how ebay makes regulations disappear - laser levels online

One morning last month, lawmakers in the state of Luis Anna passed a long list of bills, including a bill to relocate the Motor Vehicle Commission, and another to regulate potential loan abuse, the other is eBay's masterpiece, a digital mall that calls itself "the world's online marketplace.
"EBay worked overtime to ensure that Bill 642 of the Senate was passed, which tried to exempt some Internet transactions --
Like it happens on its website.
Licensing requirements for auction companies from Louis Anna state.
At a meeting of the state Senate business committee to consider the bill, eBay's lobbyists, Duane Corte, testified that forcing eBay's "trading assistant" to pay more than $300 for the license
"What they do online is not an auction, nor an auctioneer . "
The car in corwater can be done.
The transaction assistant collects checked items from other owners and bids on eBay, however
Their campaign is more like posting classified ads, Coopers said.
Senators in the state of Luis Anna seem to agree with him completely.
"I think eBay is great," said one of them, while the other was in the room talking about his experience shopping for Plymouth stalkers on eBay.
State Senator Noble
Ellington is a Democrat who once worked in
When his colleagues unanimously supported the legislation, Kurt's request was answered.
EBay's lobbying is not limited to the state of Luis Anna.
As the company spreads its innovative and influential wings on the Internet, it also weaves a muscular and cunning lobby across 25 states. "It is a fast-
The moving train, if you stand in front of it, you will be razed to the ground, "said Sherrie Wilks, an official at the authority of the state of Luis Anna, who is concerned about eBay's contempt for regulation by convincing state councillors to stand by the company.
Advertising regulators in other states also said that when they try to set guidelines around eBay's activities, they will soon encounter the reality of the company's political power, the long-standing issues concerning the appropriate balance between public policy, consumer protection and commercial interests were re-raised.
At the same time, EBay's lobbying strategy shows that when a savvy, resourceful company persuades and grass the local politics --
Roots rallied to secure a lucrative regulatory exemption to protect its profits.
The efforts of advertising ebay have been very successful, and the company has worked tirelessly to develop its image as a friendly community Bazaar while working hard.
Smart lobbying is not shy about bragging about your victory.
Last year, Ohio passed a law regulating eBay sellers.
With the help of experienced lobbyiststo have a pre-
A more favorable bill was passed.
"We realized what was there, we worked with local lobbyists and were able to reverse the law," said Todd Cohen, vice president of government relations at EBay . ".
He oversees the company's efforts to convince state councillors of eBay's core belief that state regulation will hinder the flow of e-commercecommerce.
The FTC seems to agree that it has relaxed regulation of a wide range of industries.
Late last week, Mr Was responded.
In analyzing the Louis Anna state bill, the agency said it promoted competition and increased consumer choice.
Unlike many other Internet companies, eBay must be particularly fast.
When it comes to stopping the regulation that it considers hostile, whether it involves a growing decline in the number of eBay --off stores —
Places like UPS stores and small stores where people put their items on eBay for sale --
Or a more general category of trading assistants.
Anyone engaged in sales on the site depends on relative friction
Free environment for profit.
The same is true for EBay because its overall corporate goal is to maintain high sales.
There are 89 million items on eBay for sale at any given moment, mother ship-eBay itself —
Charge for each successful transaction.
It also charges 0. 193 billion registered users for listing the fees for any products they display on the website.
In 2006 alone, EBay's total transaction costs exceeded $0. 5 billion, an increase of 30% over the same period in 2005.
It is a particularly important priority for the company to stop regulators, especially those that are trying to slow sales traffic.
Regulation also threatened eBay for another reason.
They set a precedent.
Once the laws regulating eBay sellers take effect in one state, other states are more likely to follow suit.
Licenses and other regulatory requirements not only increase the cost of selling goods on eBay, but regulations may prevent entrepreneurs who want to introduce eBay --
Business-based.
Although regulations can help control cheaters and other cheaters disguised as legitimate suppliers on eBay
That's why most regulators say they like strict licensing requirements.
EBay sees its online communityregulating.
Analysts say the company has little room for maneuver against external oversight.
"EBay has no choice," said Ina Steiner, editor of auction bytes . ".
Com online communications.
"It's too tight --margin, price-
If there are too many regulations on sellers, this will have a huge impact on eBay.
"So eBay has struggled with regulators trying to classify it as auction houses --
Despite the fact that eBay has used the word "auction" over the years to describe what's happening on the site.
In a securities document listed on eBay in 1998, the company said it "pioneered online individuals --to-
Personnel transactions through the Development Network
The community where buyers and sellers come together in the form of efficient and interesting auctions.
In its annual report last year, eBay said it provided "infrastructure to support various forms of online commerce, including traditional auction platforms ".
However, eBay sees this mention as informal and says the auction law --
Many of them wrote long before the Internet and eBay existed --
Should not apply to its seller.
