As used in this chapter, the following words shall have the meanings
indicated:
Any goods, wares, works of art, commodities, compounds or things,
chattels, merchandise or personal property which may be lawfully kept or offered
for sale, but shall not include goods damaged at sea or by fire and sold or
to be sold for the benefit of the owners, insurers or for the account of whom
it may concern or goods sold by virtue of judicial decree.
No person shall act as a public auctioneer of goods and no person shall
hold or cause to be held any public auction or public vendue of goods within
the City of Oswego without first obtaining a license from the City Clerk.
Every applicant for such a license shall furnish to the City Clerk evidence
that he has complied with the laws of the State of New York regulating auctions
and auctioneers. No person shall receive or be entitled to receive a license
under the provisions of this chapter unless he is a person of good moral character
and shall furnish satisfactory evidence thereof to the City Clerk. For every
such license, the City Clerk shall charge and the city shall receive a license
fee of one hundred dollars ($100.). Every license issued shall expire on the
first day of January next succeeding the day on which it is granted. Every
such license issued shall contain the name and residence address of the auctioneer
to whom it is issued, and no other person than the one named therein shall
act as auctioneer under such license.
No person shall be entitled to an auctioneer's license hereunder or
act as auctioneer on the sale at public auction of personal property in the
City of Oswego where a license is required hereunder until he has entered
into a joint and several bond to the City of Oswego with two (2) sufficient
sureties to be approved by the Mayor or with a surety company authorized to
issue surety bonds in the State of New York under the penalty of five thousand
dollars ($5,000.), conditioned that he will faithfully perform his duties
as such auctioneer and render such accounts and pay such duties and moneys
as such auctioneer as may be required of him by law to the City of Oswego
or to any person.
Every auctioneer or person engaged in the business of selling personal
property at auction, whether acting in his own behalf or as officer, agent
or representative of another, shall, upon the receipt or acceptance by him
of any personal property for the purpose of sale at auction and before offering
the same for sale at auction, write or cause to be written in a book to be
kept by him for the purpose the name and address of the person who employed
him to sell such personal property at auction; the name and address of the
person for whose benefit, behalf or account such personal property is to be
sold at auction; the name and address of the person from whom such auctioneer
received or accepted such personal property; the name and address of the person
who was the owner, the authorized agent of owner or the consignor of such
personal property immediately prior to the receipt or acceptance for the purpose
of sale at auction of the same by such auctioneer; the location with street
and number of any such personal property immediately prior to the receipt
or acceptance of the same by such auctioneer for the purpose of sale at auction;
the date of the receipt or acceptance by such auctioneer or such personal
property for the purpose of sale at auction; the place and street and number,
if any, in which such personal property is to be held, kept or stored until
sold or offered for sale at auction; the place with street and number, if
any, in which such personal property is to be sold or offered for sale at
auction; a description of such personal property and the distinctive marks
thereon, if any; and the terms and conditions upon which such auctioneer received
or accepted such personal property for sale at auction. The word "person,"
as used in this section, includes a corporation, joint-stock association or
copartnership. Said book when written, as hereinbefore required, shall be
the inventory to be sold at auction.
Said book and the entries therein made, as provided by the preceding
section, shall at all reasonable times be open to the inspection of the Mayor
and the head of the Police Department of the city, the District Attorney of
Oswego County and any person who shall exhibit such authorization to such
auctioneer. In addition to inspection of said book, the same authorities may
at any time during the auction sale examine all records of the establishment
pertaining to the receipt of merchandise after the commencement of the auction
sale.
During any sale by auction, no additions whatever shall be made to the
stock of merchandise set forth in the inventory as written in said book unless
such additions shall be recorded and appropriately labeled as merchandise
so added. Upon the offering for sale any such merchandise so added, the auctioneer
shall announce that such articles have been added to the stock of merchandise
since the auction started.
No person, firm or corporation shall dispose of his goods, wares or
merchandise at public auction, either by himself or another, unless said person,
firm or corporation shall have been in business continuously in the City of
Oswego as a wholesale or retail merchant at the same location at which said
auction is conducted for a period of six (6) months preceding such auction
without written permission from the Mayor, which permission shall be granted
by the Mayor, in his discretion, for good cause. This section shall not apply
to legal or judicial sales, including sales under and by virtue of the Personal
Property Law relating to clearance of title under conditional sales contracts
or sales by executors or administrators or to sales of or on behalf of licensed
pawnbrokers of unredeemed pledges in the manner provided by law or to sales
conducted by licensed auctioneers of the property of persons not regularly
engaged in the wholesale or retail sale of merchandise.
