[IP] Ebay License Required?
Begin forwarded message:
From: EEkid@xxxxxxx
Date: October 10, 2005 9:27:50 PM EDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Ebay License Required?
N.D. May Require Web Auctioneer License
By DALE WETZEL, Associated Press Writer
Mon Oct 10, 1:58 PM ET
BISMARCK, N.D. - To sell things over eBay, Mark Nichols may be
required to take instruction in rapid-fire speaking, breathing
control and reading hand gestures, even though the transactions are
done by computer keyboard and mouse.
North Dakota's Public Service Commission is exploring whether people
like Nichols, who runs a small consignment store in Crosby, must
obtain auctioneer licenses before they can legally use eBay to sell
merchandise for others.
To get a North Dakota auctioneer's license, applicants must pay a $35
fee, obtain a $5,000 surety bond and undergo training at one of eight
approved auction schools, where the curriculum includes talking
really fast.
"I don't think it offers any additional protection for the consumer,"
Nichols said. "It just creates a lot of red tape for the business, as
well as having to put out a lot of money."
In North Dakota and other states, the growing popularity of online
auctions is prompting closer scrutiny from regulators.
The PSC already licenses auctioneers and is asking North Dakota's
attorney general for a legal opinion about whether the definition of
an auctioneer covers eBay sellers.
Commissioner Kevin Cramer said he does not believe the law applies to
people who sell their own goods over eBay, but it could cover those
who sell property consigned by others for a fee.
"Our laws probably didn't contemplate this type of commerce," Cramer
said. "It's probably time to take a look at them."
The closest auctioneer schools, in Mankato, Minn., and Billings,
Mont., cost $795 to $1,625 for a week to 10 days of training.
"We teach you to talk to the public, think on your feet, evaluate
people, breathe properly and control your voice so you can sustain it
for hours," says the Web site of the Western College of Auctioneering
in Billings, which holds its classes at a motel.
Gordon Krance, president of the North Dakota Auctioneers Association,
said the group has no position on whether people who are paid to sell
others' goods on eBay should have an auctioneer's license. But he
said sellers could benefit from attending auctioneering school.
"To me, it would be a plus to gain some knowledge of marketing, of
the business end of an auction company, and ways to better represent
your clients," he said.
Hani Durzy, an eBay spokesman, said the company believes state laws
regulating auctioneers should not apply to eBay sellers.
Although eBay is often called an online auction service and uses many
traditional auction terms, its sales are technically not auctions,
Durzy said. For one thing, he said, eBay sales give buyers a fixed
amount of time to bid for merchandise, while a traditional auction is
held open as long as there are bidders.
In Tennessee, trading assistants and stores that sell consignment
goods on eBay must obtain an auction "gallery license," which costs
$100 a year and requires the holder to undergo 30 hours of education
and establish a bank escrow account.
California, Florida, Maine, Missouri and Texas have also considered
extending auction rules to eBay sellers, the company said.
Nichols runs a consignment store called Variety Marketplace and said
he has occasionally sold goods on eBay for customers. He sold a 1938
Ford for one customer, Nichols said. Bidding started at $8,000 and
closed at $14,500.
"Online auctions help create a marketplace," he said. "You can bring
in money from outside the community, and that's important to small
towns like Crosby."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051010/ap_on_hi_te/
internet_auctioneers;_ylt=A9FJqYIBwUpDTHYAxwas0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3cjE0b2Mw
BHNlYwM3Mzg-
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