Probably not but that legal concession could subject him to a whole new level of scrutiny he does not want.

I'm still not seeing how selling 3-4 games a month is within the reasonable levels of buy/sell for a hobby. How could someone possibly be tired of a game a week to the point that it needs to be sold and replaced? How large of a collection does a person need to have before it requires that level of turnover to be fresh? I'm not saying I agree with the legal issues here but 3-4 games a month is probably toeing the line between hobby and business regardless of profitability.

The *tax difference* (i.e. the IRS) is profitability.

The city doesn't care if you make money. They care about activity levels/types and zoning.

None of that matters here because his citation is from the city. The city does not care about what the IRS thinks.

Lying in a way that's easily proven false is never a helpful thing. Refuse to answer, refuse to allow access, but lying is only going to bite a person in the ass later on. Even if it's not in this case it will in some other case.

Yep. If you really want to ensure that the city officials get on your butt and stay on your butt then lie to them and get caught. Nothing creates a grudge with a city official quicker than bruising their ego by obviously lying to them. That changes your situation from one in which they are obligated to cite you into one where they are looking for reasons to shut you down.

You stand on your porch and say "no" when they ask for entry into your property. What are they going to do? Kick you in the junk and run past you?

A couple of years ago our town hired some real amateurs to do property tax re-assessments. They didn't tell anyone it was going to happen. Some guy showed up at my front door at 8am on a saturday saying he wanted to inspect my house. When I asked to see some ID he showed me a blurry index card inkjet photo laminated with a $20 machine. When I called the Police to inquire about town employees asking for entry into private homes on a saturday they had no idea what I was talking about. Would you let that guy into your home?

Of course, I had to fight my next tax bill, when my home magically went from 3 bedrooms to 6 bedrooms and two new bathrooms despite no permitted additions to the property.

_{Post edited by ChadTower : spelling}

Heh, that'll work until the owner of that property down the street complains about illicit buying and selling in his parking lot. Why can't you just do the business at your actual place of business?

Yes, I do want them to drag the Cops along, if it is something that I am not comfortable with. All they had to do was be the slightest bit professional and I would have let them in. You know, simple stuff like advance notice, or an ID that doesn't look like a 3rd grader made it, or notifying the town Police of their activity (as required by town code), or not showing up at 8am on a saturday. Given their complete lack of professionalism nothing short of a search warrant was going to get them into my house.