Subject:
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Re: States Go After Online Auctions; $1000 fines
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.market.auction
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Date:
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Wed, 15 Dec 1999 21:12:09 GMT
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Viewed:
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507 times
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In lugnet.market.auction, David Eaton writes:
> > <I wrote>
> > Ebay determines the conditions under which you may auction things using their
> > venue (including min bids, increments, etc), but they do not actually auction
> > anything. They sell eSpace to auctioneers. This is (among other things) one
> > of the ways eBay avoids responsibility for pretty much anything that happens
> > there.
>
> Sorry to jump in... just putting in $.02--
> I'm of the mind to think that legally, it could be arguable that ebay is doing
> the actual auctioning... I think the best argument is the one previously
> presented: how is it different from hiring a licenced auctioneer to auction
> off your items? You tell him/her any reserves, etc., that you have before the
> auction, they take the bids, they hand you the results. You deal with the
> people when the auction is done, the auctioneer has no responsibility for
> that... and by the time it's handed back to the seller, it's no longer in the
> form of an auction, but a straight sale. One difference being that you can
> modify the auction information, restrictions, etc DURING the auction, but I
> don't think that turns the seller into an auctioneer. I think the best
> question would be what are the exact law's words? As it was quoted on Lugnet,
> it seemed to suggest that the auctioneer as a person was 'responsible', not
> the holder of the auction, although we don't have the lawbook right here...
> But I think I'd argue that as an ebay seller, I'm hiring ebay to auction my
> items. Perhaps that in itself has legal issues, but I don't think they've
> been brought up to yet, if so...
Hmm. I hadn't been arguing this in a legal sense, actually. Legally I
haven't a clue who's doing what. :)
My main reason for thinking the auctioneer is the seller is that all eBay
provides is an interface between buyers and sellers. Any solicitation of bids
is determined by how the seller describes/flogs his item.
IANAL, but as far as I can tell, trying to apply real-world laws to e-commerce
is like trying to use K'nex instructions to build a Lego set.
James
http://www.shades-of-night.com/lego/
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: States Go After Online Auctions; $1000 fines
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| (...) Sorry to jump in... just putting in $.02-- I'm of the mind to think that legally, it could be arguable that ebay is doing the actual auctioning... I think the best argument is the one previously presented: how is it different from hiring a (...) (25 years ago, 15-Dec-99, to lugnet.market.auction)
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