tricky one this

[look_divine]

my life just gets ****tier
ok a well known auction website is suing me, solicitor states court costs barrister etc is going to be 20K
now i cannot afford this so cannot afford defence in the case
cant say much about it on here sorry
my question is if they win and there looking at £60K compensation would i be able to bankrupt myself as I have no assets to pay this?
i honestly cannot believe this **** is happening

[MelanieGiles]

Sorry to hear that LD - what is the nature of their claim against you?

[Viki.W]

Jeez LD, that's awful. What's happened, or can't you say?

[LoneRanger]

That sounds terrible. I hope you can sort this out.

[kallis3]

Blimey, that's not good LD. Hope you can get something sorted.

[look_divine]

Hi
I sold 3 cosmetic items which were meant only for the usa market, and i sold them in the uk so loreal started proceedings against me, they then stayed them last year everything was ok all sorted etc
now ebay have started proceedigns to reclaim the monies loreal are suing them for from 8 of us sellers on ebay
high court in london next year expensive stuff
solicitor whom i poke to yesterday said it could exceed 20k then if ebay win the amount of compensation etc which could top 60k
if ebay win i can only claim bankruptcy as i have no way of paying that amount of money
thought i was getting sorted then this kicks off out of the blue

[kallis3]

Somebody must have been spying on there to have spotted that. Was it personal stuff that you had? I'm sure if you bought it on holiday or something that it should have been ok. I've sold stuff I've bought in America before.

Perhaps you should think about going br before all this? Make a totally fresh start?

[MelanieGiles]

That is dreadful news - and quite scary for people who sell personal items on e-bay. How mcuh did you actually sell them for?

Were you actually running a business on e-bay, or simply getting rid of unwanted items around the house?

[kalla]

I used to trade in Import console games as a sole trader in my spare time.Again we had Nintendo threatening to sue anyone on 'illegal imports' and understand the gravitas of this issue. The most celebrated case...a company in Asia was made an example of by Sony over the sell of illegal imported PSP in the UK....the company defended and lost and the legal cost crippled it.Companies are very touchy these days over legit goods meant for a market been sold in other market with pencilled in release date.They now comb through Ebay since the designer labels had found fake good on Ebay previously and to police and protect their interest as Ebay seems to have one eye shut. I have not heard of cosmetics in these issues though. If you flogged the goods privately that would have been better but to advertise nationwide it would attract attention. If there is any comfort I think the target is Ebay for Loreal and not you as they see it as a conduit for the trade and would make Ebay an example..again! Ebay will sue you and blame you for putting the goods up as their defence. As there is a couterparty involved it gets complicated.

If you can write to Ebay and Loreal and maybe and apologie then it might all go away.But compensation may be an issue and is about the money.A very difficult situation

I just want to add further that it is fine to say go on holiday and buy something and sell it on Ebay, but if it appears to be 'organised' then the companies would then act. I have sold PSPs from Asian here but the adverts make it clear it was an unwanted gift and so would have not sparked any adverse reaction

There is a fine deviding line on 'personal' and 'business trade'

[Viki.W]

So.....am I right in thinking that if I bought cosmetics in USA, didn't use them, and then sold them on ebay, they could sue? This is worrying.

[Viki.W]

Oh Kalla, you must have added that bit at the end while I was typing.

[LoneRanger]

I was just thinkin the same. It makes me wonder weather I even want to sell anything on ebay again. Its very worrying because who knows what they can and cant sell without being at risk.

[emma_t]

Oh my god divine how frightening having to go to the high court and you solicitor quoting such amounts of money.


Have you got family/friends giving you support and someone to go to the court with you?

How can a normal person be expected to fight against such a big company?

I don't know what else to say, only that I am thinking of you xx

[stressed_suzanne]

E-bay is becoming more trouble than it's worth. As most of you know I had a legitimate business, and we would sell end of line on ebay. It got to the point where everytime we listed something they took it off. We gave them our VAT no., details of our agents who supplied us, anything that would prove we and the goods were genuine. But all we ever got back was stock reply emails. Gave up trying in the end, so e-bay were the ultimate losers.

Hope you get it sorted LD, must be horrible for you.

[pixie]

What a scary position to be in ld. I can understand l'oreal protecting it's interests and going after ebay, but for ebay to then counter sue the sellers is ott and bullying. Can you imagine if this was then passed onto the buyers! If they had their own systems and checks in place properly they should have stopped the auctions in the first place.
How on earth is a private seller expected to know they can't sell such items if ebay allows it to happen?
Have you thought of contacting the newspapers or watchdog? A lot of adverse publicity might be enough for the bullies to back down. It might also bring out a firm of solicitors willing to act pro bono on the back of a big case.
They are now so big they think they can treat sellers any way they want and get away with it.I hope you manage to find a solution and it doesn't go any further.