France’s luxury goods industry won a new victory in its battle with eBay yesterday when the online auctioneer was fined €1.7 million (£1.55 million) for breaching an injunction banning the sale of perfumes and beauty products made by LVMH.
— Read more at LVMH enjoys sweet smell of victory against eBay at the UK Times Online. The other side, according to eBay…
Alex von Schirmeister, General Manager of eBay in France, said: “Today’s outcome hurts consumers by preventing them from buying and selling authentic items online. The injunction is an abuse of ‘selective distribution’. It effectively enforces restrictive distribution contracts, which is anti-competitive.
“We believe that the higher courts will overturn this ruling and ensure that eCommerce companies such as eBay will continue to provide a platform for buyers and sellers to trade authentic goods.”
Mr von Schirmeister added, “The fine itself is disproportionate given that eBay complied with the Injunction. It is out of step with our legal victories in France, UK, Germany, Belgium and the US.” (via prnewswire)
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Poor eBayers, just trying to sell beauty products…does LVMH really need the money or exclusivity?
Apparently they do! But we’ll see if they get it after the appeal…
If every product ever released under LVMH’s vast umbrella were available in every country, there would be no need for plaforms such as eBay, would there? I only go online if I’m looking for something I can’t find in a store in Adelaide.
Also, why should little sellers such as myself limit my target market when the WWW opens up Australia and the whole world? When I was selling my excess stuff on eBay, the majority of my buyers were from the country – I figured they didn’t have the variety of offerings I had living in a city.
Seems that this would hurt the luxury conglomorate more than anything else – makes them look like a big bully in a playground.
Gosh, I’d still see the need: if you buy a bottle and don’t want it anymore, why shouldn’t you be allowed to sell it, just like any other possession?
Exactly, Robin. If perfume manufacturers don’t want anyone to buy their items at a discount, instead expecting us to pay full price for something untested (I remember when Ebay had to pull the plug on decant sales for similar reasons), do they expect those of us who can’t get to a city to test the fragrance first to just leave the ones we didn’t like to collect dust on the shelf? The only semi-large department store I have in my area is a woefully stocked Macy’s, and I do 98% of my perfume shopping online. And a few bottles of that 98% are unsniffed. Who knows? The perfume I might not enjoy and choose to sell might not only find a good home, but also find more fans in friends and family of the person who buys it who, in turn, will go out and buy their own bottles. Ridiculous. *rolls eyes* I can’t count how many times I bought a sample or decant of a fragrance only to fall head over heels and run out to purchase a bottle, and don’t see this changing any time in the future. I think a perfumer would be happier knowing their creations have been shared and loved rather than relegated to the back of a closet never to be used again.
That’s just the point, Robin.
It`s not just the question of availability of the product`s line, but also the prices. In some countries, the price of commercial fragrances, due to the high taxes, are the same or higher than the price of the niche line sold at the USA or in the Europe. I don`t mind if i have the items sold at local stores and the have fair prices, but paying, for example, 225 dollars for a 100ml bottle of a guerlain edp fragrance is something that I don`t pay.
Well, I think i just have enough fragrances to stop buying if the fully prohibit ebay. And I`m sure that the only ones that will loose most are the industry,
ugh
greedy suits
Agreed.