Ever had your bike stolen? I have. I'm a keen mountain biker and cycle to work several times a week. Over the years I have had two bikes stolen and many of my friends have also lost bikes. If you have also lost a bike you will know the frustration of being a victim to this type of crime.

It has always annoyed me that it is so easy to sell stolen bikes quickly and for a decent amount of money. Being a member of cycling forums I hear about expensive bikes being stolen every week.

That’s why I’ve started this petition calling on eBay and its subsidiaries to make frame numbers mandatory on listings on its site.

Frame numbers are found on every bike and can be used by owners or police to identify stolen bikes. Forcing sellers to list frame numbers on online ads will make it harder for thieves to shift our stolen goods.

eBay goes to considerable effort to protect the intellectual property of music and film companies. It removes auctions for designer items it suspects are illegal copies and requires motorists to enter a registration number when listing a car for sale.

Now we are asking that eBay and its subsidiaries do the same for bikes.

If eBay do this and we all take the responsibility to note our frame numbers and lock our bikes up properly we can start constricting the marketplace for stolen bicycles.

Please sign my petition to show eBay and its subsidiaries that their customers want them to make it mandatory to list a bike's frame number in one of their listings.

Image source: Caacrinolaas