posted on October 21, 2000 12:03:06 PM new
Ebay is the Auctioneer and only bound to the laws in the state in which they are located. Based on their complete control over the Terms and Conditions of the auction as well as the fees for consignment and sale of goods, they are indeed the auctioneer. Determining the opening price, time, and length of auction does not make you an auctioneer. These options are available to consigners at RL auction houses as well.
All bids accepted on Ebay are considered "absentee bids" and entered by the "Auction House" as an agent for the bidder. Just as an absentee bid is handled in a RL auction.
Although it may appear to some that the sky is falling, it's only leaves.
posted on October 21, 2000 01:09:33 PM new
ebay is the auction broker they get a fee to list and a fee for the sale...the computer does the rest...and there is no tax on the internet so no worry about sales tax yet
posted on October 21, 2000 01:12:56 PM new
heavnsqt:
Don't confuse "internet tax" with sales tax. Sales taxes are well established in most states, and they do apply to many online sales. As do income taxes.
posted on October 21, 2000 02:31:42 PM new
I am sure one day we will need to be fingerprinted and licensed to breathe air in public places.
Licensing is a crock. An auction license is no guarantee of honest selling anymore than a driver's license guarantees you won't drive drunk. All it means is that someone wants their hand in your pocket. Just another tax with a different name.
posted on October 21, 2000 02:58:27 PM new)In New Mexico Females are forbidden to appear unshaven in public.
Aww man, and I really need to go to the store today! I think I'm going to risk it. I know my AW poster friends will scrounge up some bond money for me if I get caught!
Did you know that is is also illegal in New Mexico to live with a member of the opposite sex (non-family) unless you are married. 'Tis true.
But, our gov. is trying to legalize pot....so I guess it all evens out. <insert eye roll here>
posted on October 21, 2000 03:35:52 PM new
If the states are going to slap any restrictions and taxes on anybody, it will be Ebay. Trying to license every person that sells on an auction site would be impossible and could even be arguable in court that it improperly restricts individual rights to sell private property. Ebay may someday become the target of a tax scheme and probably will now that they are boasting big profits. They will simply charge higher fees to us sellers and on and on the story goes.
posted on October 21, 2000 03:59:36 PM new
I also loved the part denying people who have bad credit a license.
Whoever came up with that one knows nothing about credit history either.Just because someone has a bad credit rating does not mean they are criminal.
Some reasons why people have bad credit.
1)Get laid off from their job unable to find a suitable replacement and goes belly up and files bankruptcy.Really sounds like a criminal to me.
2)Driving down the road you get hit by a drunk,he has no insurance.You end up in hospital.Your insurance will not pay and unable to pay.
So file bankruptcy another criminal.
I can go on and on with that one too.
All you out there with lousy credit whatever you do never frive through any of these states involved.As they will pull you off the highway and arrest you for being the criminal you are.
Magazine-guy and toolady,I got the same impression as you did also.That was directly from ebaY themselves.
Troll,Troll,go away come back another day
YAWN.I can tell it's a slow week.
posted on October 21, 2000 05:34:53 PM new
I think probably the first thing this gentleman needs is a reality check. Government in no way could even begin to control the action on Ebay. In case you haven't noticed, people doing the buying and the selling are scattered all over the world. Your ignorance of the facts is really beginning to show. Let us beleive you are a Troll and not just an ignoramus.
posted on October 21, 2000 05:42:19 PM new
I am a licensed auctioneer in the State of Florida so I am familiar with a good deal of the laws governing auctioneers. First off, I would say that anyone can stand in their front yard and auction off their own merchandise without having an auctioneers license. The key word here is their "own" merchandise. As soon as you accept a commission from another individual for auctioning "their" merchandise, you must have an auctioneer's license. It is very much the same laws that govern Real Estate, you can sell your own house without having a Real Estate license. Sell your neighbor's house and charge him for it, you need a license. I believe that most E-bay sellers are auctioning off their own merchandise. You should check the auction laws in your State but I would be very surprised if they were any or at least much different than the laws governing Auctioneers in the State of Florida.
