Organized Retail Crime Spurs Action by Tax-Deprived States

A growing number of states are deputizing e-commerce marketplaces to crack down on criminal rings selling stolen and counterfeit merchandise online, an escalating fraud that eats holes in retailers’ pockets and robs the states of billions in tax revenue.

More than a dozen states debated bills this year that layer new data collection duties on marketplaces such as Amazon.com Inc., eBay Inc., and Etsy Inc., and give law enforcement agencies new tools to use the data to police thousands of e-commerce sellers. Colorado and Ohio enacted these marketplace oversight laws in March, and lawmakers in Alabama, Georgia, and Illinois approved ...