Google visited a pawn shop to get back a leaked version of the new Google Glass (GOOG, GOOGL)
azpawnbroker / Google
A Google representative visited a California pawn shop earlier this week to retrieve what appeared to be an unreleased version of its smart headset, Google Glass, that was listed on eBay over the weekend.
Frank Romero, who runs the Redwood City pawn shop that listed the device — which at one point saw bidding of up to $20,000, according to the San Jose Mercury News — tells Business Insider that Google contacted him to get the glasses back.
He declined to share any details about whether Google paid him for the device back or made any legal threats.
"We were contacted by Google — we were glad to give them back," he says. "Anything else is between us. Like I said, we were just glad to give them back. I'm sorry, I know you want more to the story, but for us, when we found out, we just wanted to make sure [Google] got them back."
The shop "had no idea" when it listed the device that it was anything other than a normal Google Glass set.
Google stopped selling the Explorer version of its headset to consumers in January 2015, but the first details of a new version aimed at business users appeared in FCC filings in December.
Google didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.