Kern County Municipal Code Ch. 5.68 Public Auctions

Nothing contained in this chapter shall apply to the following:

A. Judicial sales or sales made upon execution or by virtue of any proceedings issued by a state or federal court;

B. Sales by executors or administrators;

C. Sales made by a public officer in his official capacity or sales of property belonging to the United States or to this state or any political subdivision thereof;

D. Sales by any person of his own goods, wares or merchandise at his own private residence where such goods, wares or merchandise have been used as part of the furnishings of such residence;

E. Sales of livestock;

F. With the exception of jewelry, sales by any religious, civic or social organization where a charity solicitation permit has been secured pursuant to the provisions of Ordinance G-56.

(Prior code § 6560)

A. "Public auction" means any public sale of property by public outcry to the highest bidder.

B. "Auctioneer" includes and comprehends the following:

1. Any person who sells or offers to sell by public outcry to the highest bidder, when bids are called for, any real estate or interest therein, or any goods, wares, merchandise or other personal property, new or used, in any tent, building or structure or on any of the streets or sidewalks or in any public place in the unincorporated area of the county where the general public is permitted to attend and offer bids;

2. Any person who advertises himself as a public auctioneer or in any other manner holds himself out as an auctioneer as defined in subparagraph 1 of this subsection for public patronage or receives a fee or commission for services as such.

(Prior code § 6550)

The tax collector shall not issue an auctioneer's license until the applicant therefor has filed with the tax collector an auctioneer's bond in the amount of five thousand dollars ($5,000.00) on the form prescribed by Section 5.68.050 with the applicant as principal and an authorized surety company, doing business in the state of California, as surety.

(Prior code § 6553)

Notwithstanding any provision in Section 5.68.030 to the contrary, the surety bond referred to in said section may be executed by two (2) good and sufficient sureties other than an authorized surety company, provided said sureties are first approved by the board of supervisors of the county.

(Prior code § 6553.1)

An auctioneer's bond shall be approved by the tax collector and shall be in substance in the following form:

AUCTIONEER'S BOND

KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS:

That we ___________, as principal, and ___________, as surety, are held and firmly bound, both jointly and severally, in the sum of Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), lawful money of the United States, unto the County of Kern, a political subdivision, and to every person, firm or corporation, insuring any of them against any loss or damage that may result to any person, firm or corporation who is aggrieved or damaged by any act of the principal as auctioneer or by any of his employees in violation of or contrary to any provision of Chapter 5.68 of the Ordinance Code of the County of Kern, or by the fraud or other misdealing of any kind by the principal or by any employee of the principal. This undertaking is not void upon the first recovery but may be sued upon and recovered upon from time to time by any person aggrieved until the whole penalty is exhausted in the full sum of Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), lawful money of the United States of America, for the payment of which well and truly to be made we hereby bind ourselves and our heirs, and each of our successors and assigns, jointly and severally, firmly by these presents.

The conditions of this obligation are such that, whereas, the said principal has applied, or is about to apply to the Tax Collector of the County of Kern for a license to engage in the business of auctioneer in accordance with the provisions and requirements of Chapter 5.68 of the Ordinance Code of the County of Kern.

Now, therefore, if the said principal shall faithfully abide by and conform to the provisions of Chapter 5.68 of the Ordinance Code of the County of Kern, and neither said principal nor any of his employees cheats, defrauds, or otherwise injures any customer of said principal, then this obligation shall be void; otherwise this obligation shall remain in full force and effect until the full penalty thereof is exhausted and any person suffering damage by reason of a violation of any of the conditions of the obligation by the principal therein named or any of his employees, may sue and recover thereon in his, its or their own name.

The liability of the surety upon this bond shall be and remain in full force and effect for the full period of the license issued to the principal herein named and thereafter upon any liability incurred by the principal during such period as long as he remains liable thereon. Discharge in bankruptcy of the principal shall not relieve the surety of any incurred liability.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the said principal and the said surety have caused these presents to be duly signed this ___ day of _______, 19___, to be effective ________ and to expire ________.

(Prior code § 6554)

It shall be the duty of every auctioneer each day at the beginning of an auction in the unincorporated territory of the county to fully state the terms and conditions upon which the sale or sales will be made, and that such buyer must settle for any article so purchased within a specified period of time after the purchase, not to exceed twenty-four (24) hours.

(Prior code § 6555)

It shall be the duty of the auctioneer to give each and every purchaser of an article, the selling price of which amounts to the sum of one dollar ($1.00) or more, an invoice containing a full description of the article, the selling price thereof, together with a statement giving each and every warranty under which the article was sold. Duplicate copies of said invoices shall be kept by the auctioneer or by the firm, corporation or association whose merchandise is being sold at public auction.

