Vionic final warning vantagebp letter

[newman151blue]

I got this letter in my ebay messages from a company called vantagebp, they claim to represent vionic. They say I’m not an authorized seller, therefore I must permanently stop selling vionic products.  Now I sell only pre-owned  vionic shoes, Some I got from my mom, who likes these shoes, and some I bought at thrift stores to resell. This is the second letter I got from this company, one was about three months ago, I ignored the first one. This one says final warning. I’m just curious has anyone had any experience with this company or had any legal action pursued by them? I was wondering if I have to pull my vionic listings or not. I mean vionics are not overly expensive or profitable, and I’m not willing to risk my ebay or my financial  account over this minuscule brand. Any suggestions would help, thanks. 

[ckimodog]

I got one many years ago because I was selling a pricey hairspray that the company did not want people to sell on ebay.  It also was from an attorney who represented that company.  If they're telling you not to sell it and that is your second warning, I would pay close attention to what the letter entailed and not sell those shoes again or it will result with your account being restricted or suspended permanently.  Don't risk your account.  You've been a seller for a long time...don't relist them. 

PS End all the other Vionic listings as well.  

[rfmtm]

Sellers have every right under federal law (First Sale Doctrine) to resell any legally obtained authentic item, if they do not have a contract with the rights owner to the contrary, or otherwise infringe on the owner's rights.

If there was a legitimate issue the rights owner would go through ebay's VeRO program.  Until then I wouldn't worry about this form letter.

[policequilts]

Personally,

I would write back to them and tell them that these shoes are pre-owned/used by you and your family members that you are selling.

You own the right to sell these items according to the the First Sale Doctrine.

[krazzykats]

I'd just stop selling them and do my own research on the company.  Bet you can find a qualifying statement on the Vionic website about reselling.

[simply-the-best-for-you]

I wouldn't do anything.  The letter is so generic as to not even be addressed to you.  A lawyer would have a field day with it.  I think they're on a fishing expedition & if they had something to catch, they'd go through VERO.  

The safest course of action though would be not to sell the brand.  I guess it depends how far you want to push it, if they ever act.

[a_c_green]

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@newman151blue wrote:

I got this letter in my ebay messages from a company called vantagebp, they claim to represent vionic. They say I’m not an authorized seller, therefore I must permanently stop selling vionic products.  Now I sell only pre-owned  vionic shoes, Some I got from my mom, who likes these shoes, and some I bought at thrift stores to resell. 

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They get their income from sending out threatening letters, not for actually taking people to court, which they would be laughed out of. As long as your items are clearly indicated as used and not new, they have no claim over what you choose to do with them.

I would not suggest replying to them at all, as that would simply signal to them that you're now on their hook. If you want to consult with a real attorney, locate your own (legal firms often offer a free hour of consultation as part of their pro bono work, so ask around), as the advice you receive that way will be to your benefit rather than theirs.

However, you don't even need to go that far unless or until you are actually served with a summons by an officer of the court. Unsolicited emails from an outfit you have never heard of are not the same thing. If you received the message you quoted here as a JPG image or PDF document attachment, rather than actual text, that suggests that the outfit is trying to evade eBay filters and stay undetected. A legitimate company would not feel the need to do that.

[kensgiftshop]

@newman151blue 

If that is the second message from them, the next one might include a court date.

Some companies don't want their items sold on other sites.

[glasser]

I don't like that they didn't even give an email for response, nor do they call out any specific listings that in fact violate the IP. I don't know whether to respond or not.

SInce the only address is a snail mail address, you could try and write a very lawyerly sounding letter ( if you have a friend who is lawyer have them review), That basically states the first sale doctrine and how all your listings comply with that law, how you always state the items are used, have never attempted to infer otherwise. You believe you are 100% within your rights to resell legally purchased merchandise, and you feel their continued attempts to violate you rights and borders on harassment. 

You could also CC the legal department at Vionic, In the meantime, I would take down the listings you have of those shoes.

Not sure anything would come of the letter but would cause some work on their end to at least explore beyond some bot generated letter that clearly did not even review your listings.

[luckythewinner]

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@glasser wrote:

I don't like that they didn't even give an email for response

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They did give an email to respond. It is right in the letter the OP posted. 

I would reply to that email asking VantageBP to please send you a signed notice swearing under penalty of perjury that VantageBP asserts that the first sale doctrine does not not apply to your used Vionic shoes and that you do not have the right to sell  them on the secondary market.

[rfmtm]

This is just a mass emailing, it isn't even signed and it didn't come by registered mail.  So no legal way for them to show you even received it.   You have no contract with them.  So unless you are violating their rights, which does not include them just not wanting you to resell their items, they are just blowing smoke to scare you.

Besides any attorney knows that ebay, like other venues, have a clear way for them to handle this,  and that is through the VeRO program, which they obviously are avoiding on purpose.  Usually because they have no grounds to remove your items unless they lie on record.  

While some do lie and abuse the VeRO system, they then are subject to federal court, and confronted with that abusers back down quickly.  They count on just being able to scare you and you either not knowing your rights, or that it is just not worth your time to pursue.  This of course is how they get away with this sort of thing in the first place.

[newman151blue]

I didn’t realize I had so many vionics, I thought I only had about twenty but it appears I had 48 listed. I took all the Vionic listings down for now. I know some people received a letter from this company before, but I was wondering if they got this final warning letter too. Ugh, it just sucks. I just hope other brands don’t follow suit or soon we might not to be able sell any brand on this site.  Right now, I’m not too worried about vionic, I can live without selling this   brand, but if all brands start doing this, then yeah I might have to fold up shop. 

[itsjustasprain]

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@kensgiftshop wrote:

@newman151blue 

If that is the second message from them, the next one might include a court date.

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If it did it would be as unenforceable as anything else in that letter. Court dates come from the court. That outfit would have to file an actual court case and then the OP would have to be served by an officer of the court.

That is a very artistic letter they sent with fancy reverse lettering in the headline. Someone has put some work into creative graphics but that does not make it real or official. A quick search for Vionic shoes here returned over 16,000 listings JUST for used ones. You can see why that outfit is trying to do a mass mailing to all those sellers and keep themselves under the radar so Ebay doesnt nuke their sending account.

Their computer can keep a record of which seller IDs received a message from them before (from the same sending account or maybe a different one) so they would know whether to send either a first notice or a 'final notice' but beyond that it would be best to not poke them. Let them burn themselves out or get their account nuked while harassing other sellers.

[rfmtm]

All Vionic had to do to have yours and everyone else's items removed, would be to file a free VeRO notice with ebay and ebay would immediately remove all Vionic listings. 

Ebay will do nothing,  unless they either go after ebay, or become a VeRO member and provide a sworn statement that your listings are violating their rights under ebay's policies.   They clearly don't want to do that even though that is free while going after you and anyone else is costly.  Why, because that can open them up to a federal abuse case in your local court where they could end up paying trebled damages and all court costs, including your attorney fees.   So instead they are sending out this bully notice, hoping you'll pull your own listings when there is no legal reason to do so.

I am sure every ebayer selling Vionic got these notices.  Will be interesting to see what happens.

[simba6]

What, it's not signed?   They will have to do better than that.