Three years ago, Mary Jo Pletz of Walnutport, Pennsylvania — about 70 miles north of Philadelphia — learned her 6-month-old daughter had been diagnosed with a brain tumor. To care for her child, Mrs. Pletz, 33, had to give up her job as a dental hygienist and look for some kind of home-based employment that would help her husband pay the bills.<\/p>\n
She started selling stuff over eBay. When she ran out of her own stuff, she offered to sell other people\u2019s items, for a commission. She ran the operation out of her garage.<\/p>\n
Then, right after Christmas, 2006, the state regulators came calling. In what many view as a test case designed to put the fear of God — of the state, at least — into other such entrepreneurs, the state agents contended Mrs. Pletz was running an auction house without proper licensing. They proceeded to shut down her business, forcing her to spend thousands of dollars in lawyers\u2019 fees as she fights their efforts to fine her, well … thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n
Who\u2019s behind the crackdown? Greedy politicians hoping for a new stream of tax revenue aren\u2019t too far in the wings. Eight states have considered new regulations for Online sellers, though The AP reports all have backed down in the face of opposition, mainly from eBay.<\/p>\n
But other online sellers think the pressure to crack down on such electronic sellers comes from the established auction houses, whose proprietors may believe they\u2019re losing market share<\/p>\n
\u201cWe feel it\u2019s important that they be regulated, so consumers have peace of mind,\u201d says Chris Longley, a spokesman for the National Auctioneers Association, based in Overland Park, Kansas. \u201cPublic trust is being lost because of the fraud involved in Internet auctions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oh, please. Pennsylvania auction licensing rules require anyone entering the auction-house business to either work as an apprentice for two years or to take 20 credit hours\u2019 worth of auctioneering courses at the college level. Think that\u2019ll help an online seller determine whether a piece of carnival glass they’re handling really dates from 1912 (if it’s light blue, it’s probably new), or whether that Hardy Boys mystery was really printed in 1933? (Copies printed 20 years later still retain their original copyright dates — look for a glossy frontispiece.)<\/p>\n
Has state regulation ended fraudulent practices in \u201cbrick-and-mortar\u201d auction houses? Of course not. National headlines periodically reveal bid rigging, fixed appraisals, collusion, and other manipulations even in the largest auction firms. Regular attendees at small local auctions know the many operators who want to \u201cplay it straight\u201d do so despite the absence of any visible state regulatory presence, while auctioneers who want to accept \u201cshill\u201d bids, or to drive up bidding by accepting phantom bids \u201coff the wall,\u201d still do so with impunity. They can also go out of business without notice just like anyone else, leaving owners of consigned merchandise struggling to regain their property regardless of any state \u201clicense\u201d hanging on the wall of that locked office.<\/p>\n
Most such regulatory schemes have a lot more to do with limiting competition and producing registration and licensing fees for state bureaucrats than with any effective effort to \u201celiminate fraud.\u201d<\/p>\n
Are Internet auctions subject to chicanery? Of course. Sellers can ask their friends to place phantom bids in order to drive up a price. They can also send merchandise not as described, or simply fail to deliver — for a short time.<\/p>\n
But ironically — given these claims — independent firms like eBay have set up electronic buyer complaint and rating services light years ahead of the horse-and-buggy complaint offices of state regulators.<\/p>\n
Many believe the nation is entering hard economic times. They certainly know THEY are entering harder economic times.<\/p>\n
The porkmasters in Washington have been warned they can\u2019t support both expansive foreign wars and booming domestic \u201centitlement\u201d programs, forever. They merely respond \u201cPrint more money!\u201d<\/p>\n
With the money supply growing at an annualized rate of about 15 percent — and even more inflation now promised in the name of an \u201ceconomic stimulus\u201d to bail out those who made bad real estate loans — there\u2019s little doubt the carefully massaged \u201cofficial\u201d 6 percent rate of inflation considerably understates the rate at which a typical paycheck\u2019s buying power is being eroded.<\/p>\n
But Americans are a hardy and resourceful lot. Yes, some go whining down to the government \u201crelief\u201d office for a hand-out, claiming to have some newfangled \u201cdisability.\u201d But most simply tighten their belts and look for a second source of income to help keep food on the table.<\/p>\n
In this electronic age, selling things over the Internet is a peaceful entrepreneurial activity that beats setting up a lemonade stand on the sidewalk, or hawking newspapers downtown. (I note in passing another story in Monday\u2019s newspaper, reporting police in Seattle are threatening $1,000 fines and 90 days in jail under their \u201cpanhandling\u201d ordinance for homeless men selling copies of the weekly activist newspaper \u201cReal Change\u201d for 65 cents a copy.)<\/p>\n
And what is the politicians\u2019 answer as these tax-strapped citizens struggle to find a second source of income to keep their families fed? Do they praise that \u201ccan do\u201d attitude?<\/p>\n
No. Tipped off by already ineffectively regulated businessmen jealous of the new competition, they crack down on Mary Jo Pletz, in an attempt to frighten us out of trying to make a few bucks selling our old Flintstones lunch box over the Internet.<\/p>\n
I hope they\u2019re proud.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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