On the Airwaves and Into Your Home

I finally came across the story that Nashville Public Radio aired on August 19 about eBay selling pseudoephedrine. The eBay story was wrapped between the Bush administration announcement in Nashville and Senator Frist's Three Biggest Issues American's Face. In case you are curious and don't want to read the whole article, the "Big 3" are terrorism, economic competitiveness and the rising cost of health care.


Semi-Regular eBay Update

Well, after it seemed that eBay was doing better about listing pseudo, there are now 16 auctions for Sudafed and 23 for pseudoephedrine. Some of the auctions (like this one) are for over auctions 28.8 grams of pseudo--Three times the legal limit in many states.

I find it ironic that eBay tells its users that "eBay urges its sellers and buyers to comply with all governmental laws and regulations", but eBay seems reluctant to simply be a conscientious company and prohibit outright the auctioning of pseudo.


This Finding Spurred My Latest Message to eBay:

RE: Items 5613192329, 5613192572, 5613192885, 5613193250, 5613194302, 5613197706

At lest 36 states have passed laws restricting the sale of pseudoephedrine, many of them limiting the amount that can be purchased be a person over 30 days to 9 grams. Many online sellers of pseudo have followed suit and created internal policies restricting how much can be bought at a time.

I would like to see eBay put its own internal restrictions on pseudo since eBay (as far as I know) does not track the buying habits of their users. If you do, I would hope that you notice if someone buys excessive quantities of pseudoephedrine, as it is the key ingredient for manufacturing methamphetamine, a highly addictive and dangerous illegal drug.

I know that the DEA has been in contact with your company, as have several reporters, trying to work with you in addressing this issue. I have yet to receive an acceptable response other than "thanks for sharing your concerns." It would be much appreciated if I could receive a concrete response. At the minimum, I would hope that you remove the 6 auctions of Topeka7300 that include 28.8 grams of pseudoephedrine.