[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of
the City of Vineland 12-16-1952 by Ord. No. 47 (Ch.
167 of the 1990 Code). Amendments noted where applicable.]
In the interpretation of this chapter, the following
words and phrases, unless the context shows another sense to be intended,
shall be held to have the following meanings:
The stand or platform from which the public auction sales
are conducted.
Any goods, wares, works of art, commodity, compound or thing,
chattel, merchandise or personal property which may be lawfully kept
or offered for sale.
Any goods, wares, works of art, commodity, compound or thing,
chattel, merchandise or personal property which may be lawfully kept
or offered for sale.
Includes any individuals, copartners, corporations or associations,
and wherever a statement or account is required to be made or done
by a corporation, the same shall be effected by its duly authorized
officer.
Any sale or offer to sell other than through bidding.
No person shall act as a public auctioneer and
no person shall engage in the auction business, in whole or in part,
or cause to be held any public auction or vendue within the limits
of the City of Vineland without first having had and obtained a license
as hereinafter provided for so doing.
[Amended 1-11-1977 by Ord. No. 1065]
A.
Before any license is granted, as set forth in this
chapter, the applicant shall make application therefor to the Director
of the Department of Licenses and Inspections, in writing and under
oath, on a form to be provided by the Director of the Department of
Licenses and Inspections. Such application shall state:
(1)
The full name of the applicant.
(2)
His residential address.
(3)
The length of time of continuous bona fide residence
in the City immediately prior to making application.
(4)
The places where the applicant has resided for a period
of three years immediately prior to making the application.
(5)
Whether any person or corporation 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, state the name, residence
and interest of said person or corporation.
(7)
The address of place of business.
(8)
Whether the applicant has ever been convicted of a
crime.
(9)
The experience the applicant has had as an auctioneer
or as a person engaged in the auction business.
(10)
The place and the time that the applicant has
been so engaged as an auctioneer or in the auction business.
The Director of Public Safety shall investigate
or cause to be investigated each and every application filed as aforesaid
and is hereby vested with the sole discretion of either granting or
refusing to grant a license.
[Amended 10-27-2009 by Ord. No. 2009-68; 8-22-2017 by Ord. No. 2017-56]
The Director of Licenses and Inspections shall, as a condition
precedent to the granting of the license to engage in the auction
business in the City of Vineland, require the applicant to provide
a bond of a surety company authorized to do business under the laws
of the State of New Jersey, in a form approved by the City Solicitor,
to be in the sum of $5,000. Such bond shall be for the benefit of
any person who shall have recovered a judgment against anyone responsible
under and by virtue of this chapter, by reason of any damage sustained
by such person as a result of having purchased any article or commodity
at a public auction conducted or operated by the licensee, due to
fraud or deceit practiced in effecting such purchase to such person,
and such bond to be for the protection of persons and property and
for the preservation of the safety and property of the City.
[Amended 8-22-2017 by Ord. No. 2017-56]
A.
Any applicant for a license may be denied by the Director of Licenses
and Inspections, or any license issued may be suspended or revoked
by the Mayor for the following causes:
(1)
The applicant or licensee has filed an application containing false
information.
(2)
The applicant or licensee has failed to comply with these regulations.
(3)
The applicant or licensee has been convicted of an offense under
these regulations.
(4)
The applicant or licensee has violated the Consumer Fraud Act, N.J.S.A.
56:8-1 et seq.
(5)
The applicant or licensee has been convicted of a criminal offense
involving moral turpitude in the State of New Jersey or any other
state.
B.
The applicant or licensee may appeal the decision of any City official
by filing a written request for a hearing before the City Council
with the City Clerk within 10 days of receiving the notice of denial,
suspension or revocation of the license. The hearing shall be held
within 20 days after the request is filed with the City Clerk.
Every license required by this chapter which
shall be granted shall entitle the licensee to operate in the City
of Vineland from the date of the issuance of such license to the first
day of January following the issuance thereof, and all renewals of
such licenses shall be for a period of one year from the first day
of January to the first day of January of the succeeding year. No
license shall be renewed unless all the terms and conditions of this
chapter have been fully complied with.
