eBay sellers in Louisiana began buzzing on a discussion board on Monday about letters they received from eBay Government Relations. The letter warned recipients that the Louisiana Auctioneers Licensing Board was requiring eBay sellers to get auctioneer licenses (http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=2000120885).
AuctionBytes reported last May that the board had been sending subpoenas to eBay trading assistants, ordering them to produce proof of an auctioneer's license. eBay "trading assistants" are sellers who list items on eBay for clients on a consignment basis. They may operate a physical store where customers can walk-in with items to sell (called Trading Posts), or they may operate out of their homes. It appears Louisiana may have first targeted Trading Posts and then moved on to target all trading assistants.
eBay allows sellers to advertise their trading assistant businesses on its website (http://www.ebay.com/ta), though some sellers have expressed concerned that doing so could help state regulators around the country identify them as consignment sellers.
States that are active in enforcing existing laws or trying to create new laws to regulate eBay sellers include California, Tennessee, Illinois, Florida, Texas - and Louisiana. In Ohio regulation, eBay sellers were exempted after vocal opposition from sellers.
Some of the concern from legislators stems from the problem of stolen goods being fenced online. In other cases, states or cities have targeted eBay sellers at the request of pawnshop dealers. In two known cases, eBay drop-off storeowners were actually arrested for failure to comply with regulations.
The Louisiana Auctioneers Licensing Board website does not spell out that eBay sellers fall under its licensing requirements (http://www.lalb.org). According to eBay's website, Louisiana has only 1,300 "Top Sellers," defined as those who sell over $1,000 worth of merchandise or services each month. States with the most number of Top Sellers include California (40,000); New York (20,000); Florida (18,000); and Texas (17,000). The states with the least number of Top Sellers include District of Columbia (250); Alaska (300); and Wyoming (350).
Making things even more confusing for eBay sellers is the fact that state regulators are not consistent in how they interpret eBay businesses. Some view drop-off stores as second-hand dealers. Most view eBay sellers as auctioneers and want to regulate either trading assistants, Trading Posts, or all sellers. In California, the Attorney General specifically opined that eBay drop-off stores are not auctioneers. "A person who owns a drop-off store cannot reasonably be said to "recognize" bids as they are made in the course of an online auction. Instead, that function is customarily performed by proprietary software owned by the online marketplace website."
The Shreveport Times newspaper published an article on Tuesday about the licensing board's "war" with eBay (http://digbig.com/4hcrj). The paper reports that eBay hired a well known lobbyist to help its cause, resulting in Senate Bill 642 that would exempt all eBay sellers if passed (http://digbig.com/4hcrm).
eBay has set up a website for its members to learn more about its government relations efforts at http://www.ebaymainstreet.com.
