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LOCAL ANGLE
Arizona is not among the 27 states that require auctioneers to hold a professional license.
The city of Tucson regulates auction houses and auctioneers who make a "public outcry," said Ann Cox of the city license division. Internet auctions are not included in that definition, Cox said.
Online business must follow the same tax rules as other businesses, including collecting and paying taxes on sales made in the state, said Dan Zemke, spokesman for the state Department of Revenue.
Fraudulent Internet auction sales have made the attorney general's "Top 10 complaint list" for at least the last three years, said Andrea Esquer, spokeswoman for Attorney General Terry Goddard. Other than investigating fraud, the office does not deal with Internet auctions, she said.
Auctioneers in Arizona have a trade group but no regulatory authority. Colleen Dehler, secretary of the Arizona State Auctioneers Association, said the group has no Internet members.
"I don't think they're auctioneers," she said.
Dehler, her husband and three sons run Dehler Auction Service, and all five are graduates of World Wide College of Auctioneering in Mason City, Iowa.
Tom Beal

Nation

Pa. mom is facing $10M fine for unlicensed eBay auctions

By Bob Fernandez
THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 02.10.2008
WALNUTPORT, Pa. — Mary Jo Pletz was really, really good at eBay. But now the former stay-at-home mother and gonzo Internet retailer fears a $10 million fine for selling 10,000 toys, antiques, videos, sports memorabilia, books, tools and infant clothes on eBay without an auctioneer's license.
A Department of State official knocked on the door of Pletz's house here, north of Allentown, in late December 2006 and said her Internet business, D&J Virtual Consignment, was being investigated for violating state laws.
"I was dumbfounded," said Pletz, who led the dark-suited investigator to a side patio area, where he grilled her. "I told him I would just shut down," she said.
The Pletz case has unleashed a political storm in Harrisburg, the state capital, over what — if anything — should be done about regulating Internet auctions in Pennsylvania.
Two bills have been introduced. One would require Internet sellers who run a business to get an electronic auctioneer's license. The other would leave Internet auctions as the Wild West of retail.
Thousands of jobs and the fate of a new-economy industry in Pennsylvania could be at stake. There are 400 so-called Internet retail drop-off stores in Pennsylvania, according to state officials, and 14,000 state residents who earn most of their annual income selling on Internet auctions.
EBay against regulation
EBay opposes state regulatory action on Internet auctions around the nation and warns that it could threaten the livelihoods of an estimated 430,000 people who "earn a substantial portion or all of their incomes selling on eBay."
Some Pennsylvania officials now acknowledge that Pletz, with her heart-tugging story, was not the best person with whom to make a legal point.
Pletz, 33, opened her Internet business in 2004 so she could stay home with her 6-month-old daughter, Julia, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor.
She cooperated when told it was illegal, and works at dental offices in Allentown, Bethlehem and Lehighton as a hygienist to help pay the bills at home. Julia, whose health stabilized on medication, is enrolled in day care. Pletz also has a son, Douglas, 7.
But the state has not dropped prosecution. It sent Pletz a complaint in April and an amended complaint in December. The complaint says she could be fined $1,000 for each violation of the state law. The April complaint noted 10,000 sales. Pletz and her attorney, Joseph V. Sebelin Jr. of Palmerton, did the math — $10 million in possible fines. The second complaint does not list a number.
A July hearing was canceled; a new one has not been scheduled.
In an e-mail last week, a Department of State spokeswoman said Pletz faced a $2,000 maximum fine because of two counts listed in the complaint.
"Well, it's nice they told you, because they haven't let me know," Pletz said.
Because of the complaint, Pletz worries the state also could revoke her dental hygienist's license, which she earned by attending community college for seven years at night.
"I really wish that they will walk away from that one and prosecute somebody else," said Democratic state Rep. Michael Sturla, chairman of the House Professional Licensure Committee. "There is every reason in the world that if she is found guilty, she should be exonerated," he said.
Sturla has proposed the bill to create the electronic auctioneer's license. The license would require the Internet seller to buy a $5,000 bond for about $40 a year. This would protect consumers, he said.
Republican state Sen. Rob Wonderling, who labeled the Pletz case "bureaucracy run amok," has introduced a bill that would exempt eBay sellers from auctioneer's licensing.
Barry Fallon, in the Harrisburg area, is the only other person in Pennsylvania to face an investigation for selling on eBay without an auctioneer's license, according to officials. He closed his three-employee iSold It franchise store after the investigator showed up last year.
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