EBay spokesman Chris Dolly said that the scheduled auction on eBay is fundamentally different from the person who "held a live auction in front of the audience until he achieved the highest possible price for the customer.
Instead, as the company said on its website, eBay simply "provides an online platform for trading millions of items a day ".
"The headquarters of the Authority Committee of the auctioneers in Luiz Anna state is a moderate, three
Room office in Baton Rouge with two staff and a dial
Internet connection.
The agency says its mission is to protect the public from "unqualified, irresponsible or unscrupulous people.
"At the end of last year, the agency's seven
Board members who are concerned about possible abuse have decided that an eBay trading associate doing business in the state of Luis Anna needs a license.
Last summer, the agency's investigator, retired police officer Jim Steele, began visiting eBay sellers registered as trading assistants in the state of Luis Anna.
Among the people visited by Mr.
Steele is Cheryl Brown, who runs a small eBay company.
Hammond's story house is about an hour's drive east of Baton Rouge. Ms.
Brown runs all kinds of goods.
Includes shoes, belts and Black and Decker laser level
Surrounded by a bed in a spare back bedroom. Mr.
Ms. Steele arrived.
Brown's door told her she needed an auction on last February.
Business license or suspensionand-desist order. Ms.
Brown said she was "blown away" and found herself picked out.
After all, she says, her average monthly sales are no more than $2,000.
Nevertheless, she paid $300 for the license and paid an additional $250 for the security deposit requested by the License Board. Ms.
As a trade assistant, Brown has not yet made a single sale (
"I don't want to sell people's old clothes," she said . ")
She said she would rather not have a license.
But, she said, she also liked the extra credentials that the permit gave her.
Also, she said she thought her deal on eBay was actually an auction.
"My point is that eBay is auctioning," she said . ".
"They are in control.
"Lady advertising
Brown's view was agreed by Brian Leleux, an eBay seller across the state and the other end of eBay's sales revenue stream. Mr.
Leleux has hired nearly 12 employees to sell around $120,000 of recliner, inflatable air cushions and other items on eBay every month, making him a "platinum seller" for eBay ".
"He pays eBay about $12,000 a month for listing and trading, and an additional $2,100 to eBay's auto-pay subsidiary, PayPal. Mr.
Leleux runs his business, massage.
In a large warehouse near Lafayette.
Steele visited him earlier this year. Mr.
Leleux signed up with eBay as a trading assistant, but rarely made a consignment.
Nevertheless, he paid for the state and applied for a permit. Like Ms. Brown, Mr.
Leleux says he doesn't want a license, but it does give him "more legitimacy", a concept that attracts him.
He also said he thought eBay was an auction house.
But not every eBay trading assistant asked for it.
Steele called.
Barry Simpson has a computer equipment store in Morgan City that sells items on eBay as a sideline.
Earlier this year,
Mr. Simpson said.
Steele visited him and insisted that he get a license, even when he
Simpson said he did not want to be a trade assistant. Mr.
Simpson refused to get a license and complained to eBay, after which the company stepped up legislation in the state of Luis Anna.
"At that time, we decided to take action," he said . "
EBay spokesman Donlay. Mr.
Simpson said he did not think it would increase costs to comply with certain regulations.
"If someone comes in and tells me that I need a license, I'm selling something for someone else and I'm not doing enough, I'm going to quit," he said . ".
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Unlike most entrepreneurs,
Simpson has a well.
An influential company
Be alert to your own interests, just as it is to his interests --
Prepare to compete with regulators.
EBay seems prepared to challenge regulators in almost any state that thinks its privileges are under threat.
In California last year, eBay will be rejected.
After the death of eBay executives, the store closed to the current restrictions on pawn shops --
Including chief executive Meg Whitman.
Met with leaders of the Republican caucus of the legislature.
"We think the Republican vote has disappeared," Leland Y said . ".
Proposed Democratic California Senator Yee.
Last year, after eBay's long lobbying in Illinois, the state changed the law to allow internet auction sites to compete with licensed ticket brokers and at prices that exceed the face value
After eBay lobbied for changes, similar changes were passed in New York and Florida.
Auction methods like Louis Anna State are another focus of eBay's attention.
After EBay stepped in, laws in Maine and Tennessee were amended to avoid removing licensing requirements for Internet auctions.
According to some of the people involved in the debate, all of this is just a matter of common sense. Ms.
Steiner, editor of the newsletter, said many eBay sellers work part-time or in addition to another job to trade.
"If they are overregulated by licensing fees, they will give up the eBay business," she said.
"As far as eBay is concerned, it has little chance.
Over the past eight years, eBay has established a stable local group of lobbyists in 25 states.
Those lobbyists.
According to the state lobby registration document, who works on a minister who could reach $10,000 a month?
It has also contributed to politicians who sponsor bills that favor eBay.
For example, Sir.
Covent donated $2,000 to him at the political action committee in the state of Luis Anna.
