dan_fromm2 Posted December 4, 2007 Share Posted December 4, 2007 http://www.collection-appareils.fr/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2051 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Laur Posted December 4, 2007 Share Posted December 4, 2007 In case anyone wants to, you can also <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/120307-french-auction-regulator-sues-to.html" target="_blank"><b>read about this in English</b></a>. In short: the French auction regulation authority wants to shut down eBay's French operations for conducting online auctions without a permit. They seem to be cranky over the fact that eBay is acting as a "broker" between two other parties, rather than acting like a traditional French auction house and also hewing to the laws there that require the auctioneer to make guarantees to the buyers and sellers, or get involved in the delivery of the goods. I'm afraid that some of that classic Gaulish Inertia is hard at work, here. No wonder it's so tough to start a new business there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Laur Posted December 4, 2007 Share Posted December 4, 2007 Oh, and this does relate to photography, I suppose. A bit, anyway, however indirectly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoni_perlmutter Posted December 4, 2007 Share Posted December 4, 2007 Matt, I understand from your comments that you have tried to start a new business in France. And that it was tough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Laur Posted December 4, 2007 Share Posted December 4, 2007 Heh, Yoni! No, not personally. But I do business with people who have run businesses there (successfully and not), people who have undertaken to do so and threw up their hands over a number of hiring/firing-related issues, and with people that operate - in the US - business units under French ownership. I'm not unfamiliar with many of the issues involved. It's definitely harder to start and sustain a business venture in much of Europe than it is in many other places, that's for sure, and France's posture towards regulation is just one of the many hurdles that they consider appropriate in the great sea of compromises that each country makes. The US has its own strong and weak points when it comes to the small/moderate-business atmosphere, as well. Just different issues. I'm just struck by the bureaucratic urge to get in between two parties and their private transactions, just because they're facilitated by a large business that doesn't quite fit the mold of the traditional French auction houses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken_jeanette1 Posted December 4, 2007 Share Posted December 4, 2007 $$$$$$$$$$$$$ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Laur Posted December 4, 2007 Share Posted December 4, 2007 Well, Ken's right, of course. France has a huge and growing social services bill that it has to keep finding a way to pay for. That rioting in the streets is due partly to the out-of-balance expectations that people have on that front. Getting some government revenue out of the fact that a web site has introduced a buyer to a seller is just what it sounds like: a tax on a popular and growing area of economic activity. <br><br> Nothing new on that front! Oldest story in the world. Well, oldest story since governments started collecting taxes, anyway. Except people get a little tired of that, at the retail level, so that revenue is collected instead as fees on licenses, permits, inspections, etc. And of course, eBay will just have to pass it along to its sellers, who will pass it along their buyers. And that will slow down that activity. <i>Also</i> the oldest story in the world! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_hughes4 Posted December 6, 2007 Share Posted December 6, 2007 Just to get non- fox news facts right.I've lived in France for 30 years.Photographic equipement is the most exspensive in the world,because of taxes, which as someone who is self-employed contributes to making it very difficult to be enthusiastic.The problem in France is wealth distribution,not the abscence of it.World economy is suffering, partly because the US has for decades blindly lent money to people to make them believe that everything is fine,and now they cant pay back...everything is not fine is it?Luckily there are still people in France who do not want people to have money problems?and if they do have a tendancy to over-react,to be over protective,the proof is world-wide.Personal bank loans in China have existed for sevan years.....there are already millions of Chinese in great financial trouble.I have a photo of an old mongolian Nomade who told me that the best hunter always gave some of his catch to the old, the infirmed,or just someone who was a lousy one.The French are arrogant,I married three of them,so Ihave some knowledge,but I dont mind paying taxes when I know that everyone in this country has medical care guaranteed,and is free for people far less fortunate than myself.And if someone thinks that certain things on E-bay are a bit dodgy,and can lead to problems, then I can handle that.This is not philantropy, or Communisme, just being part of whats called Society. John Hughes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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