Hello, 

My name is Josh Puffenbarger and I am a 12 year licensed auctioneer in the Commonwealth as well as a Virginia Auction Firm license holder. I'm also the Chairman of the Board for the Virginia Auctioneers Association which represents the largest collective group of auction professionals in the state.

I understand that DPOR has been tasked with reducing regulations but at what cost? The first and most important thing is consumer protection! The consumer in our industry is the seller. We as auctioneers take our sellers assets and sell them, collect and hold the their money, and then pay them after a brief period. If this is not regulated what keeps a immoral person acting in the capacity of an auctioneer from taking someone's lifetime worth of assets (sometimes several hundred thousand or more) and never paying the seller? We auctioneers currently maintain an escrow account and maintain care, custody, and control of client’s assets and money. How could we not regulate individuals and firms with this responsibility?

Secondly, the initiative is "to amend regulations that are determined to be overly burdensome or no longer applicable and provide clarity and/or combine other regulations."-DPOR. There is nothing burdensome about our industry! It's very easy to become an auctioneer! There is very little capital investment to get started, very little time investment needed to get started, and very little time and capital investment need to maintain a license. In the event that the current license law is abolished it would require more regulations, more investment of time and money, for auctioneers as we would need to get a licensed to sell real estate and titled units that fall under the Motor Vehicle Dealers Board. It doesn't make sense to deregulate one industry in order to fulfill the Governor’s initiative when, in fact, it creates more regulations. 

I hope the DPOR will consider these things when moving forward. I would also like to invite the director and other leaders at DPOR to reach out to the Virginia Auctioneers Association to see how we can work together moving forward. I/we understand that you have a task in front of you and we are in the trenches of the industry everyday; I believe we could help each other reach a resolution that works for everybody. 

Thank you for your time and consideration! I may be reached at 540-421-5007 or josh@alliedauctioneersva.com if I can ever be of assistance .

Josh Puffenbarger