‘Sat nav for thieves’ switched off by ebay

EBAY has scrapped its locator map after customers complained it was a “sat nav service for thieves”.

Sellers of collection-only items such as motorbikes were surprised when they discovered that the mobile app allowed buyers to zoom in to their homes.

Within hours of ebay being warned that the feature would act as a guide for potential thieves, the company announced that it was fixing the function to stop buyers pinpointing the location of valuable items for sale.

A spokesman for ebay said: “We are listening to customers and investigating a change so that full postcodes are not visible.”

These are thought to already be taking effect, with some of the locations on motorbikes and cars having already been changed.

The adjustment will mean the locator now only goes to a random point in a broader area, rather than a specific postcode and house.

The function came to light when Piston Addictz, an internet group for vehicle fans, issued a warning on Facebook. They wrote: “Sellers on ebay beware! ebay are now giving out full postcodes and pin dropping your location when listing a vehicle for sale!”

Dozens of followers left comments, shocked at the discovery. Phil Shaw said: “Well done ebay, show all the car thieves where our cars will be!”

A search of a Suzuki motorcycle, priced at £850, listed the “collection in person” area as Ipswich. However, when the location was clicked on, the postcode and quiet street where the item was being sold was shown.

Last year, statistics from the Office for National Statistics showed that car and motorcycle theft was on the rise. There were almost 358,000 reported instances of thefts from or of a motor vehicle in 2014 alone. Since then, the number of cars being stolen has risen by a staggering 30 per cent.

The Home Office predicted a total of 30,000 motorbikes would go missing last year.