An automated kiosk that pays cash for used cell phones, MP3 players and tablet computers has opened in McCain Mall in North Little Rock.
The kiosk, owned by ecoATM, is located on the first floor of the mall near Dilliard’s. The company was established in 2008 to pair demand for used cell phones and recycling. There are six locations in Arkansas and about 450 kiosks in 33 states.
The kiosk hasn’t sparked concerns about increased theft of the electronic devices, as the kiosks have in other metropolitan areas such as New York City and Washington, D.C.
“Normally, when there are safeguards put in place, that deters a lot of people,” said North Little Rock Police Department spokesman, Sgt. Brian Dedrick. “We don’t have a big issue with cell-phone thefts here to begin with.”
The ecoATM scans each seller’s driver’s license, passport or military ID and a thumbprint. It then takes a picture of the seller that is matched to the identification by staff members in San Diego. Serial numbers for each device are captured and all of the information is available to police.
“There is no such thing as an anonymous sale,” said Ryan Kuder, director of marketing for ecoATM. “If you’re a thief and you’re looking to unload a stolen phone, you wouldn’t want your driver’s license and fingerprint scanned.”
For every 10,000 phones sold, about five are found to be lost or stolen, Kuder said.
A private company, ecoATM faces competition from Gazelle, an online service that also buys used electronics, and local stores, which take similar precautions against potential thieves.
Matt Jones, owner of Cellular Repair & Exchange on 11121 N. Rodney Parham Road in Little Rock, said he requires identification from and records the personal information of anyone selling a used phone. He also checks the phone’s serial number against the carrier to ensure it was not lost or stolen.
“It’s a system that we’ve had to figure out as we go along,” he said.
In October 2012, AT&T and T-Mobile started a national database that prevents stolen phones from being reactivated on their networks. Verizon and Sprint are creating a similar database for their networks - which rely on different technology than AT&T and T-Mobile - that will start operation by Nov. 30.
There is a potential flaw: If a thief sold the phone before it was reported stolen to the carrier, Jones said he wouldn’t know until after he bought the phone.
When that happened before, he returned the phone but couldn’t recover his money. He said he hasn’t had a problem since he started recording personal information from sellers.
Taylor Wilkerson, clerk at National Pawn Shop at 100 E. Washington Ave. in North Little Rock, said her store uses a similar system.
Every transaction requires an identification and is recorded in LeadsOnline, an online database that matches people to the items they sell. EcoATMs can upload data to LeadsOnline as well.
Before the electronic system, Wilkerson said, the store wrote information on a ledger to provide to police, but the online system makes the process quicker and easier.
“It helps us avoid selling stolen things,” she said. “As soon as we take it in, if it’s stolen, it pops up on the system.”
Business, Pages 25 on 05/27/2013