No sale at a public auction shall continue for more than thirty (30)
days, Sundays and legal holidays excepted, from the day of the beginning of
the sale. Such sale may continue for thirty (30) additional days upon written
permission of the Mayor, which permission shall be granted by the Mayor, in
his discretion, for good cause.
It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to sell, dispose
of or offer for sale in the City of Oswego at public auction or to cause or
permit to be sold, disposed of or offered for sale in said city at public
auction between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. the following morning
any gold, silver, plated ware, precious stones, watches, clocks, jewelry,
bric-a-brac, rugs, clothing, china, porcelain, crockery, glassware, linens,
laces, leather goods, furniture, springs, mattresses, electric household appliances,
musical instruments or radios, whether the same shall be their own property
or whether they shall sell the same as agents or employees, or otherwise;
provided, however, that this chapter shall not apply to legal or judicial
sales, including sales under and by virtue of the Personal Property Law relating
to clearance of title under conditional sales contracts or sales by executors
or administrators or to sales by or on behalf of licensed pawnbrokers of unredeemed
pledges in the manner provided by law.
A.
No auctioneer of personal property shall misrepresent
the quality, kind or value of any article at any auction sale.
B.
No person, firm or corporation shall sell or offer for
sale any goods, wares or merchandise by auction or advertise for sale any
goods, wares or merchandise falsely representing or pretending that such goods,
wares or merchandise, in whole or in part, are a part of a bankrupt or insolvent
stock or damaged goods or goods saved from fire or make any false statement
as to the purchase, history or character of such goods, wares or merchandise.
No person shall act as a by-bidder or what is commonly known as a "capper,"
"booster" or "shiller" at any public auction or place or offer or make any
false bid to buy or to pretend to buy any such article sold or offered for
sale at any public auction sales.
It shall be unlawful for any person licensed hereunder to offer for
sale by auction any article to which there is not attached a card or ticket
or label containing a true and correct statement, plainly written or printed
in English, specifying the kind and quality of the metal of which such article
is made or composed or the percentage of karat or purity of such metals. If
such articles are plated or overlaid, then such tag or label shall contain
a true statement of the kind of plate. When precious stones are for sale or
sold by auction as such or as part of an article of jewelry, such written
statement shall set forth the true name, weight and quality of such stone
or stones. When semiprecious stones are offered for sale or sold by auction
as such or as part of an article of jewelry, such written statement shall
set forth the true name of said stones. When imitations of precious or semiprecious
stones are offered for sale or sold by auction as such or as part of an article
of jewelry, said imitations shall be described or defined as synthetic or
imitations of such stones as they purport to represent. When watches and clocks
are sold, the true names of the manufacturers shall be stated, in writing,
and no parts of the movements or mechanism thereof shall be substituted or
contain false and misleading names or trade marks; neither shall secondhand
or old movements be offered for sale in new cases without a true statement
to that effect. Used and rebuilt watches should be so indicated in accordance
with the New York State Law. Such tags or labels shall remain securely attached
to any such article or merchandise and shall be delivered to the purchaser
as a true and correct description and representation of the article sold,
and it shall be deemed prima facie evidence of intent to defraud in case such
written statements are not a true and correct description and representation
of such articles sold.
Whenever the Mayor believes that sufficient cause exists for the revocation
of a license, he may upon his own motion or, upon complaint made by any person,
revoke any license issued hereunder. Before so revoking any such license,
he shall cause to be served upon such licensee a notice specifying the grounds
of complaint or the alleged reasons for revocation, which notice shall fix
a time and place at which the Mayor shall hear and determine said complaint.
The person against whom said complaint is made shall have an opportunity to
be heard in answer to said complaint and at the time specified in said notice
and to make defense thereto. The Mayor may revoke the license of any person
against whom charges brought as above are, in his opinion, substantiated;
provided, however, that when a license is revoked, the Mayor shall notify
the licensee, in writing, and give the reasons for such revocation.
Any person, firm or corporation who shall violate or fail or refuse
to comply in any way with any of the provisions of this chapter shall be liable
to a fine or penalty of not more than one hundred fifty dollars ($150.) for
each offense, and in case the person convicted of such violation is fined
and does not immediately pay such fine or penalty, he may be committed to
the Oswego County Jail for the term of one (1) day for each and every dollar
of said fine or penalty not paid, not exceeding one hundred fifty (150) days.
Each day said business is carried on without the procurement of and payment
for such license shall constitute a separate offense.
This chapter shall not apply to any sale of real or personal property,
pursuant to the judgment, decree or order of any court or to any sale of real
or personal property in connection with the administration of a decedent's
estate by or on behalf of the executor or administrator thereof.
