Just got caught selling replica jerseys on ebay

[Deleted member 657006]

update please what happen in the end?

what we need punishment if a thread not ended correctly .

just going and not updatting is waste of ppl contributing info.

tell us what going on and what happen?

 

[toml3030]

the sods took me to court for counterfeit cups lol lol lol

Years ago I was sued by a giant conglomerate who sued because they said my trademark was too close to theirs. Their legal argument basically was that they had the exclusive right to use a letter in corporate logos. After $7K in legal bills later, we settled on terms that I don't get into their business to compete with them. It was totally ridiculous because they were in industry totally unrelated to theirs, like they were in packaged food business and we were in auto parts. My lawyer said he sees one of these every once in a while because the corporation has 40 lawyers on payroll who do this full time and when they run out of legitimate legal work they start filing these bullshit cases because it keeps them employed as long as they are busy doing something.

 

[waterworks]

update please what happen in the end?

what we need punishment if a thread not ended correctly .

just going and not updatting is waste of ppl contributing info.

tell us what going on and what happen?

'in the end'? This just happened a few days ago. These things take time as lawyers get involved, letters are written, and phone calls are made. Give it some time already. Also, how is OP supposed to tell what happened if he's in jail? Give the guy a break.

Years ago I was sued by a giant conglomerate who sued because they said my trademark was too close to theirs. Their legal argument basically was that they had the exclusive right to use a letter in corporate logos. After $7K in legal bills later, we settled on terms that I don't get into their business to compete with them. It was totally ridiculous because they were in industry totally unrelated to theirs, like they were in packaged food business and we were in auto parts. My lawyer said he sees one of these every once in a while because the corporation has 40 lawyers on payroll who do this full time and when they run out of legitimate legal work they start filing these bullshit cases because it keeps them employed as long as they are busy doing something.

This sounds exactly like what happened to me but with two different industries. Same exact thing, except instead of getting sued, I got threatened to be sued if I used a logo I filed a TM for. How they saw my logo was through the USPTO when it was published for review in the trademark journal which gives everyone 30 days to file potential complaint. Well, this giant company filed a complain as well as a request for extension which allowed them to drag shit out over another three months as they 'decide whether or not they want to pursue legal action' which they did decide YES. Bastards. I wasn't even in the same industry as them. Luckily I had not launched the project yet or it would have been a nightmare rebranding.

I talked with my lawyer and he said exactly the same thing you said. Their team of lawyers didn't have enough work to do so they monitor bullshit like this looking to stay busy.

 

[ilovetobun69]

thank you for the reassurance...I'm literally just trying to ask people if they think I'll be okay or not but no one seems to be answering my question..Just wanna get this part of my life out of the way and move on

I don't know how strict ebay is and how much they'll do in terms of pursuing issues like this. I've only been selling for a little less than a month so its not like there was a ton of time to make a huge amount of money. Other friends of mine who have done this same thing before said they just moved on and eBay never contacted them again but me being a paranoid individual wanted to get the opinions of those outside my circle lol.

you are fine, if there was anything going on they wouldnt of called you. Just don't sell them again .

 

[Tesco_1]

You guys need to quit with the 'feds' and 'jail time' nonsense. Nothing is going to happen. Ebay is NOT the feds or the police, and unless you were making millions, or hundreds of thousands, the Feds have better things to do with their time. Just dump the account and move on, don't waste anymore time worrying about it.

Ebay is full of VERO items, including counterfeit items. The chances of getting into any legal trouble are slim to none. At worse if you used your real name and address you might receive a scare tactic letter from ebay or the company who's brand your selling knock offs of, but in many cases something like this is not worth their time or money. They know a scare tactic letter or call will most likely make you shit your pants, kinda like your doing.

Next time remember to never open a paypal or ebay selling account in your (or anyone's) real name (only use your real name for accounts you use buying).

Go check out how to properly make new stealth accounts on aspkins forum (google it), and get back to selling the same jerseys if you want.

Next time just take precaution to avoid linking your new account to any old account details, including stuff like using the same pictures, but info on all of that can be found in the aspkins "'steal guide"

 

[ilovetobun69]

You guys need to quit with the 'feds' and 'jail time' nonsense. Nothing is going to happen. Ebay is NOT the feds or the police, and unless you were making millions, or hundreds of thousands, the Feds have better things to do with their time. Just dump the account and move on, don't waste anymore time worrying about it.

Ebay is full of VERO items, including counterfeit items. The chances of getting into any legal trouble are slim to none. At worse if you used your real name and address you might receive a scare tactic letter from ebay or the company who's brand your selling knock offs of, but in many cases something like this is not worth their time or money. They know a scare tactic letter or call will most likely make you shit your pants, kinda like your doing.

