Pennsylvania is still after honest business people... Charging them with violation of a law which never applied.
While stay at home mom, Mary Jo Pletz has been exonerated of all charges by the State of Pennsylvania. (Due to media attention no doubt). It seems the story of an i Sold it drop store in Harrisburg, PA was not as damaging to the local politicians in the media as that of Mary Jo.
Barry Fallon owned an i Sold it franchise... and like Mary Jo Pletz, he completely shut down his business when the State came knocking at his door to serve notice of his violation of a law created before the Internet was widely used. Barry purchased a franchise store and having done so, would presumably have applied to the local tax office for all of his reasonable business licenses in Harrisburg, he then operated a store in plain view for a period of time. But when the State decided to make a test case of a law which has no possible application they chose to persecute this honest law abiding small business owner.
Wouldn't any small business person reasonably expect the local authorities (tax collector for one) to have shared any applicable information required to determine if he needed a special license to operate an online consignment business?
This entire prosecution is unjust and should be investigated by authorities on a Federal level. What the situation boils down to is political cronyism run amok. The Auctioneer board in PA is behind this and the politicians have made a deal with the Auctioneer board to get rid of this eBay consignment thing...
NEWS FLASH - EBAY is here to STAY - Auctioneers in PA should get with the program instead of trying to fight a losing battle so late in the game. You can not use back door politics to try and stem the tide of eBay competition for your auctioneering business. Even if you make it difficult for consignment businesses to operate, eBay has already made the process of selling an item from ones home very simple. People will not abandon online Auctions or Internet sales at this point.
Every Trading Assistant , Drop Store Owner and Small Business person in America should take a moment to make their voice heard in the Great State of Pennsylvania. Let the political powers that be, know about our collective voice. Write the media in Pennsylvania demanding they investigate this case. Any real investigation should reveal the real reasons behind this frivolous and massive abuse of power for political and commercial gain. Would you want your competition to weild enough power in your State as this? Don't we live in a democracy crafted to prevent this type of abuse of power?
For more on this story read the Philadelphia Enquirer article here: PA Drops Case
