| Pennsylvania Latest Battleground in eBay Consignment-Sales Regulation
Barry Fallon, who operates an iSold It store in Pennsylvania, says regulators in his state are forcing him to get an auctioneer's license to operate his eBay drop-off store. "To get a license in PA requires training and a one year apprenticeship before we can open a store," Fallon said. "So if they succeed, we will all have to close our doors for a year or pay someone with a license to oversee the operation." When asked about Pennylvania's apparent attempts to require eBay drop-off stores to have an auctioneer's license, eBay spokesperson Catherine England said in an email: eBay believes that Pennsylvania law is pretty clear and that trading assistants are generally not subject to the state's auctioneering regulations. We have been in contact with state regulators but they continue their enforcement actions against some sellers.
Industry Update: Auction Industry Growth Continued in First ...
KANSAS CITY -- Gross sales revenues from auctions by NAA members in the first quarter of 2007 increased 2% over the same-time period one year ago, a study by the NAA has found. If this trend continues, this will translate into approximately $266 billion total revenue for 2007 for the entire auction industry, up from $257.2 billion in 2006, a projected 3.4% increase for all of 2007. This suggests the possibility of a slightly slower growth in the live auction industry in 2007 compared to 2006, when a 7.1% growth rate occurred for all of 2006 over the previous year. The first quarter growth last year was 5.7%. These are the findings documented in a quarterly report of auction industry growth being conducted by global market research firm MORPACE International on behalf of the National Auctioneers Association (NAA).
Art auction house expects record sale
The Heffel Fine Art Auction House already lays claim to having held the four top auctions in Canadian history. But David Heffel feels the company's next auction on May 23 is really something special. "It will be the biggest sale in Canadian history, we think," says Heffel. "The previous record is $12.5 million, and we're going to beat that." His confidence comes from the high quality of the 219 lots in the auction, which will be held live at the Sheraton Wall Centre Hotel. Many are by the icons of Canadian art, and are coming on the market for the first time in decades. .
Net auctioneer's profit jumps
EBay Inc., the world's largest online auction company, says its first-quarter profit soared 52 per cent after the company raised fees on items for sale and held more auctions outside the United States. Net income climbed to $377.2 million (U.S.), or 27 cents a share, from $248.3 million, or 17 cents, a year earlier, eBay said yesterday. Excluding some expenses, eBay earned 33 cents, three cents more than analysts estimated. Revenue increased 27 per cent to $1.77 billion as a weaker U.S. dollar and demand in western Europe boosted results internationally. Last year, eBay chief executive officer Meg Whitman more than doubled fees for merchants selling goods at fixed prices. A higher percentage of listings are now leading to sales. "They're still the gorilla," said Rachel Wakefield, portfolio manager for Coldstream Capital Management in Portland, Ore.
BCE bidding war gets sticky
MONTREAL - CEO Michael Sabia may have opened up telecom giant BCE Inc. to a lengthy bidding war between Canada's biggest pension funds, but criticism of the potential role of powerful U.S. private equity funds is mounting. One of the potential bidding groups has the world's biggest buy-out fund Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. as a minority partner and the other Providence Equity Partners Inc., another huge U.S. buy-out firm in the same role. In the event BCE is taken private, Canadian pension funds would be passive partners seeking to bolster returns, while rapid changes at BCE would be dictated by these highly experienced and aggressive U.S. buy-out firms that would aim to cash out in two or three years, several investors said Wednesday. .
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