[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Committee
of the Township of Pennsauken 3-13-1978 by Ord. No. 78-3 as Ch. 103
of the 1977 Code. Amendments noted where applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
Includes a person of either sex, any natural person or association
of natural persons, association, partnership or corporation.
No person shall act as a public auctioneer or
engage in the auction business, in whole or in part, or cause to be
held any public auction or any public vendue in the Township of Pennsauken
without first obtaining a license for so doing as hereinafter provided.
A.
Contents of application. Application for such license
shall be made in writing to the Township Committee, setting forth:
(1)
The name and address of the applicant and, if a corporation,
the date and state of incorporation, the location of its registered
office in New Jersey, the name of its registered agent and the names
and residences of its officers, directors and stockholders.
(2)
The places where the applicant has resided for a period
of three years immediately prior to making the application.
(3)
Whether any person, or persons or corporations, other
than the applicant has any interest, directly or indirectly, in the
license applied for or in the business to be conducted and, if so,
stating the name and residence of such person or corporation having
such interest and the extent of such interest.
(4)
Whether or not the applicant, either individual or
corporate, or any member, officer, director or stockholder thereof,
if such applicant is a partnership or corporation, has been convicted
of a crime and, if so, the crime of which he or she has been convicted,
the place of conviction, the date thereof and the punishment therefor.
(5)
The experience the applicant has had as an auctioneer
or as a person engaged in the auction business.
(6)
The place or places and the date or dates that the
applicant has been so engaged as an auctioneer or in the auction business.
(7)
The name of the bonding company to furnish the bond
hereinafter required.
B.
Photograph. Each applicant for a license to act as
a public auctioneer or to engage in the auction business shall file
with his or her application three photographs, approximately 1 1/2
inches by 1 1/2 inches, clearly depicting the facial features of the
applicant, each of which photographs shall thereupon become the property
of the Township and shall be retained with the application form unless
the application shall be granted and the license issued, in which
event one of such photographs shall be permanently affixed to the
license issued to said applicant, one shall be retained by the Township
Clerk and one shall be delivered to the Police Department. Each of
said photographs shall be signed on the back thereof by the applicant
and shall bear the date upon which they were taken, which date shall
not be more than 30 days prior to the date of the application.
C.
Verification. Every application for a license under
this chapter shall be verified by the oath or affirmation of the applicant
or applicants, if an individual or copartnership, and, if a corporation,
shall be verified by the oath or affirmation of an officer thereof.
D.
Ineligible persons. No license under this chapter
shall be issued to:
(1)
An individual who is not a citizen of the United States
or who has been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude.
(2)
A copartnership, unless all the members thereof are
citizens of the United States and none of whom have been convicted
of a crime involving moral turpitude.
(3)
A corporation, unless each of the officers, directors
and stockholders thereof is a citizen of the United States and none
of whom have been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude.
E.
Bond. Before any license shall be issued under this
chapter, the proposed licensee shall enter into a bond to the Township
of Pennsauken in the penal sum of $5,000, with corporate surety duly
authorized to do business under the laws of the State of New Jersey,
said bond to be for the safety and protection of the property of the
municipality and its inhabitants and conditioned for:
(1)
The due observance by said licensee, his or her servants,
agents and employees of all ordinances of the Township of Pennsauken
which are in effect or which hereafter may be enacted regulating the
conduct or operation of the auction business or auctioneers.
(2)
The performance of all duties, the rendition of all
accounts and the payment of all moneys required by law to be paid
arising out of the conduct or operation of said auction business or
of the business of acting as an auctioneer.
(3)
The payment to any person who shall be defrauded or
who shall suffer loss by reason of the violation by such licensee,
his or her servants, agents or employees of any of the provisions
of this chapter or of any ordinance which hereafter may be enacted
regulating the conduct or operation of the auction business or auctioneers.
(4)
The payment of any loss which shall be suffered by
any person or persons by reason of the violation by such licensee,
his or her servants, agents or employees of any of the laws of the
State of New Jersey.
F.
Term; transfers; refunds. Each license issued hereunder
shall be valid only during the calendar year for which it is issued
and shall expire on December 31 of each year. No license issued hereunder
shall be transferable from one person to another, but a license to
engage in the auction business may be transferred from one premises
to another premises. No license fee shall be prorated for any portion
of the year. Any license granted pursuant to the provisions of this
chapter may be surrendered, but no refund of any portion of the license
fee shall be made.
G.
Display. All licenses issued pursuant to this chapter
shall be posted in a conspicuous place on the premises wherein the
auction business is being conducted or where the licensee is acting
as a public auctioneer.
H.
Fee. The annual license fee to engage in the auction
business shall be the sum of $1,000 or the daily license to engage
in the auction business shall be $35 per day, plus 1% of the total
gross sales; and the license fee to act as a public auctioneer shall
be the sum of $250 annually or $25 daily.
I.
As to any applicant for a license under this chapter,
the Police Department of the Township of Pennsauken shall, upon the
initial application, conduct a full state background investigation.
The appropriate police official shall report the results of such investigation
to the Township Committee as soon as possible. With respect to subsequent
renewals of the license, the Police Department shall conduct an investigation
by name only for the purpose of the annual renewal of said application.
[Added 8-13-2008 by Ord. No. 08-24]
Every licensee engaging in the auction business
shall keep books in which shall be described and inventoried, in a
clear and legible manner, all goods received at the place of business
of the licensee; the date of receipt; the name and address of the
person, firm or corporation for whose account they are to be sold;
the cost price to the licensee if purchased by him or her or consigned
to him or her for purposes of sale; the names and addresses, when
the same are obtainable, of all persons purchasing articles at the
auction sale for the sum of $20 or more; the dates sold and the prices
paid by said purchasers; and a description of each article so sold.
