Just Became a MaryKay consultant-but why can't I sell it on Ebay?? HELP

[carries*clothing*carousel]

Hello everyone! I'm not a newbie to the boards, I'm a regular on the CCBoard (Childrens Clothing Boutique) I'm a Powerseller here on Ebay of infant/toddler/and Jr clothing and I just became a new MaryKay consultant!~

May I ask for some advice? I've been told in a very blunt manner that I'm not *allowed* to sell my product here on Ebay. WHY? Why I buy my inventory, aren't I allowed to do with it what I want?

Help!

Thanks
Carrie 🙂

[*bugs*in*the*belfry*]

I believe it's part of your Mary Kay contract. If you're caught selling the cosmetics on Ebay, they won't let you be a consultant anymore.

[needs_and_nessesities]

Well, Mary Kay thinks it has good reasons for not allowing it, I think it has to do with product freshness and liability. Also, they like to control their unpaid sales staff somehow. JMO. It would make more sense to me if they and other schemes like them would allow people to have stores on here. But they are not likely to ever allow it, so I just would not try it. There have been a lot of postings on here from people who have had their auctions ended because of it.

[shoppingborn-blonde]

It's in your contract. Besides its very hard to sell and make money for consultants on Ebay. You can get Mary Kay usually under wholesale value here. So there really isn't alot or any $$ to be made if your ordering from the company.

[patricia2519]

As a FORMER Mary Kay consultant, I can tell you that there are people on this site that "look for" people selling here just to report them to corporate. I had TWO items up for auction and some one reported it and I then received a letter from Legal @ Mary Kay telling me to cease and desist selling on eBay! I wrote an angry letter back to them about the 25,000+ items on sale here @ the time and some by DIRECTORS! I rec'd a letter back stating they didn't want to upset me BUT...
I will no longer be affiliated w/ a company that seems to go after certain consultants and not others as some have been selling on here for years.
In regard to those selling discontinued items, I feel that if someone wants a certain product they will go to any lengths to find it and pay for it. I do myself if it's something I really want and can't find anymore.
That was just a rant, sorry. Back to OP, If you want to risk your business, go ahead and list your product, but beware, there are EYES all over these sites...good luck

[fun2playonthe-bay]

As a small seller, I have been wondering about the legalities of selling MaryKay on ebay. I am not, never have been nor ever want to be a MaryKay consultant, but I do enjoy buying and selling their items on ebay. Is this a legal hobby or am I breaking some hidden law that I'm not aware of? If it is in fact illegal "trademark" kind of stuff I would like to know what part of it is illegal. A Ford Crown Vic can be purchased and resold and advertised anywhere, but I've been catching a little "heat" from some ebay people and flack from local Reps/Directors about my hobby - what's wrong with it and why is my question. I don't want to hurt anyone or break any law, but I do want to exercise my rights to buy and sell just like I do everytime I walk up to a yardsale - noone says - Hey you can't resell that - it's trademark infringement? I'm not trying to take money from anyone else, but I am working very hard to try to make just a little from what I'm doing.

[needs_and_nessesities]

fun2- It is only against the rules of the company if you are a current rep. This goes for a lot of companies, Avon, Weight Watchers, etc. You can sell any item that belongs to you as long as it doesn't break any eBay rules. As far as trademarks go, some estates and artists and such have people they hire to make sure there is no copyright infringement going on. It is best to research your items before selling them to make sure you are not doing something liek that. It's unlikely. And beware of any of your auctions getting pulled for odd reasons, some competetors like to report people and eBay does NOT look into their claims very well.

[fun2playonthe-bay]

I only use my own pictures when if I insert a photo and I never copy the wording directly from the back of a bottle - it may be similar, but I won't copy verbatim. I've been trying hard to do things the right way, but it just gets a little scary knowing there are issues that people are dealing with like an actual Rep. I know I've bought from a few, but I'm even afraid to sell to a rep, but there's no way for me to know if they are or not a consultant.

[*bugs*in*the*belfry*]

fun2, if you're not a Mary Kay rep, there's nothing they can do to you. You can sell all the Mary Kay stuff you want to. It's their reps they don't want selling on Ebay.

