Ohio Wants eBayers to Post $50k Bond 841
MacDork writes "CNNMoney posted a short article this morning about new Ohio regulations set to become effective May 2 this year. If you are in the state and selling on eBay, you will need to pay $200 for a license and post a $50,000 bond or face possible fines and jail time. Getting the license also requires a one-year apprenticeship. When asked to which eBay users this bill applied, the bill's author, Larry Mumper responded with these very specific guidelines.... "It certainly will not apply to the casual seller on eBay, but might apply to anyone who sells a lot.""
Mumper (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Congress might have something to say about this (Score:5, Informative)
Re:rediculous (Score:3, Informative)
And in the interest of high standards, it's rIdiculous. That has to be one of the most mispelt words on Slashdot.
RIDICULOUS... it's fucking RIDICULOUS (Score:0, Informative)
Re:Typical government stupidity (Score:3, Informative)
No, Governments (read: elected officials) believe doing this will get them reelected. It seems to work...
Ebay is only a venue (Score:4, Informative)
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Re:I guess I missed something... (Score:5, Informative)
With a traditional auction, the auction house does some verification of the merchandise, and the items are in the control of the auctioneer, not the original owner. On eBay, it's much more like the individual sellers are running their own auctions with eBay simply providing technical services.
So it is different.
As to how the law sees it, that may be several different matters.
calm down (Score:5, Informative)
Read the article:
In other words, the lawmakers are NOT attempting to target eBay/eBay users with this law. The law is there only to make sure auctioneers are obeying other Ohio laws regarding auctions. eBay already attempts to enforce the law by shutting down illegal auctions or whatever, so it is VERY unlikely that Ohio lawmakers will need to empose this law onto eBay sellers.
Another Deceptive headline.... (Score:5, Informative)
Would this law make it illegal to have an auctioneer auction off some of your property for you? NO! This would only affect someone acting as an auctioneer.
It will, however, be interesting to see if they try to apply this law to ebay, as they (their software) does act as an auctioneer. A $50,000 bond would be a drop in the bucket for ebay, but I'm not sure if the $200 is per auction or a one-time fee for the license.... That could be interesting.
Re:How does the interstate commerce clause apply? (Score:2, Informative)
A little while ago there was a supreme court case by the name of Gibbons v. Ogden. Aaron Ogden had filed suit in New York against Thomas Gibbons for operating a rival steamboat service between New York and New Jersey ports. Ogden had exclusive rights to operate steamboats in New York under a state law, while Gibbons held a federal license. Gibbons lost the case and appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which reversed the decision. The Court held that the New York law was unconstitutional, since the power to regulate interstate commerce, which extended to the regulation of navigation, belonged exclusively to Congress.
Now, you can see how Ohio issuing "ebay licenses" is quite similar to New York issuing steamboat licenses. While the commerce does take place in their state, it also crosses state lines, and is therefore interstate commerce.
-py
Re:rediculous (sic) (Score:2, Informative)
Furthermore, there is a forum spellchecker [sourceforge.net] available for free for Mozilla and Firefox. Use it for your next Slashdot post, or at least for the subject of your next Slashdot post.
Re:rediculous (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Modded insightful? Gun control stupid? (Score:2, Informative)
Or just maybe you were trying to put down something that you don't agree with but aren't smart enough to retort or even research a bit?
Before anyone gets the "bright" idea that I'm a troll or something, I live in Ohio, where this bill is. Legislators have already said that the eBay thing was an unintended side-effect and would be fixed before it became law.
NO ONE SEEMS TO GET THAT POINT! IT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! The ones that are trying to explain why you will have to pay 50 grand are the ones who didn't want it to pass in the first place. It's like taking a Republican at his word on what a Democrat-sponsored bill would do. IT'S POLITICAL BULLSHIT & DICK-WAVING.
Re:I guess I missed something... (Score:4, Informative)
It already passed (Score:5, Informative)
FTFA:
The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that the law, signed by Gov. Robert Taft on Feb. 1
The law is on track to be changed (Score:4, Informative)
Nothing to see here, please move a long...
FOR VOTING OHIOANS (Score:5, Informative)
I have somehow found myself stuck in this godforsaken swing state and am subject to the inaninties of Ohio's brand of Midwestern legislating. That said, I still vote and I pay taxes.
Not 5 minutes ago, I phoned Senator Mumper's office to let him know that I am EXTREMELY displeased with this piece of legislation. The person on the other end informed me that changes to Senate Bill 209 were being introduced today (Tuesday, 8 March), but I continued to explain the reason for my feelngs.
My two objections were that 1) this legislation on the face of it appears to conflict with Congress's Interstate Commerce Clause which prohibits states from enacting legislation that will impede commerce between the states, and 2) the software on eBay is what does the auctioning, not the seller, and so the seller is in fact a client of an auctioneer, not an auctioneer him or herself.
I also provided the receptioninst with my name, address, and phone number, and indicated that I will be writing a carrier mail letter to express my EXTREME DISPLEASURE with Senator Mumper's role in authoring this legislation.
Oh, and if you came to this post because of its subject line, here you go:
Re:Another Deceptive headline.... (Score:5, Informative)
Turns out this law is an expansion of existing auctioneering law, applying to auctioneers who only do business online. It makes sense that people who didn't want to go through the licensing process would just get some auction software and make a website, telling their seller and bidders, "sorry, I can't auction in person, or I would have to get a license". The internet has become a loophole for them and this law was intended to close that loophole.
