Just got a strange message supposedly from an agent of 5.11 Tactical

[rolenboy01]

This was not a VERO claim but a message from a supposed enforcer for 5.11 Tactical

"Dear rolenboy01:

It has recently come to our attention that your business is displaying, promoting, and offering for sale various 5.11 Tactical® products, yet we do not have a record of you as being an authorized reseller. An unauthorized reseller cannot display our trademarks in such a way as to create the impression with consumers that the reseller is an authorized reseller. In addition, please be advised that any images of 5.11 Tactical® products taken or provided by 5.11 Tactical® are copyrighted material and sole property of 5.11 Tactical®, which may not be used without our consent."

As far as I can tell I am not implying I am an authorized reseller, is this a real cease and desist or just some idiot competitor trying to scare me?

I did find the same question on these forums from 2015 but they didn't really get many answers.

[pingpong517]

well, first are you using any pics or stuff is tradmarked?,

BUT is it real or not... is there a phone number to be called, or email address to use to contact them?

i doubt it would just come via an email message...and if you think it could at all be true... find the company's phone number...do some calling....be sure.

[rolenboy01]

I've never used any of their stock pictures or anything like that would implying i'm an "authorized resller" as they claim, as far as I can tell my listings fit under the first-sale doctrine.

[*eponymous*]

First sale doctrine gives you the right to sell your used stuff.  There are something like 22,000 of the 5.11 items for sale on eBay.

[ymeagainlord]

You don't have to be an "authorized reseller" to sell your OWN stuff.

[scstool]

I had the same problem through VERO on some snap-on tools.

I was allowed to relist by marking "no warranty" and making sure items were listed as Used.

Sometimes you can make the rights owner happy if you use a trademark identifier ™ or registered symbol ®.

As long as you are not using the photos and sell as new with warranty you should be ok, but that does not stop them from filing a vero complaint in which case your listings will be removed until you jump through a bunch of hopes.

[castlemagicmemories]

Great Freudian slip...unless you jump through a bunch of hopes...

Seller has hopes that his items can be listed, but must jump through hoops to satisfy VERO demands...

OP sorry this happened to you!

[rixstuff]

I took a look.  They dont seem to be claiming that you are selling counterfeits and they are listed as pre-owned.  You arent using stock photos either.  It is hard to say who the sender really is.  I think the true company would be able to look at your listing and see that you arent using much more than the brand name (which you are allowed to do), arent claiming to be a reseller, and arent using their stock photos or any other intellectual property.

Many many years ago my mom got a message from "the one and only authorized reseller of LLBean on Ebay DEMANDING that she stop reselling my used kids clothes from LLBean."  There not really being any such "one and only reseller" she told him to pound sand.  From what I have seen from other sellers, if it was a true VERO notice you would absolutely know.

ON DIFFERENT NOTE: you have html code for pictures in your listing (not the pictures themselves) that are not allowed in the description section of your listings.  I dont know what they are but you cant have html code in the body of your listing.  What are the photos you have in photobucket? Maybe THOSE are the ones that are causing the problem? (I cant see them because the site is blocked).

[rolenboy01]

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@ymeagainlord wrote:
You don't have to be an "authorized reseller" to sell your OWN stuff.

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I thought so, I emailed 5.11 tactical directly and they asked me to forward the email which I can't do so I sent them a screen shot, hopefully they explain what is going on or take steps to stop this if it's not really them doing this.

[rolenboy01]

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@rixstuff wrote:

I took a look.  They dont seem to be claiming that you are selling counterfeits and they are listed as pre-owned.  You arent using stock photos either.  It is hard to say who the sender really is.  I think the true company would be able to look at your listing and see that you arent using much more than the brand name (which you are allowed to do), arent claiming to be a reseller, and arent using their stock photos or any other intellectual property.

Many many years ago my mom got a message from "the one and only authorized reseller of LLBean on Ebay DEMANDING that she stop reselling my used kids clothes from LLBean."  There not really being any such "one and only reseller" she told him to pound sand.  From what I have seen from other sellers, if it was a true VERO notice you would absolutely know.

ON DIFFERENT NOTE: you have html code for pictures in your listing (not the pictures themselves) that are not allowed in the description section of your listings.  I dont know what they are but you cant have html code in the body of your listing.  What are the photos you have in photobucket? Maybe THOSE are the ones that are causing the problem? (I cant see them because the site is blocked).

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Yes that's a new problem with photobucket saying I have to pay $399 for third party hosting, they used to be pictures not HTML links, is that gonna be a problem now? you can see how many listings I have it's not gonna be fun editing them all to get rid of HTLM that photobucket cause by their new update.