[Amended 8-22-2017 by Ord. No. 2017-56]
The fee for a license in accordance with this chapter shall
be $100 per day or any portion thereof during which an auction is
taking place, including any preauction viewing of goods being sold.
The fees shall be payable upon the presentation of the application
and shall be returned in the event that such license is not granted.
[1]
Editor’s Note: Former § 230-9, Suspension or revocation
of license, was repealed 8-22-2017 by Ord. No. 2017-56.
No person, except a licensed auctioneer or such a person authorized by § 230-12 of this chapter, shall sell or offer for sale any goods or merchandise in any manner similar to that of a public auction or by public outcry, even though no competitive bids are solicited.
[Amended 8-22-2017 by Ord. No. 2017-56]
Each auctioneer shall, during the sale or any preauction viewing
of goods being sold, cause his or her name to be conspicuously displayed
on a sign at the place where he or she is conducting an auction sale.
No licensed establishment shall operate without
a licensed public auctioneer, except that each licensed establishment
may conduct its own business on such licensed premises through its
proprietor or one of its proprietors, if a partnership, or one of
its officers, if a corporation, without any further license.
It shall be unlawful for any auctioneer to accept
anything other than bona fide bids, and such auction sales are to
be so conducted as to dispose of merchandise to the highest bidder,
unless terms otherwise are publicly announced immediately before the
sale.
It shall be unlawful for any auctioneer in describing
goods or merchandise that are being auctioned to, directly or indirectly,
either by act of commission or omission, knowingly misrepresent the
goods or merchandise being auctioned.
Every auctioneer or person engaged in the business
of selling goods at auction in the City, whether acting in his own
behalf or as the officer, agent or representative of another, shall,
upon the receipt or acceptance by him of any personal property or
goods for the purpose of sale at auction, before offering the same
or any part thereof for sale at auction, write or cause to be written
in a book to be kept by him for that purpose the following information:
A.
The name and address of the person who employed him
to sell such goods at auction.
B.
The name and address of the person for whose benefit,
behalf or account the property is to be so sold.
C.
The name and address of the person from whom the auctioneer
received or accepted the property.
D.
The name and address of the owner of the property
immediately prior to such receipt or acceptance.
E.
The location and the street number, if any, of the
property immediately prior to its receipt or acceptance.
F.
The date of the receipt of acceptance.
G.
The place, with the street number, if any, in which
the property is to be kept until sold or offered for sale at auction.
H.
The place, with street and number, if any, in which
the property is to be sold or offered for sale at auction.
I.
A description of the property to be sold and the quantity
thereof.
[Amended 8-22-2017 by Ord. No. 2017-56]
J.
The terms and conditions upon which the auctioneer
receives or accepts the property for sale at auction.
[Amended 8-22-2017 by Ord. No. 2017-56]
Nothing herein contained shall apply to the sale of real property
at auction nor to sales conducted by trustees in bankruptcy, executors,
administrators, receivers or other public officers acting under the
judicial process, or the sale of farm produce conducted by farmers'
cooperative associations.
The books and entries therein made as provided
by the preceding section shall, at all reasonable times, be open to
the inspection of the Director of Public Safety and the Chief of Police
of the City and of any person who shall be duly authorized, in writing,
for that purpose by either of them and who shall exhibit such written
authorization to the auctioneer.
[Amended 8-22-2017 by Ord. No. 2017-56]
It shall be unlawful to hold any public auction sale between
the hours of 12:00 midnight and 6:00 a.m.
Every advertisement of an auction sale to be
held in the City shall have the name of the auctioneer conducting
such sale appended or signed thereto.
A.
It shall be unlawful for any auctioneer to use or
employ or permit to be used or employed what is commonly known as
a "capper" or shill or fake bidders.
B.
It shall be unlawful to sell what are commonly known
as "blind packages" or articles which cannot be seen by bidders before
the bids are made.
No licensed auctioneer or other person shall
sell or attempt to sell at public auction any goods, chattels or personal
property in or upon any street or sidewalk in the City.
No merchandise shall be sold at retail from
the auction block.
[1]
Editor’s Note: Former § 230-23, Attracting attention
to sale, was repealed 8-22-2017 by Ord. No. 2017-56.
