manufacturer threatening legal action

[dealsagent]

A person sent me a threatning letter claiming to be a rep from the company of an item I am selling. They explain that I am not legally authorized to sell the item on ebay without manufacturere concent. It's just a pool motor and I used my own images. Is this legitimate? is there restricted brands? 

[siayan]

Are you selling it as new? Some manufactures only allow authorized dealers to sell new items. 

[siayan]

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@siayan wrote:

Are you selling it as new? Some manufactures only allow authorized dealers to sell new items. 

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That being said they are probably just blowing smoke

[gracieallen01]

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@dealsagent wrote:

A person sent me a threatning letter claiming to be a rep from the company of an item I am selling. They explain that I am not legally authorized to sell the item on ebay without manufacturere concent. It's just a pool motor and I used my own images. Is this legitimate? is there restricted brands? 

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There should be some folks along soon with more details, but I believe one should not worry too much about it unless one receives a Registered - snail mail - Letter.  Generally considered a 'cease and desist' notice, I believe.

[dealsagent]

I changed it to "like new'
is this good enough?

[chrysylys]

The GW for $125?  You have it listed as 'open box', so I don't see what their beef would be.

The words 'appears new' could cause you some headaches in  returns though if it doesn't work.  You should test it first.

[chrysylys]

Could be your username too.  They may feel it implies you are an agent of their company.

[siayan]

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@dealsagent wrote:
I changed it to "like new'
is this good enough?

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For the guy who is trying to knock you out of his business nothing will be good enough. There is a vero system in eBay if they have a problem and that is the only way they will stop anyone from selling. Apparently they know enough to know they don't have a leg to stand on. 

Did you google the person, did the message have an official title etc. If not I would ignore it. Like new should be enough. 

[duggmills]

Tangible items you own something other than a software program, you can sell.

A rep of the company? This dummy represent the company as a sales representative and has no authority to interfere with the manufacturer's policies and certainly can't create policy.

He rep might be under the misconception you can't use the manufactures name, or product name or model number.  That isn't true either. There may come a time (not likely) when sellers might be asked to make a statement that;  Trade marks are the property of their respective owners.

For fun you could ask the rep to email his complaint on the maufacturer's letter head.

I doubt you'll ever see anything but if you were to get such a letter you could contact that company, explain the situation and see if this guy is still a rep next week. 

[siayan]

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@duggmills wrote:

Tangible items you own something other than a software program, you can sell.

A rep of the company? This dummy represent the company as a sales representative and has no authority to interfere with the manufacturer's policies and certainly can't create policy.

He rep might be under the misconception you can't use the manufactures name, or product name or model number.  That isn't true either. There may come a time (not likely) when sellers might be asked to make a statement that;  Trade marks are the property of their respective owners.

For fun you could ask the rep to email his complaint on the maufacturer's letter head.

I doubt you'll ever see anything but if you were to get such a letter you could contact that company, explain the situation and see if this guy is still a rep next week. 

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Good points but don't ask for or send emails, guaranteed trouble for you. 

[nowthatsjustducky]

If the email does not address me by my legal name, then I go with the Khan response of no response...

[woodyscollectibles]

What a joke. Sounds like your taking away from someones local sales in your area. Put the letter in your shreader and continue to sell. We owned a lighting store back in the 80's & 90's and when we bought so much from some of the companys they would not sell to any other stores with in a 20 mile radius. That worked out great because people had to come to us to get the product. Today that would be impossible because of sales through places like Ebay. Take heating & cooling. My dad owned his own business and was licensed to install. Your not allowed to go in to a dealer and buy without a license. You can not go to Home Depot, Menards, etc and buy there either. They will sell you a unit as long as a licensed installer is involved but today you can get online and buy anything you need. It has changed so much for alot of people. He's just upset because your taking away sales from him. I say good for you and sell more. His threats are worhless. It's not worth arguing with him by sending letters or threats his way. Just continue to sell. Merry X-mas & Happy Holidays..............Woody

[a_c_green]

Ignore the doofus. Engaging him in correspondence is not going to help make him go away. If he had an actual legal foot to stand on, he wouldn't be emailing threats from another eBay account, if that's what happened here.

[woodyscollectibles]

Also to those people that say you can't sell it as new because your not an authorized dealer. I remember you telling me you had a grandfather that left you everything in new condition because he shut his business down and retired or passed away or moved to the moon and left it all to you. You can sell it now. Even if your gramps decides to get involved again and buy next years model and then again he moves to the moon or god forbid pass away again. Come on. It's impossible to stop you from selling it. If that was the case there are tons of products being sold online that your suppose to be a licensed dealer or installer to be able to get your hands on. Heating & cooling is a big one. They don't want people installing these products without them being inspected by there local building code enforcement but there online doing it anyways. As long as know one is getting hurt your fine. I am guessing with your product it's because they don't want them being installed by the home owners because if there not properly grounded someone could get hurt. Again that's where a licensed electrician & local code enforcement through the state or county would be involved. Good luck and keep selling.......

[a_c_green]

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@woodyscollectibles wrote:

It's impossible to stop you from selling it. If that was the case there are tons of products being sold online that your suppose to be a licensed dealer or installer to be able to get your hands on. Heating & cooling is a big one. They don't want people installing these products without them being inspected by there local building code enforcement but they're online doing it anyways.

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True, but also I think there's a distinction to be made between buying the item and installing it. I can buy all kinds of stuff at Home Depot for which our municipality requires an inspection after installing it... but not to just have it in the first place. I wired my entire outside shed myself, conduit and everything, with the understanding that the building inspector would need to come by afterwards and approve it, which he did. The actual person doing the work was not a factor.

Even in cases where you would either want to or have to have a licensed installer do the work, there's no reason why you can't buy the parts yourself.