[kcskorner]

In all honesty, I doubt this is from the actual company.  It's pretty poorly written.  It sounds like a competitor trying to sound official.

[rixstuff]

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@rolenboy01 wrote:

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@rixstuff wrote:

I took a look.  They dont seem to be claiming that you are selling counterfeits and they are listed as pre-owned.  You arent using stock photos either.  It is hard to say who the sender really is.  I think the true company would be able to look at your listing and see that you arent using much more than the brand name (which you are allowed to do), arent claiming to be a reseller, and arent using their stock photos or any other intellectual property.

Many many years ago my mom got a message from "the one and only authorized reseller of LLBean on Ebay DEMANDING that she stop reselling my used kids clothes from LLBean."  There not really being any such "one and only reseller" she told him to pound sand.  From what I have seen from other sellers, if it was a true VERO notice you would absolutely know.

ON DIFFERENT NOTE: you have html code for pictures in your listing (not the pictures themselves) that are not allowed in the description section of your listings.  I dont know what they are but you cant have html code in the body of your listing.  What are the photos you have in photobucket? Maybe THOSE are the ones that are causing the problem? (I cant see them because the site is blocked).

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Yes that's a new problem with photobucket saying I have to pay $399 for third party hosting, they used to be pictures not HTML links, is that gonna be a problem now? you can see how many listings I have it's not gonna be fun editing them all to get rid of HTLM that photobucket cause by their new update.

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Ebay has been saying for 6 months now that links and HTML are no longer allowed in listings as of 1 June so you need to remove them.  You dont need the photobucket links anyway.  You can put up to 12 photos (that you took yourself)  in your listings.

[rixstuff]

I agree wholeheartedly, but there are many very aggressive corporations - i.e, Red Monkey, Mother and Child, Onesies, etc that completely LOSE THEIR MINDS if you use any combination of their brand words.  Try listing a stuffed monkey that is red and they will come down on you like the wrath of god for using their brand name "without authorization or licensing".

Im still questioning why it wasnt from Ebay VERO if it truly was a VERO issue.  Im very skeptical.

[thatsallfolks]

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@rolenboy01 wrote:

"Dear rolenboy01:

It has recently come to our attention that your business is displaying, promoting, and offering for sale various 5.11 Tactical® products, yet we do not have a record of you as being an authorized reseller. An unauthorized reseller cannot display our trademarks in such a way as to create the impression with consumers that the reseller is an authorized reseller. In addition, please be advised that any images of 5.11 Tactical® products taken or provided by 5.11 Tactical® are copyrighted material and sole property of 5.11 Tactical®, which may not be used without our consent."

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I don't see a direct accusation in that message. Nor do I see any request to stop what you're doing. What I see is an explanation of practices they're telling you not to employ.

Basically, it looks like an FYI, although it could have been a bit less terse.

[rolenboy01]

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@rixstuff wrote:

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@rolenboy01 wrote:

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@rixstuff wrote:

I took a look.  They dont seem to be claiming that you are selling counterfeits and they are listed as pre-owned.  You arent using stock photos either.  It is hard to say who the sender really is.  I think the true company would be able to look at your listing and see that you arent using much more than the brand name (which you are allowed to do), arent claiming to be a reseller, and arent using their stock photos or any other intellectual property.

Many many years ago my mom got a message from "the one and only authorized reseller of LLBean on Ebay DEMANDING that she stop reselling my used kids clothes from LLBean."  There not really being any such "one and only reseller" she told him to pound sand.  From what I have seen from other sellers, if it was a true VERO notice you would absolutely know.

ON DIFFERENT NOTE: you have html code for pictures in your listing (not the pictures themselves) that are not allowed in the description section of your listings.  I dont know what they are but you cant have html code in the body of your listing.  What are the photos you have in photobucket? Maybe THOSE are the ones that are causing the problem? (I cant see them because the site is blocked).

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Yes that's a new problem with photobucket saying I have to pay $399 for third party hosting, they used to be pictures not HTML links, is that gonna be a problem now? you can see how many listings I have it's not gonna be fun editing them all to get rid of HTLM that photobucket cause by their new update.

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Ebay has been saying for 6 months now that links and HTML are no longer allowed in listings as of 1 June so you need to remove them.  You dont need the photobucket links anyway.  You can put up to 12 photos (that you took yourself)  in your listings.

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It's gonna be near impossible to get rid of them all at this point I guess I'm gonna into some kind of trouble in the future over it?