There are no words to describe the idiocy of applying that law to Ebay sales.

You didn't get permission from the Government and now you must pay. What, did you think this is a free country?

Yet another reason why Pensyltucky is a travesty and a disgrace to an increasingly disgraceful nation.

Rick Santorum is a hard act to follow, but they're really trying hard.

Blues_X: There are no words to describe the idiocy of applying that law to Ebay sales.

It doesn't apply to people who sell their old stuff. She sold other people's stuff, which makes her an auctioneer, whether she likes it or not.

Two Dogs Farking: which makes her an auctioneer, whether she likes it or not.

I guess if you had never seen or heard of eBay, you might think that. However, the reality is pretty god dammned far from that.

John Paul Jones: Rick Santorum is a hard act to follow, but they're really trying hard.

It can't be the republicans who want that lady prosectued. At least not the majority of them. I'd expect that of the Democrats who run PA, but not the republicans. Well, come to think of it, even PA republicans are pretty damned big-government orientated.

MacG: It can't be the republicans who want that lady prosectued. At least not the majority of them. I'd expect that of the Democrats who run PA, but not the republicans. Well, come to think of it, even PA republicans are pretty damned big-government orientated.

I was speaking generally, but yeah.

Yes because this stupidity is only practiced in PA. Every state does this. You pass a law with a "for the children reasoning" and then you find ways to fine everybody and their brother for breaking it. In this case the law was devised to protect local auctioneers. This is the "for the children" part. Then they applied this law to some lady selling crap on ebay even though there is no way she would ever hurt a local auctioneers business. I'm sure she can hand over a bucket o cash to get out of it. You can always buy your way out of state laws.

I think you could argue that all you are doing is presenting lots to an auctioneer, not actually engaging in auctioneering.

States get a little uptight when you are a potential source of a tax/fee and you aren't paying it.

Good thing she's not in Virginia - - they'd get her for a business license for every *type* of merchandise she sold.

In Virginia, if you sell clothes and tools, you need a tool-seller's business license AND a clothing business license. Serslah.

/don't carry *me* back to Old Virginny.

Also, the $10 million is sensationalist bullshiat.

TFA: In an e-mail Monday, a Department of State spokeswoman said Pletz faced a $2,000 maximum fine because of two counts listed in the complaint.

kidsizedcoffin: States get a little uptight when you are a potential source of a tax/fee and you aren't paying it.

TFA says she reported the income on her tax return.

the fark? talk about asinine.

Thats a cute daughter....I'd pet her

It's not fair that it's against the law to do illegal stuff!

John Paul Jones

Yet another reason why Pensyltucky is a travesty and a disgrace to an increasingly disgraceful nation.

Rick Santorum is a hard act to follow, but they're really trying hard.

Ah yes, PA... the Florida of the northeast.

/but not the nice touristy shiny clean parts of Florida
//the rancid backwater beware-of-gators-and-inbreds parts

This is bullshiat. Same thing happened to me. I'm driving 110 on the freeway and a cop pulls me over, so I'm like, "dude, my grandfather's got Parkinson's Disease and I'm picking him up pizza" but the cop still harshes my mellow anyway... Heartless.

Blues_X: There are no words to describe the idiocy of applying that law to Ebay sales.

Like most business laws in Pa, this one was written by a certain group of businessmen to protect their niche market.

And then the legislature wonders why everyone is moving out of this state....

See, I told her this would happen. She should have just made the porn site.
There is no fisting license.

The Grinch: Ah yes, PA... the Florida of the northeast.

/but not the nice touristy shiny clean parts of Florida
//the rancid backwater beware-of-gators-and-inbreds parts

There aren't any gators here.

Fark the spirit of the law, they'll keep hammering away at her until one way or another, they get some money.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Ebay the auctioneer? The seller is simply that, the seller.

