(A) Licenses required. Every person conducting, carrying on, or managing the business of an auctioneer shall pay a license tax of $40 per year; provided, however, if the person by, or for, whom the auctioneering is done is an itinerant merchant or vendor of goods, wares, or merchandise, the license tax shall be $50 per day. This section shall not apply to any person selling his or her own goods, wares, or merchandise at his or her permanent place of business in the city when such person, or a bona fide member of such firm or corporation, shall act in the capacity of auctioneer. For the purposes of this section, an itinerant merchant or vendor of goods is defined to be a person, whether as principal or agent, who engages in a temporary or transient business in the city selling goods, wares, and merchandise and who, for such purpose, leases or occupies a room, store, building, structure, or place in the city for the exhibition or sale of such goods, wares, or merchandise. Such person shall not escape the payment of the higher license by temporarily associating with any local merchant, dealer, or tradesman or by conducting such temporary or transient business in connection with, or as a part of, or in the name of any local dealer, merchant, or auctioneer.
(B) Fire, wreck, and bankrupt sales. For every person conducting, carrying on, or managing a fire sale, wreck sale, or bankrupt sale, the license tax shall be the sum of $50 per day. For the purposes of this section, a fire sale or wreck sale is defined to be and include the sale of goods, wares, or merchandise salvaged from a fire, wreck, or other calamity. A bankrupt sale is defined to be and include the sale of goods, wares, and merchandise which have been previously purchased from a trustee or receiver in bankruptcy, or a trustee or receiver in insolvency, or trustee for the benefit of creditors. No license shall be required under the provisions of this section for the sale of goods, wares, or merchandise salvaged from any fire, wreck or other calamity in the city, or for any bona fide sale of goods, wares, and/or merchandise in any bankruptcy, receivers', trustees' or assignees' sale within the city.
(C) Permit application; bond.
(1) Before an auction sale can be held in the city a permit must be obtained from the License Tax Collector, and a surety bond in the amount of $1,000 shall be filed with the city guaranteeing proper conduct of the sale. In the event the auctioneer conducting the sale is not a regularly and permanently located and licensed auctioneer in the city, a license in the sum of $10 per day must also be secured from the city. The person desiring the license must file with the city a sworn statement as follows:
(a) Either that the merchandise to be sold is a part or all of the stock of a merchant who has regularly done business in the city for a period of not less than one year prior to the date of the application for a license, and that no stock has been added in anticipation of such sale within 60 days; or
(b) The source from which the merchandise was produced.
(2) No permit or license shall be issued until the applicant shall file with the city a duplicate itemized inventory of all of the goods to be sold. At all times during the conduct of the sale a city inspector shall be present whose duty it shall be to check all sales against the itemized inventory. No goods shall be sold which are not included in the itemized inventory.
(D) Permit fee. The cost of a permit to conduct an auction sale shall be $5. The permittee shall also pay to the city a daily fee of $5 to pay for the presence of the City Inspector.
(E) Sales of jewelry. In the sale of merchandise classified as jewelry, a tag or label shall be attached to each article giving clearly a true statement of the kind and quality of the metal of which such article is made or plated. The true name, weight, quality, and color of any precious or semi-precious stone must be furnished in writing at the time of the sale to the purchaser of the stone.
(F) Term of sale. No auction sale shall continue longer than 30 days within a period of 12 months.
(G) Cause for permit revocation. Misrepresentations, substitutions, the use of cappers or puffers, or the sale of goods not listed on the itemized inventory shall be strictly prohibited and shall be sufficient cause for the cancellation of the permit or license to conduct the sale.
(H) Exemptions. No permit or license shall be required to conduct an auction sale when such sale is held under the order of any court or judge or under the authority of any mortgage or deed of trust.
('61 Code, § 6-1.31) (Ord. 228 N.S., passed - - ; Am. Ord. 709, passed 9-15-99)