Thursday, January 31, 2008

Woman Prosecuted for Selling Toys on Ebay

Another day, another story of enterprise-destroying constraints placed on voluntary productive exchange by zealous, self-serving bureaucrats:

Mary Jo Pletz was really, really good at eBay. But now the former stay-at-home mother and Internet retailer fears a maximum $10 million fine for selling 10,000 toys, antiques, videos, sports memorabilia, books, tools and infant clothes on eBay without an auctioneer's license...
Philly.com

update: Radley Balko comments:

The state of Pennsylvania has shut down the eBay business of Mary Jo Pletz, who started the endeavor so she could earn money at home while caring for daughter, who had developed a brain tumor.

Not content with merely running her out of business, state officials are also prosecuting her. One inspector who visited her home threatened that they were "drawing a line in the sand."

Her crime? Selling goods on the Internet without an "auctioneer's license." Weirdly, they're also threatening to take away her dental hygienist's license.