(Prior code § 6556)

A. It is unlawful for any auctioneer to offer for sale or sell at public auction any article of platinum, gold, silver, gold filled, rolled gold plate, plated ware, precious stones, semiprecious stones, watches or other jewelry, new or used, unless there is securely attached to the article so offered for sale or sold, a tag, card or label upon which shall be plainly written or printed in English a true, correct and complete statement of the kind and quality of the material or materials of which said article is composed; and in case such article is an article of metal jewelry, such statement shall contain a true and correct statement of the kind and quality and/or weight of the metal of which said article is made or composed and the percentage or carat of purity of such metal or article; and in case such article is plated or overlaid, then such statement shall contain a true statement of the kind of plate and the percentage of purity of such plate, and the kind of metal or material covered; and in case such article is a precious or semiprecious stone, such statement shall contain the true name, weight, quality, color and fineness of said stone; and in case such article be a diamond, the statement of quality shall be that as established by the diamond industry for the past fifty (50) years as follows: "perfect" means a diamond in which no imperfections are found when such diamond is magnified at least ten (10) times; "slightly imperfect" means a diamond in which minute imperfections are found when such diamond is magnified six (6) times; "imperfect" means a diamond in which imperfections are found when magnified three (3) or less times; and in case such article be a watch, such statement shall contain the true name of the manufacturer thereof, and whether or not such watch is a standard level escapement, pin pallette cylinder clock, or other escapement or quality, and in case any used movement or substitute part of movement of any watch be offered for sale in a new case, such fact shall be set forth in the statement; and in the event that any auction sale shall have been advertised as offering such articles from a designated or named estate or source, then the tag or label on said article shall state the designated or named estate or source from which that particular article was obtained, and no such article so sold or offered for sale shall bear any false, misleading name, description or entry thereon; and it shall be deemed prima facie evidence of intent to defraud or violate the provisions of this chapter where such article so sold or offered for sale fails to compare with the description indicated on the tag, card or label, as hereinbefore provided. Such tag, card or label shall remain securely attached to any such article so sold or offered for sale, and shall be delivered to the purchaser by the auctioneer so selling the same as a correct description and representation of the article so sold. In case there are more than one (1) of the same kind of article to be sold, then such tag, card or label shall indicate the chronological number of the respective articles of the same class so sold. The auctioneer conducting the sale must at the end of every twenty-four (24) hours deliver or mail to the sheriff of the county an itemized statement of all sales of such articles made by him during the preceding twenty-four (24) hour period. Such itemized statement shall be subscribed by the auctioneer conducting the sale.

B. It is unlawful for any auctioneer to offer for sale at public auction any article of jewelry, as jewelry is defined in subsection A of this section, except between sunrise and sunset and unless such article has been kept on display in full view of prospective bidders under ordinary lighting during the entire progress of such auction; and it is unlawful for any auctioneer to sell or offer for sale any such article which was hidden or not kept on display as aforesaid for any reason whatsoever during the entire progress of said public auction.

(Prior code § 6557)

Any person, firm, corporation or association intending to dispose of its stock on hand by sale at public auction, which sale is to be advertised or publicly announced as a "close-out sale," a "quitting business sale," or similar type of sale, must make a written application verified under oath to the county tax collector at least fifteen (15) days before the intended sale is to begin, which application shall specify the name and the address of the applicant, the location and purpose of the sale and its expected duration, the name of the auctioneer who shall conduct the sale, and inventory itemizing in detail the quality, quantity, kind or grade of each item of goods, wares and other articles to be sold with the wholesale market value thereof and shall include a declaration that the merchandise or property to be sold at a public auction is a bona fide part of the applicant's stock in trade, that the items listed in said inventory do not exceed by twenty-five percent (25%) the unit volume of the inventory carried by the applicant ninety (90) days prior to the application. Any inventory in excess of the foregoing shall be cause for refusal to issue any license; provided, further, that whenever the stock on hand to be sold at public auction as described in this section is a stock of jewelry as described in Section 5.68.080, then and in that event the application required by this section shall be accompanied by the sum of fifty dollars ($50.00), which sum shall be used by the county for the purpose of making an investigation of the statements and inventory contained in said application.

(Prior code § 6558)

It is permissible to sell or offer for sale property in blind packages at public auction if such property is property which was stored in a warehouse, storage house or other place of safekeeping located within the county and is abandoned or unclaimed by the owner thereof and is being disposed of by the owner or operator of said warehouse, storage house or place of safekeeping as unclaimed and abandoned property. The auctioneer conducting a public auction at which property is sold or offered for sale in blind packages under this section shall maintain an accurate record of each package offered for sale at such auction, together with the name of the warehouse, storage house or other place of safekeeping in which such package was stored prior to such sale. Such record shall be open to inspection by the sheriff at all times during the course of such public auction.

(Prior code § 6559.1)

It is unlawful for any auctioneer or for any person, firm, corporation or association sponsoring or assisting in carrying on or conducting a public auction:

A. To knowingly and intentionally make any statement which is false in any particular or which has a tendency to mislead any person present, or to make any misrepresentation whatsoever or at all, as to the quality or quantity or character or present condition or value or cost or general selling price of any property whether new or used;

B. To have or employ or permit any person to be or take part in, or for any person to act as a capper or by-bidder, booster or puffer, or to make any fictitious or fraudulent bid, or bid not made in good faith or not intended to be consummated by a sale;

C. To offer or attempt to dispose of goods, wares or merchandise at an auction between sunset and sunrise unless such goods, wares or merchandise have been on display during the daylight hours of the business day preceding such sale. Nothing herein shall be construed to authorize the sale of jewelry at public auction, as said jewelry is defined in Section 5.68.080 of this chapter, between sunset and sunrise;

D. Except as provided in Section 5.68.100, to offer or attempt to dispose of any property at any auction in blind packages, or any property not at the time actually exhibited to public view, or to the view of the person bidding on the same;

E. To substitute any article in lieu of the article offered to and purchased by the bidder except with the bidder's knowledge and consent.

(Prior code § 6559)

Any person, firm, corporation or association that violates any provisions of this chapter is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punishable by imprisonment in the County Jail not exceeding six (6) months or by fine not exceeding five hundred dollars ($500.00) or by both.

(Prior code § 6561)