State of Pennsylvania sues woman for selling on eBay without a license
Written by admin on February 2nd, 2008 in Gadgets.
It has been a while since we first heard about states requiring eBay sellers to get an auctioneers license. In this case Pennsylvania was one of them and it seems they were very serious, they are in fact now suing a woman who decided to sell on eBay.
Mary Jo Pletz originally decided to use eBay as a way to earn an income and also be able to stay home with her daughter who had been diagnosed with a brain tumor. Mary Jo cooperated and immediately closed shop when she was notified in December 2006 that was she was doing was illegal. She went back to an out-of-the house job that required her daughter to go to day care.
The state however is not backing down on the prosecution. According to her attorney she faces a possible $10 million in fines, she is credited for selling 10,000 items and could be fined $1,000 for each violation. Some state officials have since acknowledged that “with her heart-tugging story, was not the best person with whom to make a legal point.” What makes this story worse is that Mary Jo also now worries that because of this legal trouble she could also have her state issued dental hygienist license revoked.
Had Mary Jo had or gotten and Auctioneers License this could have been avoided, but you would think that if she closed down it would have made it OK also. An Auctioneers License is typically used by the larger auction houses and many argue that selling on eBay and using an auction house have little in common.
Read [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Keep up with the latest gadget goodness! - Subscribe to our feed →
Tags: gizmos, game, consumer technology, Ogg
