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.
... 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.
Requirements like this are just plain silly. But North Dakota is not alone.
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.
So much for the "Volunteer" State. A North Dakota official admits these laws may be outdated:
Commissioner Kevin Cramer said he does not believe the law applies to people who sell their own goods over eBay, but it could cover those who sell property consigned by others for a fee.
"Our laws probably didn't contemplate this type of commerce," Cramer said. "It's probably time to take a look at them."
How do auctioneers feel about this law? One would think that they would support the laws because the laws would support them.
Gordon Krance, president of the North Dakota Auctioneers Association, said the group has no position on whether people who are paid to sell others' goods on eBay should have an auctioneer's license. But he said sellers could benefit from attending auctioneering school.
"To me, it would be a plus to gain some knowledge of marketing, of the business end of an auction company, and ways to better represent your clients," he said.
I imagine that people who are willing to pay others to go through the trouble of selling on eBay would agree with Mr. Krance. If they indeed do find such skills valuable, we should expect them to hire people with these skills, giving no need for this law's intrusion in this market.
HT to Craig Newmark.