eBay Says Failure to Kill Bill a 'Defeat for All Sellers'

The California Assembly's Business and Professions Committee met Tuesday to vote on Assembly Bill 1178, a bill that would require eBay drop-off stores to comply with the same regulations as pawnbrokers.

eBay spokesperson Hani Durzy said the bill is an extreme overreach and applies pawnbroker rules to eBay Trading Assistants and drop-off stores. "We are working with legislators to show them that legislation like this has the potential to do serious damage to a group of small businesses across the state of California for the benefit of an entrenched cadre of pawnbrokers."

To his knowledge, no stolen property has ever been listed on eBay through a drop-off store. Durzy pointed to the transparency of the site. "We know who sellers are and work with law enforcement."

The bill would amend certain sections of California's Business and Professions Code dealing with secondhand dealers and pawnbrokers. Durzy said the proposed bill was nearly killed in committee, and called Tuesday's developments a defeat for all eBay sellers.

"We will continue to fight it and work with legislators to education them about the ramifications of the bill. We are strongly encouraging our community, particularly those in California, to contact their legislators."

eBay's Website has a Government Relations section where members can find information on how to contact their legislators (http://pages.ebay.com/governmentrelations).

It appears AB 1178 will now go before the appropriations committee and then go before the full legislature for vote, but AuctionBytes' calls to the Business & Professions committee were not returned by press time.

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