Next time remember to never open a paypal or ebay selling account in your (or anyone's) real name (only use your real name for accounts you use buying).

Go check out how to properly make new stealth accounts on aspkins forum (google it), and get back to selling the same jerseys if you want.

Next time just take precaution to avoid linking your new account to any old account details, including stuff like using the same pictures, but info on all of that can be found in the aspkins "'steal guide"

Ebay contacted the company one time for 1 sale. So don't say stuff that is not true. They even tried to take me to court. I had a lawyer work something out.

The point is, dont sell fakes. Hes lucky that hes not in jail right now.

 

[Tesco_1]

Ebay contacted the company one time for 1 sale. So don't say stuff that is not true. They even tried to take me to court. I had a lawyer work something out.

The point is, dont sell fakes. Hes lucky that hes not in jail right now.

WRONG. Let's not make the exceptions the rule.

My advice stills stands, to him and anyone else reading. He's NOT "lucky" he didn't go to jail. The idea that some kid selling counterfeit Jerseys going to jail is ridiculous, and you're paranoid. Like I said before, it is VERRRY rare that ebay or a company takes ACTUAL legal action against someone who is selling counterfeits. Don't confuse basic scare tactics with (such as intent to sue letters, phone calls, or ebay suspensions) with ACTUAL legal actions, which 99% of the time the company WILL NOT follow through with, because it is NOT worth the money or time, and there is no guarantee that they would win in court. Most people are too stupid, or lazy to understand how the legal system works, so they get scared by and post incorrect info like your post.

The hilarious part about all of the legal stuff is, that most of these companies CANNOT WIN IN COURT, and they know it. Simply because its an online transaction, and there is NO proof that it was you, or someone just using your information to open an ebay account. This is partly why paypal cannot legally collect or report to the credit bureaus for negative paypal balances! They will never show up on your credit report, and if they do, all you have to do is dispute them and they go bye bye.

If a company tried to take you to court, (which is very rare) then it means that you were an easy target, probably because you were selling vero or counterfeit items with your real information, or you were moving HUGE volume of fakes. I assume you weren't a kingpin, so "ebay/the company" probably just used scare tactics on you (intent letter or phone call) and you fell for it, admitted guilt, and then was silly enough to pay a lawyer to basically negotiate nothing on your behalf (easy payday for your lawyer..) before any legal action was actually taken against you. So you played right into their hand, when they probably weren't going to actually do ANYTHING. If there was NO actual documents filed with the court, its all vapor. It sounds like you were scared and lawyer-ed up, and like most lawyers they took your money, playing on your fear, while knowing the situation wasn't really a big deal.

I've sold over $50k thousand worth of vero fake/grey market items on ebay, and in person, and I have a background in Legal practices. All that I'm saying is to not confuse getting caught for getting prosecuted and sent to jail... getting caught is easy, prosecution and legal proceedings cost money and time, and the odds of it EVER going that far are ASTRONOMICAL for some random Joe unloading some fakes on ebay.

Like I said, quit scaring the kids with sensational information. Sure you could go to jail, but in reality 99.9% of the time, you wont... especially not from peddling questionable items on ebay.

 

[Sephrata]

Like I said, quit scaring the kids with sensational information. Sure you could go to jail, but in reality 99.9% of the time, you wont... especially not from peddling questionable items on ebay.

Some reading material for you:

https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/man-obsessed-ebay-jailed-selling-8474561
http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/14488042.Man_jailed_for_selling_fake_DVDs_and_CDs_at_Bovingdon_market_in___2_millions_fraud/
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/local-news/rogue-trader-who-made-1m-904645
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/6813387/Fake-golf-club-criminals-jailed-for-biggest-fraud-eBay-has-ever-seen.html
https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/sheffield-ebay-crook-jailed-for-selling-stolen-designer-shoes-and-fake-watches-1-7481246
http://news.cityoflondon.police.uk/r/838/man_jailed_for__150_000_fake_clothing_scam
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-luxury-lawsuit/frances-louis-vuitton-sues-counterfeit-online-sellers-in-china-idUSKCN0UO0MZ20160110
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/04/alibaba-sues-sellers-of-counterfeit-goods-for-the-first-time-after-it-was-blacklisted-by-the-us.html
https://www.chesterchronicle.co.uk/news/chester-cheshire-news/former-chester-teacher-who-earned-12941288
https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/towyn-man-jailed-ebay-fake-2676289
https://www.miltonkeynes.co.uk/news/fake-armani-watch-seller-jailed-1-4040513
https://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/man-who-sold-fake-canon-batteries-on-ebay-given-suspended-jail-sentence-1-5746441
https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/two-women-sentenced-over-sale-401989

If you play with fire, sometimes you will get burnt.