According to the dictionary, an auctioneer is "an agent who conducts an auction". Thus, the agent would be Ebay as they are the ones who control the auction. The seller is merely providing the products to be auctioned off.

sinistermonk: This is bullshiat. Same thing happened to me. I'm driving 110 on the freeway and a cop pulls me over, so I'm like, "dude, my grandfather's got Parkinson's Disease and I'm picking him up pizza" but the cop still harshes my mellow anyway... Heartless.

fail.

Pantload: kidsizedcoffin: States get a little uptight when you are a potential source of a tax/fee and you aren't paying it.

TFA says she reported the income on her tax return.

Yes, but she didn't buy the auctioneer's license.

/Which is where PA is made of fail for enforcing it

Why is she taking care of her with cancer? That takes to long. She should take care of her with something blunt.

Well, it's also very cold there, right? When you look at those diagrams of where the snow build up is supposed to be, now that the arctic is releasing ice to become precipitation, it's mostly Pennsylvania.

Glad to know it's really only a $2000 fine, but I'll always remember Pennsylvania from now on as the southern state of the north.

Ebay sellers are getting screwed a lot lately, aren't they?

"I really wish that they will walk away from that one and prosecute somebody else," said State Rep. Michael Sturla (D., Lancaster), who is 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.

Oh, please. Like the only reason she shouldn't be prosecuted is that it's embarrassing because she is a working class mom and her daughter was very sick. It would be just fine to screw some single dude for selling a few hundred things on ebay. Your laws are farked up, congressman, fix them!!!

HomeGrownCone: Why is she taking care of her with cancer? That takes to long. She should take care of her with something blunt.


I came here to say that...

/carry on

It's saddens me that I see local news on Fark and not the local news station. They were too busy doing an in-depth report on how deer destroy crops.

Pantload: TFA says she reported the income on her tax return.

Selling your precious little snowflakes nappy wrapper for 99c because she's outgrown it is what eBay is all about. Once you are selling in the order of thousands of items you're in commercial space, whether you like it or not.

Ask any small business owner if they enjoy paying the taxes, levies, permits, etc that go along with owning a business. Why should this woman not have to pay them whilst everyone else does? What, because she's using eBay? Pfft.

This woman is running a business. There are laws she needs to follow. Simple as that.

HomeGrownCone: Why is she taking care of her with cancer? That takes to long. She should take care of her with something blunt.

Hell, going there, etc.

TheWizard: sinistermonk: This is bullshiat. Same thing happened to me. I'm driving 110 on the freeway and a cop pulls me over, so I'm like, "dude, my grandfather's got Parkinson's Disease and I'm picking him up pizza" but the cop still harshes my mellow anyway... Heartless.

fail.

Wizard vs Monk fight!

/My money is on the Wizard.
//Monk is clearly a member of the Order of the Lame Fail.
///Kung-fu=Very Weak.
////Warrior slashies!

You MUST work for a corporation or the government. You will NOT be self-sufficient. We are here to take care of from you.

/think of the children

shouldn't eBay pay the auctioning fees? they will just pass the costs on to sellers anyway, and this way the states don't need to waste time and money pursuing 'rogue auctioneers' who don't want to pay anything? and surely eBay will use their clout to lower the fees that they have to pay (but will still pass the entire costs on to sellers, hence padding their profits).

Bacontastesgood: "I really wish that they will walk away from that one and prosecute somebody else," said State Rep. Michael Sturla (D., Lancaster), who is 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.

Oh, please. Like the only reason she shouldn't be prosecuted is that it's embarrassing because she is a working class mom and her daughter was very sick. It would be just fine to screw some single dude for selling a few hundred things on ebay. Your laws are farked up, congressman, fix them!!!

This is the legislature that still sees no problem with raising taxes and giving themselves a pay raise with midnight votes, then gets outta town before dawn before anyone can see what they did.

fairness? honesty? The legislature cares not about these things! Christ - go look up the state liquor control board some time.

