If I understand correctly, in order to comply with the patriot act
regulations, one has to have an anti-money laundering plan
implemented and this would include ways of avoiding buying or selling
in a way which could lead to money laundering/fund raising for
terrorists. Part of this would be buying from known or reputable
dealers…would buying in goods on auctions such as ebay be
considered too risky then in regards to the ‘spirit’ of the patriot
act?
The reason I ask is that being stuck in Norway the last few years,
where there are few, if any gemshows, and the local hobby shop sells
20 freshwater pearls (not strands!!) for $11, I’ve found ebay to be a
good source for supplies. I don’t buy so much from the regular ebay
dealers that deal only in jewelry supplies/gems etc, but tend to buy
more from people who have bought on estate sales and so on…I get
better buys that way. However, one can never be sure of the seller
other than in terms of their feedback…one has no idea if they
could be ‘laundering’ or anything else. I’ll probably rely more on
gemshows and regular suppliers once I move back to the US, but will
still keep an eye on ebay…
The other question on this is is it the actual sales price you look
at or the street value of said auctions when figuring if you are
buying for more than $50k a year?
Jeanne