posted on October 21, 2000 05:54:50 PM new
All I was doing was cleaning out my storage and found the OLD thread revived it to find out the latest, not knowing a troll was going to entertain us for the weekend with it. Or are we the entertainment? What is the subject anyways?
posted on October 21, 2000 05:57:59 PM new
I've had 4 bidders try to extort merchandise from my by claiming they sent a payment and threatened me with criminal charges... Therefore all bidders should have a auction buyers license.
posted on October 21, 2000 06:17:01 PM new
I agree with auru, vargas, & capotasto. This is a "lot of to do about nothing". In fact, this issue is far less likely to become a problem than the sales tax for internet sales issue,---and the politicians have backed way off on that one indefinitely.
posted on October 21, 2000 06:28:28 PM new
Probator.
If you have been defrauded so many times by ebaY sellers why do you continue to buy off of there.
I have bought many items of ebaY and no problems as of yet.
To assume that licensing people will reduce fraud is totally rediculous.It will not make anyone any more honest.Honesty does not come from a license but through a good conscience and no license can do that.
Plus the assumption that a lot of people with bad credit means they are dihonest is totally wrong.
I have dealt with hundreds of individuals with lousy credit and they did not appear to be criminals too me.Oftentimes just people who had something uncontrollable happen to them.
Some maybe iresponsible with their money does not mean they have any intention of defrauding you.
Maybe licensing is a good idea that way I can start my own brick and mortar establishment and reduce some of those outrageous comission fees I have to pay.
Competition would be a good thing for all those THOUSANDS of people you are reffering too.
By the way where do you come up with thousands of individuals anyway.
Those same auctioneers should realise that demanding that folks in your state be licensed might bite the hand that feeds them.
As we all are aware a lot of the bidders at these auctions are ebaY sellers.With those ebaY sellers prices go up and they get more fees in return.
So bt demanding that they get a license may hurt the fees these auction houses collect.
posted on October 21, 2000 06:51:48 PM new
According to Maine State Statue:
§ 286. Exemptions to licensing
1. Personal use. A person does not require a license in order to auction personal or real property that the person has maintained for that person's use or personal property that the person's parents, spouse or children have maintained for their own use.
[1999, c. 146, §5 (new).]
Therefore, Maine residents selling on eBay ARE EXEMPT, thank goodness.
posted on October 21, 2000 09:14:25 PM new
Just to be clear- this ISSUE is very real. Troll post or no. As absurd as it seems, two states were taking very real steps late last year to interpret existing auction statutes, designed for B&M auctioneers, as applying to regular online auction sellers.
The two states were North Carolina and New Hampshire. The laws requiring licensing were not mere administrative statutes- these were Criminal statutes carrying possible jail time or prison for non-compliance. When OAUA became involved in this issue, I spoke with representatives of both state licensing agencies. They very much intended to start with public education campaigns to encourage voluntary compliance, but were reserving the option of seeking criminal prosecution for violators. North carolina had already printed informational sheets on this topic- Hew Hampshire had taken out a large ad in a paper. Both essentially told readers that if you regularly sold at online auctions, you had to be licensed in their states, or you faced CRIMINAL sanctions.
Obviously, OAUA and many others considered this a misinterpretation of the law, and an abuse of the licensing boards' discretion. The reasons for this vier were outlined discussed at length in other threads here, and in various communications to state legislators in these two states.
Even though the matter seems dormant now, this issue will certainly raise it's head from time to time as other states see a potentially large source of untapped licensing revenue. It's very real. They tried to do it once, they will try to do it again.
Second issue- someone said:
"In fact, this issue is far less likely to become a problem than the sales tax for internet sales issue,---and the politicians have backed way off on that one indefinitely."
