eBay Announces Europe-wide Campaign To Outlaw Online Trade Restraints

by Robin Pilgrim, LawAndTax-News, London

14 July 2009

On-line marketplace eBay has launched a campaign to change EU law in order to combat the tactics of manufacturers seeking to control how their goods are sold on-line. eBay calls on customers across Europe to sign its on-line petition. A special investigation carried out by eBay has supposedly revealed the threatening behaviour of big brands.

Half of online retailers have suffered bullying from suppliers over online sales, the investigation found. Based on the experiences of 900 small online retailers, over half of them in Britain, it was found that:

• 49% of British online retailers have been banned from selling certain products online or on particular websites.
• 45% have been banned from offering unauthorised discounts on goods sold online.
• 42% have been tied up in red tape to make it harder for them to sell goods online.
• 33% have been forced to meet complicated conditions on how products are displayed if they want to sell online
• 39% have experienced mysterious, unexplained supply problems as a result of selling goods online.

eBay's campaign urges decisive action against such practices by:

• Making it illegal for brands to impose blanket bans on internet sales.
• Making it illegal for brands to block the resale of items that consumers have already bought.
• Preventing manufacturers from insisting that small internet retailers must have a bricks-and-mortar store before they can sell online.
• Introducing a legal presumption against other restrictions on online trade, except where the manufacturer can prove there is a clear consumer benefit.
• Requiring manufacturers to base their distribution policies on objective criteria.
• Requiring manufacturers to publish their distribution policies on request.

European law governing internet sales is up for revision this year.

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