Restriction of trade?

[rogersmom]

We sell product through our retail stores. We have recently opened an eBay site to sell "old" or past season product. This is merchandise we have purchased for resale. Some manufacturers are saying we cannot dispose of old merchandise on eBay. Is this legal?

[noblenull]

We sell product through our retail stores. We have recently opened an eBay site to sell "old" or past season product. This is merchandise we have purchased for resale. Some manufacturers are saying we cannot dispose of old merchandise on eBay. Is this legal?

Did you sign a dealer agreement that indicates where you are authorized to sell the product?

[rogersmom]

Did you sign a dealer agreement that indicates where you are authorized to sell the product?

That's a good question! I'll check with the buyer of that department. Let's say there is nothing in the dealer agreement. I would like to legally pursue the ability to sell this product if there are no restrictions in the agreement.

[rfresh]

I don't know why anyone would want to sell on ebay like that. Yes I know ebay is popular but why pay them a large fee everytime you sell an item? You can have your own website and the monthly fee (5.00 or less) is less than the fee ebay charges you to sell one item!

Get a Linux hosting plan and get access to several free ecommerce applications that you can setup with your old stock and sell them that way. Then you won't pay anyone everytime you make a sale. Ebay is NOT for businesses to to do ecommerce!

I think the people you see on ebay doing that just have no idea they could have their own website and do the same thing for far less cost.

[QuikShop]

I think the people you see on ebay doing that just have no idea they could have their own website and do the same thing for far less cost.

eBay and a custom Web shop cater for different markets... eBay is purely about price above everything else, whereas having your own Web shop caters for online shoppers looking for quality, service level guarantees and some assurance that they are dealing with a legitimate trader.

Getting back to the original question, the biggest danger you run is in alienating your supplier and running the risk of them not doing business with you in the future.

If they are important to your business then stick to their rules... if you need to offload stock run a special offer through your Web shop to registered customers, perhaps selling at trade price just to liquidise the stock and gain capital to buy in the latest products?