i found this on a german car forum:
http://www.eh6.de/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=11950
it is about a 18 year old student who wanted to sell his audiobahn subwoofer on
ebay. he advertised it as new but clearly stated is was a private sell and he is not an authorized dealer.
first thing to come was his auction was cancelled by
ebay. just because he copied the technical data (!!!!!), not pics, only the technical data to give the buyers the actual specs.
ok, this is kind of weired. am i supposed to not mention any specific data on a technical product where it is all about the specs?! - strange
but the story continues, he got a letter from an attorney at law and it states that he has to pay around 1000euros due to copyright infringement.
he asked the company "mandrops", german audiobahn distribution, what was going on there?! remember he did not even use any images from them.
now the story begins: they told him to list all of his audiobahn equipment he has and wanted to see the original bill for all he wanted to sell and a list of the equipment he already has sold! he told them he bought only this one sub off of a friend like half a year ago, he planned to use it but it was only sitting in its box and that is the only reason he stated it was "new" - and in fact it is "new" defined by "never been used". he also told them that his
ebay profile and the auction itself clearly stated that he was selling only one sub and he is not a dealer.
they told him he has to send them the sub and they will dispose it. in fact he was forced to ship it to them.
he tried to make them clear that he was not selling like 279487823 subs and amps that were stolen or imported for resell, he just had this one sub and wanted to sell it as he has changed his plans.
so what is going on there?!?! are they crazy?!?! you buy something, are not allowed to resell it if you decide to go another road with your system, plus you will have to pay a big fine for only using the technical data which is just necessary to describe the product in a correct way. and to really end up in a complete mess they force you to ship in your product and it will be disposed.
the sub was only like 50 euros and he did not want to mess around with them as he does not have the money and time for long and nasty lawsuits so he did what he was told to.
we are all stunned by such a customer treatment.
there was no statement from "mandrops germany" yet and they delete all the posts about that issue that were dropped into their guestbook.
but be sure that this goes up and down all the caraudioforums in germany and all the potential customers know about it. i will give advise to new users that are planning their system accordingly.
i just wanted to let you all know to take care if you sell something on
ebay.
in germany there are many lawyers that just work online, make
ebay end the auctions, get the personal data from the sellers and sue them to pay around 500-1500 euros for copyright infringement. and this is all legal here and they will win if they go to court!
so think twice before you put something up for auction, only use your own pics or ask the company whether you are allowed to use their pics from the website and even the specs!
legal - yes - but this is NOT the manner a company should treat their customers. not in my opinion. another nice exsample for making money at all costs.
DiDan
