The State of North Dakota may soon require all consignment Ebay sellers to have a Web Auctioneer License. A $35 License fee and a $5000 surety bond would be required as well as a training session for auctioneering.
North Dakota’s Public Service Commission is exploring whether people […] must obtain auctioneer licenses before they can legally use eBay to sell merchandise for others.
What the hell does this have to do with Ebay Auctions? And shouldn’t Ebay be the one to have the license? Technically, if I sell items on Ebay for someone, I am taking that item from them and acting as the intermediary between that person and Ebay who is the Auction house. I know, I know, I technically am the one conducting the Auction.
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.
Why haven’t I done this yet?! Those are exactly the things I’ve been missing to make my online auctions sell better. Such BullDoo.
Of course, there is a way around all this. Consignment dealers would simply begin to sell their consignment items at a set price or under the new best offer functions on Ebay. No more consignment auctions, no more need for the auctioneer license.
“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.”
And there it is. The State can’t figure out a good way to tax Online sales, so why not dip their hands into something else to get that money. Tax money is only good if you’ve dipped out of it a couple of times. The business sells a product which is taxed. The business buys multiple other products which are taxed, and finally, we’ll throw in some income and property taxes for good measure. Will our government ever be satisfied with less than 50% of what I make?
Related:Yahoo! Article, When Ebay Is Outlawed (In ND), Only Outlaws Will Ebay
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About Shane Ede
Great… lets drive people out of state.