Retailers Banning eBay Sellers

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AuctionBytes Blog
News and insight focusing on
ecommerce and the online auction industry
by Ina Steiner, Editor of AuctionBytes.com

August 08, 2007

Retailers Banning eBay Sellers - Your Experiences

By: Ina Steiner

Wed Aug 8 2007 11:36:30

AuctionBytes ran a piece on Tuesday about Pottery Barn Outlet stores banning eBay sellers from making any purchases. As expected, this is generating lots of discussion. Some sellers who were banned from the stores wrote to me to share their experiences, and I'd like to give them the opportunity to share their thoughts here. Please feel free to comment below.

Here are some questions I have for these sellers, plus I'd be interested to hear what others think about this, and if they have had similar experiences at other retail stores.

How important are Pottery Barn Outlet store purchases to you in your eBay businesses (for example, what percentage of your eBay inventory is sourced through Pottery Barn purchases)?

Have you been banned? If so, what was the reason given? (and from which store?)

If you were banned, how did the store staff know you were a reseller? Had you ever given the store your tax-exempt reseller number?

What kind of behavior did you observe from eBay sellers in the store, was it ever disruptive? If so, was it an ongoing problem? What did the store staff do to try to minimize the disruption? (which store?)

If you were banned, did you send someone else in your stead to make your purchases?

I've read that retailers often will put limits on how much of a particular item a customer may purchase. Would that work in the case of the Pottery Barn Outlet stores?

Why do you think Williams-Sonoma's Pottery Barn banned eBay sellers from their Outlet stores, and is there anyway they could ever enforce such a policy fairly?

There's also some talk about Williams-Sonoma's activity in terms of asking eBay to pull auctions that violate their trademark/copyright through the eBay VeRO program. Any observations?

This is an issue I'm sure I'll be revisiting, thanks for your comments, and feel free to email me as well.

Comments (130) | Comments Off | Permalink

Readers Comments

Retailers Banning eBay Sellers - Your Experiences

by: Frustrated

Mon Sep 10 11:06:25 2007

KK: I find that quite funny. We actually know you. You are an employee of William Sonoma. You were actually one of those whiney trouble makers. Funny thing is...I never took anything out of any customer's cart...however...I had MANY customers remove things out of my cart. If I remember correctly...you use to come and say..."I am an employee"...wow...you shopped there ALL the time. You would always tell us..."I am just shopping for myself"...yeah...that is a joke. The amount of time you were there..and the amount you bought..oh please! I am sure you made good money reselling those items. Quite the hypocrite. I would go into Pottery Barn...try to mind my own business and just shop. It was nasty employees who caused major problems. Employees who were biased from the start.

Retailers Banning eBay Sellers - Your Experiences

by: Tymo

Sat Sep 15 10:30:45 2007

I was wondering, is the Pottery Barn ban still in effect? I ask this because I still see lots and lots of Pottery Barn items on Ebay. I know people can purchase items in the store, but there are lots of items you can only get from the catalog out there. I was wondering if Pottery Barn woke up and decided to increase their sales and let resellers back into their stores. Seeing as how the economy isn't the best you'd think they'd wake up already. Just wondering.

Retailers Banning eBay Sellers - Your Experiences

by: Debbie

Sat Sep 15 18:43:13 2007

I was just banned from Pottery Barn TODAY! I went to the outlet store in San Marcos, Texas to buy multiple things I had a list for. My practice is to purchase things I want/need for my home from Pottery Barn, and then buy some additional things from Pottery Barn to sell on Ebay to put a dent in what I spend on my personal stuff. My house is full of Pottery Barn Merchandise. I have five kids and all of their bedrooms have almost exclusively all Pottery Barn furniture and linens. I have an armoire and coffee table in my Living Room from there. My daughter, who is a college student at College Station, has her entire room in Pottery Barn furniture. I have purchased many thousands of dollars in merchandise from them, both for my home and to resell, but mostly for my home. My house is like one big Pottery Barn advertisement!! Not only that, but since it's been my favorite store to visit at the outlet for a long time, everytime I go, I invite family and friends to go with me. I know many of them would never go otherwise. They are not resellers, but when they banned me, they essentially lost their business too. Today, my sister-in-law came with me and spent $250. The only time she ever goes is when she's with me. To answer the original questions:

1. About half of all I sell on Ebay is from Pottery Barn. The rest is just miscellaneous stuff I pick up here and there. I am not a regular Ebayer. Just seasonal during Christmas and when I need new furniture or bedding from Pottery Barn!! This is not my living, just my way of making their overpriced merchandise more affordable for my family.