Why license auctioneers in the first place? Well it's all about trust. The auctioneer markets himself as a liasion betweeen buyer and seller -- he doesn't buy your property from you and then sell it as his property. He represents you as an agent while the property is still yours. This is a legal relationship and it's important for auctioneers to understand their legal responsibilities to buyer and seller. I could understand unscrupulous people seeking to take advantage of that position of trust getting around licensing and bonding laws by conducting business only online.
Ah, but wait -- as is sometimes the case with laws, it might have had an unintended side effect -- the eBay seller. Are they or are they not an auctioneer. Well that depends. Most people selling on eBay are not an intermediary, but the seller. eBay is the auctioneer, bringing buyer and seller together and controlling the bidding.
But then there are those people who have found that they are pretty good at selling things on eBay, and there are people who will pay them to sell their stuff on eBay for them. eBay consignment shops -- you may have heard of them. Many of them have had a certain amount of success. And some of them have heard from their local businessmen and/or governments, who are upset that their business is being infringed upon and these eBay kids don't have to get licensed or bonded.
And obviously their relationship in the eBay picture is different -- they're not the seller and they're not the auctioneer. But they're definitely an agent of the seller and they can have significant impact on the result of the auction based on their actions. Hence they have similar legal responsibilities and perhaps licensing for these people should be looked at.
Then there's the obvious public reaction -- $50,000 to sell on eBay? Madness! And inflamatory headlines don't help, either on slashdot or in the mainstream media.
Any way you slice it, it's an interesting story.
RP
Nothing unusual here (Score:3, Informative)
Re:rediculous (Score:3, Informative)
Main Entry: auctioneer
Pronunciation: "ok-sh&-'nir
Function: noun
: an agent who sells goods at auction
That seems to me that if you sell stuff on eBay, you are an auctioneer.
This does not affect EBayers (Score:3, Informative)
Under Sec. 4707.01. in reads (in part):
Under Sec. 4707.02. it reads (in part):
Now, IANAL, but to me this says that Ebay need to be licensed and to post the bond, not the seller. The seller is contracting Ebay's services as an auctioneer.
Re:Modded insightful? Gun control stupid? (Score:3, Informative)
If you are Swiss you have had a lot of training in using your weapon. Unlike the US where guns seem to end up as toys for shooting at beer cans when you get drunk in the trailor park. Which points to an easy solution for the whole gun issue. The US does the same thing the Swiss has done. Bring back the draft and have everybody spend a year in the army. After that they can have all the guns they want.
Full text of the bill (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Modded insightful? Gun control stupid? (Score:3, Informative)
I'm Swiss and you are wrong on the second account of your argument. The first part might be right. Because every male citizen automatically serves in the military and all them need to have their gun and ammo at home. So because of that we got a lot of guns per household.
The second argument is wrong, because if you open up the ammo-can without an order, you go straight to jail. The gun and the ammunition can only be used in case of war. I can't be used as you deem necessary.
Still sometimes someone gets insane grabs his gun threatens to kill his family and himself. Thankfully, this happens very rarly. Thankfully most parents hide their guns and ammo well and in a separate place, so I can't remember when an accident with kids finding this stuff and hurting themself happend.
Still, we are discussing, if we really need the risks involved having a gun at home.
Re:Modded insightful? Gun control stupid? (Score:3, Informative)
The legislature surely was not intending to try and push this on someone who sells something once a year online. It is like requiring a business license to hold a yard sale.
Re:Typical government stupidity (Score:4, Informative)
It was an oversight when the law was written and will be amended.
http://www.nbc4i.com/print/4253028/detail.html [nbc4i.com]
And for the lazy...
Although, take note of the last sentence.
But that's the worst kind of law (Score:4, Informative)
The thing is, with vague laws like this, it's ripe for abuse. If someone in the government who can sway the DA gets mad at you, they can bring it selectively down on your head. For example let's say you are protesting some corrupt politician and they get mad, so they get the police to arrest you, and they tell the DA to give you a tough time. Little investigation turns out that you regularly sell things on eBay, just little trinkets and shit, but still. They then charge you with violating this law.
No laws need to be clear, and consistently enforced. None of this "Don't worry about breaking the law, it wasn't meant to apply to YOU" shit, because that's just an excuse for abuse. If they want the law to apply to real auctioneers, it needs to be written as such. If they want it to apply to eBay, they need to make that clear, and enforce it in all cases.
Swiss and guns (Score:4, Informative)
Still want to pretend this is less restrictive than the US?
No licensed heroin sellers in the Netherlands (Score:5, Informative)
It is possible to get a license to sell marijuana in Amsterdam. It's a long and painstaking process. Marijuana gets sold in small outlets called 'coffeeshops' (English word) and coffee gets sold in a 'koffiehuis' (Dutch word). Sex shops are sometimes openly advertised as 'Fuck Houses' (public display of vulgar words in foreign languages is frowned on, but not illegal).
Some psycedelics like peyote and other sensitive drugs like organic Viagra (yohimbe) or intelligence-enhancers can be bought legally at 'Smart Shops'.
Nowhere in the Netherlands can a person just walk off the street and buy highly addictive drugs like crack cocaine, crystal meth, or heroin. There MAY be government programs to provide heroin to addicts under controlled conditions and monitoring, but no one legally sells it in licensed shops.
Thank you,