Sites like Marketplace make it easy to resell stolen batteries, drill bits and other drills from stores, say a majority of hardware store owners. Faced with this scourge, they ask governments to intervene to regulate these platforms and limit concealment.
“If it’s good for Airbnb, why couldn’t we also regulate practices on Marketplace? asks the president of the Quebec Association of Hardware and Building Materials (AQMAT), Richard Darveau.
According to a survey published earlier this spring by AQMAT, 89% of hardware stores believe that resale platforms – where people who display goods can preserve a certain anonymity – “facilitate” the flow of stolen goods. The Association has therefore decided to take steps with the Consumer Protection Office (OPC). She also requested a meeting with representatives of the departments of public security in both Quebec and Ottawa. Discussions could take place soon.
“There should be a system obliging users who display new merchandise to publish a photo of the original invoice,” says Mr. Darveau, adding in the process that this would be a proof that the tool was not stolen. “The sites could also include a statement saying: ‘Warning, buying stolen goods is illegal,'” he suggests.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Drills on Marketplace and Kijiji are often sold for less than what is displayed in stores.
Abundant supply
Certain thing, The Press saw while shopping for batteries and drills on Marketplace and Kijiji that there were many ads displaying new tools and the items often sold for less than what was displayed in store. In several cases, our requests to sellers to see the original invoice went unheeded. One of them, visibly stung, even suggested that we go shopping in a store. Note, however, that not all new items offered for sale on these sites have necessarily been stolen, hence the importance of making the necessary checks.
On these same platforms, Nathalie Savard, co-owner of the QTL Phy Liquide hardware store in Métabetchouan–Lac-à-la-Croix in Lac-Saint-Jean, recognized many tools that belonged to her last fall. It’s not her who posted them… but the person who stole them from her. His batteries were sold on the site for $150, while they cost $250 in his hardware store.
“I saw my stock going by and it wasn’t just mine, but probably that of other hardware stores at the Lac,” she says on the phone. Everything was sold new, without box. The empty packaging, her partner and she found them shortly after the theft in the aisles of the store.
“They weren’t small tools. There was a handsaw, batteries, blowers, a drill. He was robbed for some $5,000 worth of merchandise.
After clearly establishing the modus operandi of the criminal, who committed several thefts in the store, Mme Savard and his team managed to pinch him. They were even featured on the show Ibroadcast on TVA.
But now, for the past few weeks, in light of what she has observed online, the business owner is certain that the network of which “her thief” was a part has resumed its activities.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
The merchants and security system specialists surveyed all say shoplifting is at levels not seen since the pandemic.
Of course there has to be a framework. People have to be made aware. It’s concealment. People must be told that they are as guilty as the one who steals.
Nathalie Savard, co-owner of the QTL Phy Liquide hardware store in Métabetchouan–Lac-à-la-Croix
In order to protect herself, she had to invest nearly $15,000 to equip herself with a security system.
“I’m not Rio Tinto,” she illustrates, alluding to the aluminum smelter, which has facilities in its region. When I have to invest or when I lose money, it’s me who puts my head on the block, it’s me who pays. Grants, I don’t have many. »
In Montreal, at the Rona Major & Major store, an anti-theft system was also installed following numerous shoplifting incidents, confirms assistant manager Pascale Prud’homme. We also reconfigured the space where the checkouts are located to keep an eye on customers leaving the store. People who go out with garbage bags full of goods, or who go to the toilets to hide what they have stolen with the intention of coming to recover their loot later: Mme Prud’homme has seen it all.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
Pascale Prud’homme, assistant director of the Rona Major & Major, in Montreal
Although she did not carry out an investigation to find out where her tools then went, Pascale Prud’homme has her own idea: “It’s on Marketplace that it seems to be happening,” she says bluntly. .
To make matters worse, last week, a few minutes after the passage of The Press in store, Mme Prud’homme was the victim of two other thefts.
Growing shoplifting
Mme Prud’homme also wonders if consumers who shop on resale platforms are aware of this phenomenon. “You don’t realize it until it happens to you. Me, it sensitized me. I would not buy tools from Marketplace. »
And for the moment, the phenomenon is not likely to subside since the merchants and the specialists of the security systems questioned all affirm that shoplifting has reached heights unequaled since the pandemic. According to figures provided by AQMAT, nearly 68% of hardware store owners have noticed a strong or slight increase in thefts.
I’ve been in the business for 35 years and I’ve never seen shoplifting on this scale. We receive calls, people are completely discouraged. It’s been like this for about two years.
Dany Bédard, president of APTQ inc., a company specializing in the prevention of shoplifting in stores
The rise in the price of products, the reduction in the number of employees due to the shortage of labor and the proliferation of self-service checkouts are partly responsible for the increase in theft, according to Mr. Bédard.
“In 35 years, I’ve never seen that,” adds Nathalie Savard. She says that before, only tubes of strong glue and tips disappeared. Little did she know that she would one day be stealing handsaws and batteries.