[dull*women*have*immaculate*homes]

Patricia, didn't you post about this on an earlier thread? If it wasn't you, then I know that someone else suffered a similar fate. Maybe someone can answer this:
What I still cannot figure out is how someone reported two auctions that were running, to Mary Kay, in the first place. Unless you have your name and address right in the auction TOS someplace, how would anyone know who the seller was? And since only folks that are actively bidding can pull someone's contact info, how would anyone have this info unless they were bidding? I have never reported a Mary Kay or an Avon rep. I would have assumed, as other had mentioned, that the auctions were being listed by ex-reps.

[fun2playonthe-bay]

I don't know if I've been reported to MK, but I have had some strange things happening. There are people who have bid and won a few items within the last week that were brand new and at 0 when I tried to e-mail them a question about their item, it ended up being an e-mail sent to someone at mk.com. The person would never actually respond to anything I asked them, but when you go into Paypal and click on a link to ask them something you see the actual e-mail address. They had a different address in ebay, but would never respond to what I was trying to find out. I beleive people investigating this stuff actually purchase it and pay for it - once it's shipped they have your name address and all the info they need. I've had other things happen locally because I ran an ad in the paper requesting to buy old makeup rep inventory and had several MK directors give me **** about buying makeup.

[dull*women*have*immaculate*homes]

fun2play. I am confused by your initial post. Are you saying that you sold stuff to a 0 FB bidder, only to have their e-mail address go to MaryKay? From your first post, it looks to me like you are talking about buyers and sellers at the same time.

Can you clarify this for all of us? I am only a buyer, but perhaps your experience would give sellers a heads up? I remember someone from MaryKay on here about a month ago, and he was pretty high up in their organization. Perhaps needs or another regular will remember his post better than I.

[fun2playonthe-bay]

I am both a buyer of ebay items and I do a little selling to - so yes my questions are regarding both. My main concern is selling - can a non- MK person sell on ebay - which has been answered.

On one of my recent ebay listings - af 0FB did bid and won 2 cleansers that I had listed as a BIN purchase from me. When I tried to contact the buyer after they paid, I had a question for the buyer - I tried reaching them from the ebay site to no avail so I then tried contacting the first time buyer through the Paypal site. When I tried to reach them on ebay it used one email address, when I tried again through Paypal it had a different address that went to marykay.com. Since I have not been able to reach the buyer, I simply refunded their money because I could not get an answer to the question I had regarding the sale. Everything about the transaction from beginning 0FB to end was just a bit odd. They still have not contacted me even after the refund.

[luvmylelemc]

As a former MK consultant, I will tell you that MK and it's staff are using what ever means they see fit to end MK sales on EBay. The company is very much against the sale of it's products on here, at flea markets, etc. They are actually trying to get legislation passed making it illegal to sale such items at such places. So if you think strange things are happening to you MK auctions then they probably are. But if you aren't a consultant then you have nothing to worry about because thus far you are doing nothing wrong. If you are a consultant you are jeopardizing that with each and every listing.

But like mentioned before, MK is not profitable on EBay. You rarely even get your cost back much less cover your fees and make a profit. In fact, now that I am no longer a consultant, I purchase what few MK items I still use on here because they are so much cheaper than retail or even cost.

[patricia2519]

DULL, in answer to your question, I believe that the person who reported my auction was in fact a buyer for one of two MK items I had on auction. She bought inexpensively and then
left one of two neutral feedbacks in all my time on ebay stating she had "no real interaction" relating to the sale!
In response, I wrote "auction, purchase, invoice, payment,shipped, item rec'd 3 days. Did you want a personal relationship?????
One week later, I received letter from MK legal dept.
If you are NOT a consultant for MK, you can do whatever you want, but watch out if you are a consultant, they will stop you!
You can make money on your discontinued products! People really want them....look @ auctions for the old pink tube lip gloss. It has sold for as much as $35.00 for a $12.00 retail item. Also, Premonition cologne, has been disc. a very long time. There are auctions for that running right now upwards of $60.00 for a 30.00 retail product. It's crazy what a person will pay for something they want!