"[Confiscated items] are too numerous to return to their owners, Deignan said.
...
The scissors, knives and tools taken by airport screeners are perfect for EBay because they are relatively valuable and easy to transport, he said.
...
As the effort to sell the confiscated airport items online has progressed, employees have become more knowledgeable about what EBay buyers want, and how best to sort the lots."

I'm not going to go too deep in to why this angers me, but I just have a question -- well, a few:
1) If you're able to mail these items to bidders on e-bay, how the hell can they be "too numerous to return to their owners?" If cost is an issue, then offer victims (for lack of a better word) the option to pay a 5-buck fine and fill out a freakin' card with their address on it so the sodding idiots can just ship them back to the owners?
2) "...relatively valuable and easy to transport," eh? If they're valuable, you really have no bleedin' right to steal them from their legal owners in the first place. And if they're easy to transport, why not give them back?
3) Finally, if employees have the time and means to learn who to appeal to Ebay buyers, and then actually physically sort the "merchandise" before selling, shouldn't they have also had time, then, to slap a freakin' label on a boz and send it back to the real owner? Argh. I'll shut up now.

I agree. I think that instead of doing this, placing a fee on an item to get it back would be much better. If I had an item I cherished, like a pocket knife passed down from my father, I would MUCH rather pay a $5 fine and get it back, then have it taken away for good and later learn of it being sold on ebay.