Why is she even worried about her daughter? All she has to do is leave her tree, wheelbarrow her daughter to Billy Crystal and his wife's shop, then resurrect her with a chocolate-coated magic pill.

I marvel that no-one at the licensing bureau involved called this one for the bad optics. Here's that news story, breaking on Fark- two to three job family with one of two kids fighting a serious illness - what are the odds the state officials come out of this looking like anything but ogres?

PA State officials might ask themselves: What would Jebus do?

This must be the tip of the iceberg for eBay 'auctioneers' in the state - I smell a potential class action suit...

spacechicken170am: ure she can

spacechicken170am: Yes because this stupidity is only practiced in PA. Every state does this. You pass a law with a "for the children reasoning" and then you find ways to fine everybody and their brother for breaking it.

B-b-b-b-but I though the government was super awesome?

How comes this isn't branded Nanny State? Or does that only applies to countries with a higher quality of life than the US.

Nothing like the productive people who provide valuable services to people (to the benefit of both) having to ask/pay for permission to provide these services from the unproductive, wealth destroying criminal element of society known as government.

But I guess since the criminals "funded" the creation of the internet, then they have the "right" (read: the monopoly on socially acceptable violence) to exact whatever tribute they feel entitled to demand.

/good thing you folks vote, otherwise their legitimacy would be suspect!

Sounds all too familiar. The waffle house owner in paducah ky found out a former employee was selling out dated menus that were destined for the trash on Ebay. Waited about a year, then claimed that they were his property, and wanted the profits, threatened to take it to court. Well It seems like extortion to me, but what do you expect from a waffle house owner. They are the scum of the grill.

Everyone needs to write a letter to Waffle house corporation!

Two Dogs Farking: Blues_X: There are no words to describe the idiocy of applying that law to Ebay sales.

It doesn't apply to people who sell their old stuff. She sold other people's stuff, which makes her an auctioneer, whether she likes it or not.

You know who else sold off other people's stuff without an auctioneers license? Nope, not him.

HER. (new window)

Two Dogs Farking

It doesn't apply to people who sell their old stuff. She sold other people's stuff, which makes her an auctioneer, whether she likes it or not.

Technically, it is eBay that's the auctioneer, since it is eBay that is soliciting and collecting the bids, and then taking a percentage of the sale as a fee. She is more like an auctioneer's agent, collecting stuff for the auctioneer to sell.

I hope this makes it to court. I would love to see this case get thrown out.

"I really wish that they will walk away from that one and prosecute somebody else," said State Rep. Michael Sturla

Soooo...it's only an issue that they're going after a mom with a cancerous kid?

How about prosecute nobody else?

I was born, raised, married and educated in PA. It is a cesspool of corruption and special interest favors by both the Dems and that other group. Government is all about who you know and what is going on under the table. Reminded me of my days in Mexico.
I will never go back even for a visit. Disgusting place.

OZZ: How comes this isn't branded Nanny State? Or does that only applies to countries with a higher quality of life than the US.

You have to understand something about Pa politics - it's largely dominated by what philadelphia and pittsburg want done. Those areas elect governors. want to be govenor? you do what philadelphia wants. And what philly wants is to raise taxes on the rest of us, and have that money sent to the city government.

Basically, if you rent yourself a couple congressthings you can get just about any racketeering/protectionist law passed that you want. it's a straight up business deal. x amount of dollar for y amount of protection. The kicker is that you have to KEEP paying the legislature for that protection, otherwise your law tends to get repealed.

sinistermonk: Why is she even worried about her daughter? All she has to do is leave her tree, wheelbarrow her daughter to Billy Crystal and his wife's shop, then resurrect her with a chocolate-coated magic pill.

Nice!

OZZ: How comes this isn't branded Nanny State? Or does that only applies to countries with a higher quality of life than the US.

Because it's more police state than nanny state. She wasn't doing anything dangerous, except to the tax man.