Yep, it's officially a red state now

[sigma7]

Ohio residents selling goods on eBay would have to get a license and be bonded under a law set to go into effect May 2, although authors of the legislation vow to make changes before that date to exempt individuals.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that the law, signed by Gov. Robert Taft on Feb. 1, was meant to insure that auctioneers were abiding by the established rules and regulations. The law, as written, requires Ohio residents who sell products online to get a state auction license.

Besides costing $200 and posting a $50,000 bond, the license requires a one-year apprenticeship to a licensed auctioneer, acting as a bid-caller in 12 auctions, attending an approved auction school, passing a written and oral exam. Failure to get a license could result in the seller being fined up to $1,000 and jailed for a maximum of 90 days.

Comments

[alexlucard.livejournal.com]

This is amazingly fucked up

[robing.livejournal.com]

Aside from the large cities, Ohio's been pretty red for a while now. This took me by surprise, though. I've not sold anything on Ebay yet, though I used to sell stuff on Half.com.
"Acting as a bid-caller"? Online auctioning is FAR less complicated than being a live auctioneer. This seems rather inappropriate to me.

[opheliasclone.livejournal.com]

Clearly, someone doesn't understand the concept behind internet auctions. The requirement to act as an oral bid-caller is downright ludicrous. And I can't figure out how you would fill the requirements of two different tests with information that's even vaguely applicable to eBay sellers.

For that matter, how will they determine who is the equivalent of an auctioneer and who is running the equivalent of a personal garage sale? And is the state planning to subpoena eBay to get names and addresses?

I suspect this is going to get shot down by a legislative correction or else a law suit pretty quick. Red is red, and red is fine, but dumb is also dumb.

[robing.livejournal.com]

Probably should have mentioned this previously, but I'd say it has much less to do with making sense and much more to do with making money for Ohio. Apparently school funding in Ohio is going to be short a mere $200 million dollars with a total projected $5 billion dollar deficit for the state. Whee. As for whether it will stand or not..it sure seems like a nightmare to enforce, as stated.

[bishop282.livejournal.com]

I haven't tried to sell anything on e-Bay, but was thinking about it. Glad to hear about this. Sounds like another case of unintended consequences.

I don't follow state politics much, but Gov. Taft seems to pretty much to be a RINO. Speaking of governors, I enjoyed reading how Gov. Sebelius gave Howard "Yearrrgggh" Dean the cold shoulder. It would be better for the country to have two reasonable parties competing.