Said books shall be open to inspection by the licensing authority
or its duly authorized enforcement officers at all times.
Every article offered for sale by any licensee
hereunder shall have securely attached thereto a tag or label upon
which shall be plainly written or printed in the English language
a true and correct statement of the kind and quality of the material
or substance of which such article is made or composed.
A.
If the said article is one of those commonly classed
as jewelry or one commonly carried by persons engaged in the jewelry
business, the tag or label shall state the percentage or carat of
purity of such article.
B.
If the article shall be plated or overlaid, the tag
or label shall bear a true statement of the kind of plate and the
percentage of purity thereof and the kind of material or metal under
the plating.
C.
If the article shall be one containing what are commonly
known as precious, semiprecious, synthetic or imitation stones, then
the true names, weight, quality and color of said stones must be shown
on said tag or label.
D.
If the articles are watches or clocks, the true name
of the manufacture, the number of jewels and adjustments and the country
of manufacture shall be shown on said tag or label.
E.
If any of such articles or parts thereof are used
or secondhand or old works in new cases, or if the removal or substitution
of works or any part thereof has been made, such information must
be noted on the tag or label, which in each and every case must remain
on said article until after the same has been delivered and received
by the customer.
A.
It shall be unlawful for any auctioneer to accept
anything other than bona fide bids, and said auction sales are to
be so conducted as to dispose of merchandise to the highest bidder.
B.
It shall be unlawful for any auctioneer, in describing
goods that are being auctioned, to make, either directly or indirectly,
by verbal or written statement or by advertisement, any false representation
as to the character, quality, condition, value or ownership of said
goods or to falsely represent that said goods are, in whole or in
part, bankrupt or insolvent stock; or damaged goods; or goods the
result of insurance, bankruptcy, mortgage foreclosure, insolvency,
removal, loss or expiration of lease or closing-out sales; or as assignees',
receivers' or trustees' sales; or as sales of goods distrained; or
sales of goods damaged by fire, smoke or water, or to in any way or
manner violate any of the provisions of the laws of the State of New
Jersey in connection with the sale of said goods.
C.
It shall be unlawful for any auctioneer or his or
her servants, agents or employees to give, award, bestow or deliver
any gift, prize or premium to any person or persons attending any
auction sale, regardless of the manner or method used with respect
thereto.
D.
It shall be unlawful to switch, fob or exchange any
article sold to a customer at public auction unless the article to
be given in exchange shall be sold by public outcry at a regularly
conducted auction sale.
E.
It shall be unlawful to substitute another article
for or in place of the article sold to the purchaser at any auction
sale, and all articles being sold must at all times be kept within
sight of the purchaser until delivered.
F.
It shall be unlawful to sell watches or clocks with
new cases but with old works, to remove or substitute works or any
part thereof or to sell secondhand goods for new unless the auctioneer,
before offering such articles for sale, shall clearly state such substitution
or removal or that such articles are used or secondhand.
G.
It shall be unlawful for an auctioneer at any time
to refuse to identify the last bidder to a duly authorized enforcement
officer of the Township.
H.
It shall be unlawful for any person holding a license
to engage in the auction business to use or employ an individual as
an auctioneer if said auctioneer has not obtained an auctioneer's
license as herein provided.
I.
It shall be unlawful for any auctioneer to engage
in what is commonly called "barking," "ballyhooing" or "ringing of
bell" or to use any noisy device or entertainment for the purpose
of attracting the attention of people passing the place where the
auction is being conducted and to induce them to enter such place.
No auctioneer shall cry or call bids or solicit business by any means
whatsoever unless he or she is at least 15 feet inside the entrance
to the place where such auction is being conducted.
J.
It shall be unlawful for any auctioneer to use or
employ, or permit the use or employment of, what are commonly called
"cappers," "shills" or "fake bidders." It also shall be unlawful to
sell what are known as "blind packages" or articles which cannot be
seen by the bidders before bids are made.
K.
It shall be unlawful to use window signs, posters
or other forms of advertising which shall in any way misrepresent
the source or quality of the merchandise to be sold, nor shall any
window sign or window poster be displayed which shall have a surface
greater than three square feet.
Public auction sales shall be held only between
the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. local time.
This chapter is passed for the purpose of regulating
public auctioneers and the auction business in said Township.
This chapter shall not apply to any sale held
under a judicial order, judgment or decree or a writ issuing out of
any court or any sale to enforce any lawful lien or power of sale,
whether by judicial process or not, nor shall this chapter apply to
the sale of any municipally owned real estate or any interest therein.
The Township Committee, after written charges
and notice and hearing thereon, may revoke or suspend any license
issued pursuant to this chapter if the licensee has been once convicted
of a crime in this or any other jurisdiction or if the licensee, his
or her servants, agents or employees, has committed any of the following
acts in connection with the operations under any license issued hereunder:
A.
Has pursued a flagrant and continued course of misrepresentation
or the making of false promises.
B.
Has failed to account for or to pay over any moneys
coming into his or her possession and belonging to others.
C.
Has evidenced conduct which demonstrates unworthiness,
incompetency, bad faith or dishonesty.
D.
Has failed to comply with any of the provisions of
this chapter.
The office of the Construction Official shall
be responsible for the enforcement of this chapter as amended.
[Amended 9-12-1984 by Ord. No. 84-26]
Any person violating any of the provisions of
this chapter shall, upon conviction, be subject to one or more of
the following: a fine not exceeding $1,250 or imprisonment in the
county jail for a term not exceeding 90 days, or a period of community
service not exceeding 90 days, in the discretion of the Municipal
Court Judge.