 

[Ninjacloudpie]

I think you will be fine. The same thing happened to me a few years back. Last year i returned to sell authentic jerseys and they still were removed. Ebay doesnt give a shit, basically. They ban people for any and everything. The NFL, NBA, MLB, etc have a designated team to remove items they suspect are counterfeit, even when they arent 100% of the time. There is no system in place to determine what is or isnt. They use things I think like price point, shipping time, and even feedback. They cant determine over the internet what is real or isnt, but yet they get listings removed constantly. I believe they only have the resources and will to investigate anyone cutting deep into their pockets. Same with other counterfeit items aside from purses etc...those guys go hard.

 

[natmicon]

People who big-time sell this stuff either do it from 3rd world countries or they have a full burner setup and are cashing out in bitcoin / giftcards.

 

[Tesco_1]

Some reading material for you:

If you play with fire, sometimes you will get burnt.

Bro, you must not have read what I wrote or literally are not understanding what I'm saying. And what I am saying is THERE ARE LEVELS TO THIS STUFF. The situation outlined by the the original poster, is NOWHERE near the level of the articles you posted.

Note the following:

1. The articles were detailing "Counterfeiting Operations", where the amounts being made were in the MILLIONS (in USD), and or were thousands and thousands of transactions.

2. All of your articles are from the UK. Find a list of articles where in the USA someone is being prosecuted for fraudulent transactions amounting to less than 500K... I'll wait.

3. What you posted is the EXACT definition of "sensational"... Taking a few exceptions (that even don't fit into the context of the situation) and post it like it applies to the OP's situation. The kid sold a few jerseys, he's not raking in a million + a year with fake jerseys. The feds are NOT interested in him.

4. These are MAJOR cases, and most of the people who were involved were either major level operations, greedy, or just plain stupid, (like the one dude who kept selling counterfeits, even after legal action was presented to him).


Bottom line: If your not pushing weight, or are not a SIGNIFICANT operation, you are a small fish. Chances of legal action are slim, to none in the OP's situation.

Either way, if you want to do that type of stuff big or small, you should be aware of the risks.

 

[Ninjacloudpie]

I agree with you. Ebay, is also, the worlds flea market these days. If all of the replicas, etc disappeared, there would be no business for them. So while they have to comply with Vero, as far as taking things down... the stealth operation seems to work for most. Ebay could run a tighter ship, like say, amazon does. However the fakes, infrigement items, replicas, make them business, and believe it or not a lot of consumers dont mind them either so long as they get a good deal. The large operations costing companies tons of money, yes, I see it. Another example is say....etsy. Type disney and see the 1 million plus results you see there, even though it is technically illegal and copyright infringement. (Making something and selling it under a trademark). I feel there is likely a bridge between how much information can be given to a 3rd party, such as the rights owner. I believe name, address, and phone number is it. Since most seasoned sellers take the stealth route to continue selling, the small time guys dont have much to worry about. But yes, asking in a public forum you will be lynched by the do-gooders.

 

[toml3030]

There is no system in place to determine what is or isnt.

They don't have to. If you are the rights holder for that brand you can have absolute control over who sells your brand.

 

[toml3030]

Find a list of articles where in the USA someone is being prosecuted for fraudulent transactions amounting to less than 500K... I'll wait.

One of my customers was criminally charged after selling about $30K of T shirts on eBay US. They actually arrested her when she came to pick up the merchandise. She pled out and got 2 years probation and and they confiscated all her merchandise. Sometimes they will go after the small guys when the brands put pressure on the authorities, and authorities will go after some relatively small people to make an example out of them.

 

[Ninjacloudpie]

They don't have to. If you are the rights holder for that brand you can have absolute control over who sells your brand.

Correct. But as mentioned above, authentic merchandise also gets removed. There is no crime taking place or sense going after anyone selling authentic items. The point is the rights owners or ebay cant determine what is or isnt fake. There are also fakes that are so good, the sellers dont even know. They get flipped in wholesale quantity in the US. Dropshippers can be guilty without knowing as well. Its hard to prosecute people who are duped themselves. Tbh the defense tactics that can be used in online selling are endless, so if someone is making stupid amounts of money it may even be worth it to them if they were "hunted" down and could afford the right lawyer.