The Legalities of Reselling Branded Goods

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One of the things that really puts a lot of people off reselling branded goods is the confection over whether or not it is legal for them to do so. The last thing anyone wants is to be presented with a solicitor’s letter, after all, so is it actually legal to sell branded goods on eBay?

Legitimately Purchased Goods

In the vast majority of cases, it is perfectly fine to resell branded products and other goods that you have acquired in a legal manner. Once it has been bought by you, it is your to do with as you wish and manufacturers rarely have much say over their products once they have been legally sold to another party.

Warranties

But, if you are reselling goods as part of a business, you must bare in mind a few things. Firstly, any warranty that you may have been awarded as part of your purchase will not be valid, and you should not pass it on to your customer because it is extremely unlikely that it will be honoured by the next person who buys and you could end up upsetting your customers if you lead them to believe that their product will be covered by the manufacturer’s warranty should anything go wrong.

Trademark

When you’re reselling, you also need to think about trademark issues. Although there should be no problem with reselling branded goods, it’s another matter when it comes to using a company’s logo to advertise the things you are selling. In most cases, you will not be able to do this without the express permission of the company in question, or you could find yourself talking to your solicitors about a trademark infringement suit against you if your company attracts the attention of the brand whose logo you’re using.

Counterfeit Goods

If you plan to make your living, or even if you plan to make a bit of pocket money reselling branded goods, you do need to be really careful when buying your stock that you don’t end up buying counterfeit goods. You might have the best intentions, and you might think that the used goods you’ve bought are the real deal, but if they aren’t and you end up selling counterfeit goods by mistake, you could find yourself in hot water. It’s not common to get in trouble for selling USED counterfeit goods, but when it comes to things like bootleg toys or DVDs it’s not unheard of and not only could it get you in trouble, but it could cause a safety hazard to your customers, which I’m sure is the last thing you want.

Taxes

When it comes to taxes and reselling, it’s normally the case that you only need to pay taxes on any profits you make if you are reselling for profit as a business. If you just got to the occasional car boot sale to get rid of your unwanted stuff, it’s unlikely that the tax man will show any interest in you, but if you’re buying and reselling regularly, that’s a different matter altogether, and you should seek advice to avoid getting in trouble with HMRC.