eBay to state residents.

Posing as ordinary consumers, the investigators bought 16 stun guns from 16 different sellers through the eBay auction Website. Together, those sellers sold more than 1,100 stun guns to New York residents between September 2003 and August 2005, Spitzer's office said.

The Attorney General's office said it would fine the sellers and agreed with them to cease sales to New Yorkers.

Taser shares fell 17 cents to $5.73 on Nasdaq. They hit a two-year low of $5.37 on Monday. Ebay shares fell 5 cents to $40.41, also on Nasdaq.

Source: REUTERS

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