The Washington Post has mind-boggling news from the great frozen midsection of the United States:
North Dakota’s Public Service Commission is exploring whether people [who want to sell items on eBay] must obtain auctioneer licenses before they can legally use eBay to sell merchandise for others.
To get a North Dakota auctioneer’s license, applicants must pay a $35 fee, obtain a $5,000 surety bond and undergo training at one of eight approved auction schools, where the curriculum includes talking really fast.
Colossally stupid going once, colossally stupid going twice…
Ed Bott 
Colossally stupid, yes, but the city gets their money and THAT is what it’s all about. They can’t tax you for your internet sales so they’ll get their fees any way they can.
I guarantee there will be more of this. Look at the example of states losing out on gas taxes because of (encouraged) Hybrid sales. So they decide to try to charge people by the mile instead. It’s ALWAYS about the money.
Sadly, I don’t think ND is alone in their mistake here. I recall a local news story in Indiana recently about a proposal to enact the same requirement. I couldn’t easily find any references to that Indiana proposal but I found this one for North Carolina:
Click to access hamilton.pdf
The end of it essentially states that as NC law stands now, if you buy items to resell at an internet auction and you are either in NC or sell to someone in NC, you’re legally required to have an NC auctioneer license. There’s an exemption for selling your own stuff, but the exemption doesn’t apply if you bought it to sell it. 🙂
Some of the requirements to get the license:
18 years of age
high school graduate
no felony convictions in last 5 years
Ohio tried that, too, but it didn’t fly. ( http://money.cnn.com/2005/03/07/technology/ohio_ebay/ — it would’ve required a $200 license, $50,000 bond, and a one-year apprenticeship to a licensed auctioneer) Once it became public there was a huge outcry, and the state senator who wrote the law claimed not to have realized the affect it would’ve had on Ebay sellers (which I find very hard to believe, given that there were already laws on the books regarding regular auctioneers). Ultimately the law was revised to exempt online auction sellers.