TORONTO--Sellers of goods on eBay's Canadian site will now have to share their personal information with the Canada Revenue Agency. The online auction site in late 2008 sent a letter to affected customers telling them Canadian law now requires it to send the tax agency the names and gross sales figures of "power sellers," CTV.ca reported. According to eBay, these sellers make more than $1,000 (U.S.) per month in sales over three consecutive months. "While eBay strenuously objects to these requests made by the CRA, we are obliged to comply with the legal ruling," the company said in the letter. Paul Jones, vice president of asset protection for the Retail Industry Leaders Association, said the new rules in Canada are a way for the administration to replace unfound tax dollars -- these "power sellers" do not have business licenses and they do not pay taxes on their earnings. Jones said this could lead to a big problem for eBay down the road. CTV.ca reported that the Canada Revenue Agency would not comment specifically about the case, citing confidentiality provisions, but it said tax laws that apply to traditional commerce apply equally to electronic commerce. An individual is "responsible for reporting income from all sources to avoid penalties," CRA spokesperson Catherine Jolicoeur told CTV.ca in November. The move follows a decision made by the Federal Court of Appeal last April, which ordered the company to release personal information about these users' sales activities. In the United States, eBay has lobbied against providing personal information of its top sellers. Retailers have argued that eBay and other online auctions sites have created a global market for the sale of counterfeit and fraudulently obtained goods -- eBay and retailers have been locking horns regarding the correct approach to police the Web site over the past few years. In testimony before a congressional subcommittee last year, Brad Brekke, vice president for assets protection with Target, said auction sites need to make simple changes including identifying high-volume sellers and adding serial numbers to product listings to reduce the sale of stolen, and, possibly unsafe, goods on the sites. EBay's Robert Chestnut, senior vice president of rules, trust and safety for the company, responded that there are privacy concerns with giving out the contact information of its sellers - if retailers are concerned about a particular seller, he said LP teams can easily purchase a product from the seller and then get the seller's contact information. Retailers argue that that takes too much time and resources away from its core business. The debate will rage on once again when three bills, introduced in the House and Senate this past summer, are reintroduced when Congress reconvenes in January. The bills are the Organized Retail Crime Act of 2008 (HR 6491), the E-Fencing Enforcement Act of 2008 (HR 6713) and the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act of 2008 (S. 3434).