Ellington, 2005
EBay lobbyists in Illinois have contributed thousands of dollars to politicians who supported the vote. scalping bill.
EBay's politics-as-
The usual way to use more creative grassroots tactics.
It uses mass email to keep members informed about regulatory issues
Mail for one yearold Web-
The initiative, called "eBay Main Street", issued a "legislative alert" and provided letters that users could send to government officials.
According to the tradition that Ward political experts are good at voting, eBay usually summons sellers and personally travels to state councils across the country to meet with lawmakers.
"There is a better way to get a response than to go deep into the grassroots, which is a member of eBay," said Kathy Greer, eBay seller in New Hampshire, and the debate about standardizing eBay sellers continues.
"Let them go out and fight your battle.
When eBay sends an email
An email to its members of the state of Luis Anna on April, telling them that their livelihood may be threatened by the state's request for a permit --
And urged them to take action. Ms.
Wilks, the sole administrator of the authority, is surrounded by phone and email
Emails from angry eBay sellers.
The uproar subsided after she explained that the board intended to ask only about 460 registered eBay trading assistants to obtain permission.
But some sellers involved in the event said they thought eBay seemed to mislead them by making the proposed regulations more comprehensive.
"They approach it in a very low-key way," said Stephen Deere, an accountant at Baton Rouge, who sells items on and off eBay but received alerts and sent them
Mail to MSWilks.
"I always thought they were a good company, but now I question their culture and morality.
"Anna Dow, counsel for the Luiz Anna state licensing commission, said more forcefully.
"They deliberately misrepresent what is happening," she said . ".
EBay officials say the authorization board has repeatedly refused to give the company a clear answer to who it plans to regulate, so it has sent an email
Send mail to a wide variety of recipients. EBay's anti-
Regulatory stance extends to store decline
Outside the center of rapid proliferation across the country.
The supplier welcomes the help of the company.
Debbie Gordon is the owner of Snappy Auctions, an eBay national chain Auction Company
She said she believes certain practices should be followed by all eBay consignment stores to ensure that customers are protected.
But two years ago, she was angry when Tennessee regulators told her she had to get her auctioneer licence and attend a week-long auction school. Advertising Lady
Gordon paid $700 for licenses and other fees, and spent what she called "five days I can't come back again" on the training course for the auctioneer ". "Ninety-
"9% of the courses have nothing to do with our business," she recalls . ".
"It's about traditional auctions, cattle and land, and guns.
Shortly after she was promoted in a local newspaper
In Gordon's experience, eBay stepped in.
It convinced lawmakers not only institutions like Hillary Clinton
Gordon has nothing to do with pig calling, but also because of the time nature of eBay's auction, the transaction is completely different and therefore not subject to auction laws.
"We fundamentally believe that the auction law is not applicable, harmful and used to harm competition," he said . "
Cohen of EBay was interviewed.
They protect not competition, but the choice and entrepreneur spirit of consumers. "BUT Ms.
Wilks of the Luiz Anna State License Board said that if a trading assistant on eBay does not need a license, people like Linda Williams will have nowhere to go.
Earlier this year,
Williams, who lives near Baton Rouge, gave an antique sofa to sell on eBay, she said.
The sofa is sold, lady.
Williams said she did not see a penny of the proceeds. Ms.
Williams called the authorization committee and found out that the seller was an auctioneer and had faced a separate investigation.
A bank confiscated his assets.
It includes a warehouse filled with items he checked from dozens of people, including MS. Williams —
According to her, his license was revoked. Wilks and Ms. Dow.
"They helped me a lot and asked me to call at any time . "
Williams spoke about her experience with the licensing board.
"There's nothing I can do if it's not them.
"EBay executives say such a story doesn't mean more law is needed.
They noted that law enforcement agencies had been set up to investigate internet fraud.
Supervision by regulators
This is their job . "Cohen said.
"But as a company, we have an obligation to protect our community.
"Shortly after the first legislative hearing on Bill 642 of the Senate in the state of Luis Anna, eBay sent another email
Email reminder, this time to the largest seller in the state.
The company asked sellers to attend a meeting at the end of last month to update them on the billing and brief them on other potential obstacles to their business.
About 50 sellers from around the state attended the Baton Rouge Marriott conference.
Michelle Peacock, head of state relations at EBay, flew from California to eBay to join eBay.
Lobbyists, Kurt.
Overview of large color billboards for "e-commerce barriers"
Business "renovated the room. Ms.
Peacock discussed proposed amendments to the Luiz Anna State auctioneer regulations and discussed a bill that supports the removal of restrictions on resale of tickets on the Internet.
After the meeting, several participants crowded on a shuttle bus provided by eBay and drove to the Capitol to talk to their state representative about Senate Bill 642.
The next day, the commercial Committee of the house of Louis Anna state considered the bill already passed by the state Senate.
The bill was unanimously supported by the Commission. Mr.
State Senator Ellington said in an interview last week that he expected the bill to be passed by the House this week --
No problem.
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