Source: MSNBC
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.
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.
Although eBay is often called an online auction service and uses many traditional auction terms, its sales are technically not auctions. For one thing, eBay sales give buyers a fixed amount of time to bid for merchandise, while a traditional auction is held open as long as there are bidders.
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.
California, Florida, Maine, Missouri and Texas have also considered extending auction rules to eBay sellers.