Retail establishments in Australia are passing on to shoppers the cost of goods stolen worth about $2 billion yearly. A study on retail crime places the amount at an average of $284 a year hidden as "honesty taxes," the Herald Sun reports.

Items that are shoplifted either by customers or employees are sold online. The report said the most frequently shoplifted items are shaving products, alcohol, clothing accessories, outer wear and perfume.

"There is anecdotal evidence that some retailers have caught single staff members reselling over an astonishing $200,000 worth of stolen stock online," Checkpoint Systems Australia and New Zealand General Manager Mark Gentle told New 9.

The Global Retail Theft Barometer study, made by the Centre for Retail Research and Checkpoint Systems, said employees filched 40 per cent of the retail thefts, shoplifters accounted for 37 per cent and the remaining 23 per cent was due to administrative error.

Mr Gentle explained the sudden rise in shoplifting and retail theft volume to fast changes in technology such as self-service check-outs, and the hard economic times which caused households to struggle to make ends meet.

Part of the blame is also due to the small budget allotted to install better security systems. In 2010, only 0.37 per cent of retail sales were spent on improving security.

The pilferage cost jumped by 2.9 per cent in 2010 over the last three years.

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