I see folks get confused about this all the time- and it IS confusing. There are several things going on here. The sales taxes are mandated by the various states. Internet sales are not exempt. There are politicians working at various levels of government to try to develop a uniform way of ensuring that the state and local governments get their "share" of the internet sales taxes.
Politicians haven't "backed off" of sales taxes. There is currently no special "internet" tax. But sales tax, and the seldom complied "use" taxes are very much alive and well. (Not to mention income taxes, and social security taxes for those who are self employed).
There's no free lunch, just cuz you're selling online. The trick is to keep government from taking any more money out of your pocket than current laws allow.
posted on October 21, 2000 09:56:48 PM new
I think one or two states are already have a line on that state income tax forms that requires you to either list all your out of state purchases, state under prejury that you didn't purchase anything out of state, or pay a flat fee if you can't itemize your purchases.
One of my pet Ebay Conspiracy Theories is that Ebay will eventually (as a "good corporate citizen" find some way to force us to collect taxes in all 50 states, and find some way to force us to give them our universal indentification number also for the IRS.
But your right there is a lot of money at stake for licenses, business permits, zoning exemptions, etc. I think as long as the eceonomy is rocking... it will not be an issue, but once a recession starts they are going to kick us when we're down.
posted on October 21, 2000 10:20:57 PM new
Hi eoi:
Right, it's called a "Use" tax. Nearly every state that has sales tax laws also has use tax laws. So in CA- if I buy something from a CA retailer, whether B&M or online, they are supposed to collect 8.25% sales tax (it varies a bit from county to county).
BUT, if I buy something from a retailer in another state (online, for example), CA expects me to report that purchase and pay an 8.25% use tax on it. Other states have nearly identical laws. Most folks don't know about it, the states have done a poor job of informing the public, the laws are almost never enforced, as the states rely on voluntary complaince. There is almost universal NON-compliance with these regulations.
That's part of the reason the state and local politicians are trying to find some way of standardizing the collection of sales and use tax for online sales. They feel that with the internet, states and local jurisdictions are losing a significant amount of revenue that they would have received from in-state purchases, as those purchases are now made from out-of-state retailers, via the internet.
Most likely solution, when I last was following this debate, was that ALL online sellers would be required to collect sales/use tax based on the tax rate in their state, and forward it to the appropriate state through a somewhat complex electronic funds transfer system using a "trusted agent." Make no mistake- folks are working overtime to figure out how to tap into the internet commerce revenue stream even more than they have already.
posted on October 22, 2000 06:05:01 AM new
I have no objection to get a license as required.
What would make sense would be too create 2 seperate licenses.One for a Brick and Mortar and one for online.
As the classes for the standard license have nothing to do with the way we sell on ebaY.
As PROBATER will tell you.
So one that is associated with online sales would make a whole lot more sense to me.
I wonder why that has not been considered by there various State boards.
As the USE tax,there is another it maybe the same where if you sell an item to someone in another State.But you are not based there you are supposed to still collect and submit a certain tax.Most people do not do this and the States do not go after it is because often it creates more paperwork and more time that is not economicaly viable to collect it.So I was told by my old accountant.
She had a customer that used to do it on all out of state sales.They where sending dollar checks or less all over the USA.This accountant hated it as it was a cheap thing for them to do.
Are we an auction.
I was thinking that if we owned,the software and ran a company like ebaY we would be.
However as we saw last week we have no control over the way our items sell.ebaY goes down we cannot do anything but complain.
If I owned my auction CO these are things I can control.Just as ebaY worked to get them fixed.
When my sales items go down all I can do it hit refresh and hope it comes back up soon.
posted on October 22, 2000 07:28:20 AM new
It seems to me (Not a lawyer, but...) That what happens on ebay is "Interstate commerce", and the Constitution clearly states that "States" can make NO regulations about it. It'll never stand up in Federal Court.
find some way to force us to collect taxes in all 50 states, and find some way to force us to give them our universal indentification number also for the IRS.
call old 
junk 
since you've found eBay?