Charging Too Little? Companies Could End Your Auction

You bought a bunch of equipment at rock-bottom prices from a wholesaler looking to make a quick buck and unload old inventory. Your idea: Sell it all on eBay and make a tidy profit. Nothing illegal here, mind you: All the sales are legitimately acquired goods; no laws are being broken. That may not matter, alas. A series of recent court cases have categorized many deals like this as "unfair competition," granting the manufacturers of these goods the right to shut down auctions from people they believe are selling products "too cheaply."

The cases are varied, but the rulings have been consistent, as the courts have granted manufacturers broad rights in determining how and how inexpensively their products may be sold. You've probably already seen some of this in action: The best example is that "Price too low to display" message you get on many internet retail sites. They are forbidden by the manufacturer from advertising prices below a certain level, so you have to add the item to your shopping cart before you can be told how much it is. The courts have upheld all of these restrictions as good for "promoting interbrand competition."

Now the action has moved to eBay, which has been a Wild West of retail since its inception. eBay has long been willing to get involved in auctions and cancel them at the request of nearly anyone who makes a claim.

Right now companies are targeting larger eBay resellers, the kind of people that make a living reselling new products in bulk, but this always trickles down to the individual as the claims get more and more loosely interpreted. Could you soon face legal action or have your auction suspended if you try to resell a product online that you bought but realized you didn't really want? Well, try selling an old copy of Microsoft Windows online and see what happens...

LINK: Companies Claim Right to Interfere with eBay Auctions for Charging Too Little