What info do online retailers really need?

Denise McQuighan was ordering a pair of $269 roller-hockey skates for her son, Patrick, from an online Canadian sports-equipment retailer recently, but she stopped cold when the order form required her Social Security number.

"The Web site indicated that this was needed by the U.S. Customs agents for some reason," says McQuighan, who knows better than to hand out her Social Security number (SSN) to just anyone.

McQuighan told Patrick to find different skates — from a U.S. company. "But could you tell me," she asks via e-mail, "is there some requirement to provide an SSN to order something from Canada?"

The policy statement at the retailer's Web site says: "We require a Social Security number for U.S. customers or else products cannot cross the border and failure to provide this information will result in delayed or even non-shipment."

With the news that new passport rules would require U.S. citizens to have passports to re-enter the United States from Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean starting in 2008, such a "requirement" seems plausible. But consumer experts say there's no such SSN stipulation for cross-border orders.

"It's really none of their business," says Pam Slater, executive director of Consumers for World Trade, a Washington-based nonprofit group that promotes global commerce.

Charlie Underhill, senior vice president of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, says it's "a reach" for a foreign retailer to say it needs a customer's SSN, and "we can think of a hundred reasons why not to do it."

The proliferation of identity theft has made Americans more aware of the threat of criminals stealing Social Security numbers and other data, he says.

"The advice everybody is giving consumers is, 'Don't give this personal kind of information out.' "

The hockey company has subsequently stopped asking for SSNs, except for orders of more than $2,000 — the standard limit above which U.S. Customs requires formal import paperwork.

But U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Barry Morrissey says, "There is no requirement for a consumer to provide their Social Security number to a foreign supplier of goods."