Summary
To obtain an auctioneer's license, applicants must get a $5,000 surety bond, pay a $35 fee and be trained through an approved auction school. Regulators in other states are also considering similar restrictions.
Original source:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/internet/10/10/n.dakota.internet.sellers.ap/index.html
Details
BISMARCK, North Dakota (AP) -- 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.
Regulators in other states are also eyeing similar restrictions or preconditions, moves prompted by the growing popularity of online auctions.
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.
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.
North Dakota's PSC already licenses auctioneers and is asking the state's attorney general for a legal opinion about whether the definition of an auctioneer covers eBay sellers.
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.
Nichols runs a consignment store called Variety Marketplace and said he has occasionally sold goods on eBay for customers.
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Friday, November 04, 2005
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