State regulators all across the country are taking aim at Ebay. If you've ever sold an item on ebay for someone else, you may have been breaking one or more state laws, depending on where you live.

Writes CNET:

In San Diego County, deputies from the sheriff's office have been visiting Internet consignment sellers to verify that they have the "secondhand good" licenses that pawn shops are required to obtain.

"There have been complaints by secondhand dealers," said Sgt. Mark Stevens of the San Diego Sheriff's Office. "They feel that the stores should be licensed."

Under California law, secondhand dealers are defined as anyone who accepts items "for sale on consignment" or "for auctioning." Dealers must file daily reports with the police that include names, fingerprints and home addresses of each person trying to sell an item, along with that person's driver's license or passport number. [...]

State rules vary widely. Massachusetts requires even part-time auctioneers to obtain a government license, pass a written exam, pay annual fees and post a $10,000 bond.

Auctioneers in Texas must complete 80 hours of classroom instruction at one of eight approved schools, have no recent felony convictions and be at least 18 years old. In Texas, as in many states, auctioning items without a license is a criminal offense.

While nobody wants to be the victim of internet fraud, there are already laws on the books to protect against that. Requiring internet sellers to jump through hoops is just more of the same protectionism that brick and mortar store owners have been asking about for years.