Louisiana Cracks Down on Unlicensed eBay Trading Assistants

[regic]

Louisiana is imposing a layer of consumer protection on one of the most popular Internet auction sites. And eBay is calling on its users to do the company's bidding in its fight with the state.

The Louisiana Auctioneers Licensing Board, citing existing law, wants eBay's "trading assistants" -- people who sell merchandise on behalf of third parties as a business -- to register as an auctioneer and buy a surety bond.

The online auction and sales site has 1 million registered users -- buyers and sellers -- in Louisiana, approximately 460 of which are "trading assistants" listed on the company Web site as agents who will sell merchandise for owners for a fee. The company also said Monday that its surveys show that about 1,500 Louisianans say they are making all or a significant part of their income from sales on eBay...

After the auctioneer's licensing board began sending an investigator to eBay trading associates to inform them of the law, eBay began efforts to try to change the law to vastly curtail the board's powers.

Louisiana is the battleground state, Wilks said. If the Louisiana Auctioneering Licensing Board is successful in forcing eBay trading assistants to pay the $300 auctioneer's license, obtain local occupational licenses and pay $50 to $100 for a $10,000 surety bond that would protect consumers, other states will follow, she said.

full article: http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.../604120313

The Louisiana auctioneers law states:

(3.1) "Auction house", "auction company", and "auction business" are synonymous and interchangeable terms and mean any entity, whether a sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability partnership, limited liability company, corporation, or any other legal entity defined by the board, which arranges, manages, sponsors, advertises, or carries out two or more auctions within any twelve-month period and which regularly represents that goods are sold at auction. However, a public livestock auction business which exclusively auctions livestock and which is regulated as a public livestock market by the Louisiana State Livestock Sanitary Board pursuant to R.S. 3:2091 et seq. shall not be defined as an auction business for purposes of this Chapter. (emphasis added)

(4) "Auctioneer" means any person who, for another, with or without receiving or collecting a fee, commission, or other valuable consideration, sells or offers to sell property at an auction.

http://www.lalb.org/laws.htm

From a blog:

If you are selling items for another person (regardless of whether you are paid to sell the item), or if you are purchasing items with the sole intent and purpose to resell them, then you need to apply for an Auctioneers License or the State will send you a Cease and Desist order. This would also be the case if you are contracted to sell items by a business or an individual.

The only way you would not be subject to this law is if you were selling your own personal items. If you have an excessive amount of sales, you will need to keep proof that you are the rightful owner of the items you are selling. Right now, the limit of items you can sell that do NOT belong to you is TWO PER YEAR.

http://goose77.blogspot.com/2006/03/ebay...siana.html

ebay forum post: http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?t...2000120885

[Anita]

This could liven things up a bit on eBay. 

[mandy]

Another article on the Louisiana regulations.  It appears that eBay may have used scare tactics and exaggerated the facts a bit in an email it sent to its Louisiana sellers. eBay's bending of the truth in the letter was apparently an attempt to get sellers to contact their local legislators and the Lousiana Auctioneers Licensing Board.

According to Lousiana law only sellers who sell items for another person (i.e. "eBay trading assistants") are required to be licensed.  Sellers selling their own items are exempt from licensing requirements.

Thinking about doing a little spring cleaning and turning clutter into cash on eBay?

In Louisiana, that makes you an auctioneer responsible for paying annual licensing fees, the mega marketplace warned sellers by e-mail this week.

“Nearly every eBay seller in Louisiana is at risk,” the e-mail says. “One Louisiana seller already shut down his eBay business.”

Not so, the Louisiana Auctioneers Licensing Board’s executive assistant, Sherrie Wilks, said Wednesday in between fielding calls and e-mails from upset sellers...

full article: http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/2625916.html

[xppman]

Typical of ebay isn't it?  :

[mandy]

It appears that eBay may have used scare tactics and exaggerated the facts a bit in an email it sent to its Louisiana sellers.

It seems I wasn't the only one who thought eBay used scare tactics in a letter it sent to its Louisiana sellers.

eBay auctions off hysteria
Online bidding site overhypes license proposal

Earlier this month, the online-auction gorilla eBay went toe-to-toe with the state of Louisiana. Though the contest has yet to produce a sure winner, the losers already have been decided -- Louisiana consumers, eBay's corporate credibility, and the truth among them.

eBay sellers in the Pelican State might well be alarmed by these licensing requirements, except for one detail: Of the million registered eBay users in Louisiana, only 460 are "trading assistants" -- individuals who manage auctions for others in exchange for a commission; the other 999,540, who handle their own auctions would be exempt from the new fees.

Fearing Louisiana might become a test case for other states, eBay resorted to the oldest method of dirty politics: inciting the mob. The company sent an e-mail to all registered users in Louisiana -- not just the handful who actually would be affected -- urging them to call and write their representatives to express outrage over the bill.

full article: http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs...90305/1007

[Kristijntje]

eBay's government issues site has eBay's views on the licensing of eBay trading assistants and drop-off stores:

Auctioneering Regulations: http://www.ebaymainstreet.com/state/?id=000011
Pawnbroker / Secondhand Dealer Regulations http://www.ebaymainstreet.com/state/?id=000012

[mandy]

More press coverage on Louisiana vs. eBay:

Regardless of whether state regulatory agencies are overstepping their jurisdictional bounds, the heightened scrutiny raises a number of questions. I could be wrong -- it wouldn't be the first time -- but isn't eBay itself technically the auctioneer on items sold on its website? And what about "Buy It Now" fixed-price listings, which represent nearly one-third of all items purchased on the site? Finally, will watchdog groups be equally vigilant with respect to smaller auction sites such as Overstock.com or Yahoo!?

Should state governments treat "drop-off" eBay consignment locations like any other profit-seeking retail establishment? Sure. Should they go out of their way to hinder interstate commerce and discourage the business practices of nearly half a million Americans who earn the bulk of their income on eBay? Absolutely not...

full article: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12388960/

[mandy]

Opponents to legislation that would exempt eBay sellers from state regulation said Wednesday they got the short shrift from a Senate committee that unanimously approved the bill.

“We were so railroaded. It was unbelievable,” said Sherrie Wilks, who runs the Louisiana Auctioneers Licensing Board.

The auction board has been demanding that some eBay sellers get auctioneers’ licenses. Senate Bill 642 would define auctioneering to exempt from state regulation the million or so Louisiana users of eBay and other Web sites.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Sen. Ken Hollis cut off her testimony because, Wilks said, her board protects consumers against unscrupulous people who sell items on Internet sites such as eBay’s...

full article: http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/politics/2782536.html

[amy]

Auctionbytes has an update on this issue today.

As eBay sellers in various states deal with initiatives to regulate their businesses, the battle continues to heat up in Louisiana. The state's Auctioneers Association issued a press release yesterday to announce its opposition to Senate Bill 642, which seeks to exempt online auction sellers from licensing requirements.

full article: http://auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y06/m05/i24/s02

letter from Louisiana Auctioneers Association:
http://www.louisianaauctioneers.org/Loui...Letter.pdf

[amy]

The FTC Office of Policy Planning, Bureau of Competition, Bureau of Consumer Protection and Bureau of Economics testified in Louisiana that eBay Trading Assistants (TAs), who sell items on eBay on a consignment basis, should not be required to licensed by the Louisiana Auctioneer's Licensing Board (LALB). Louisiana is one of many states trying to regulate eBay consignment sellers and drop-off stores.

full article: http://auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y06/m06/i02/s01