2. Yes, I was banned. They told me that all identified resellers are not allowed to perform any transactions at their store. When I was purchasing a higher than normal number of some pillow shams I intended to resell, they asked me why I was buying so many. I told them that I was buying 4 of them for my boys beds but I was planning on selling the others to make back some of the money I was spending. They then told me that I could only buy what I needed for me personally and could not buy anything to resell. Once my transaction was completed me, they informed me that now that I had been identified as a ''reseller'', I would no longer be allowed to shop at their store.

3. I've been in that store dozens of times, and they've never said anything to me before. I don't have a tax exempt number, so they only knew I was a reseller because I told them. I have never tried to hide it or lied about it to them. I just never dreamed that they would go to those kinds of lengths to keep someone who spends thousands a year in their store from ever shopping there again.

4. I've observed disruptive behavior in their store only a couple of times in the five years or so I've shopped there, but I had no reason to think that those people were resellers. Frankly, I've never really cared. People will be rude if they want to, whether they are resellers or not. I don't think being an Ebayer has anything to do with peoples choice to behave badly.

5. I do not plan to send anyone in the store for me. I intend to fight their decision to ban me at the corporate level and continue shopping there myself. I told them the truth about being a reseller, why would I then start lying about whether or not I am continuing to resell merchandise. In all the years I've shopped there, this is the first time they've ever even uttered the words! If I tell them I will not resell anymore, how can they continue to ban me from their store? Is that even legal, if not completely foolish?

6. I think limits would be much more effective, at least in my case. I can usually only identify a few things that I can even sell from there for a profit. As a result, I will buy a higher than normal quantity of those items to cover some of my costs. If there were limits, the few things I have time to identify as moneymakers would not be worth the 45 minute drive to the outlet store. However, the particular item I was buying today was not something that were in short supply of. They had tons and tons of them on the shelf, and boxes and boxes of them on the shelves above. They just lost out on the opportunity to sell 10 pillow shams that they will probably end up discounting even more.

7. I have no idea why they would ban Ebayers. It makes no sense to me. If they are worried about cheapening their brand, then they should visit one of their own outlet stores. They are generally a real mess and there all kinds of damaged products and things that only crazy people would buy. If their outlet store was my only exposure to their merchandise, I would not be impressed. They've cheapened their own brand by having an outlet to begin with, and then having various furniture and linen pieces all over the place in there, some of it in pieces. Once you've been to a Pottery Barn outlet store, you realize that a lot of their furniture is made out of MDF and particle board. Besides, even some of the outlet stuff is ridiculously overpriced! I'm sorry but I think $3000 is too much to pay for a sofa that's either damaged or that no-one else wanted. I think the cheapest sofa there was about $1500. They should be thrilled that so many people want to take their ''junk'' off their hands.

8. Vero, seems to me, would be the most effective for Pottery Barn to ban resellers. Sellers would definitely get tired of having their auctions pulled and quit buying there by default anyway. It would make a lot more sense than alienating customers. I'm so annoyed I'm ready to make them buy back all the stuff I have that I've been looking for matching pieces for, since I can no longer shop in their store to find the items I still need.

Retailers Banning eBay Sellers - Your Experiences

by: Debbie

Sat Sep 15 18:53:35 2007

Just one last note on my last post. I visit Pottery Barn maybe 12 times per year. It just so happens that I might go three times in one week, when I'm trying to make enough money to fund my last furniture purchase. But before my visit earlier this week and today, I hadn't been to Pottery Barn since February, almost 7 months! They managed to identify me as a reseller in just two visits, both of which I only spent about $500.

Retailers Banning eBay Sellers - Your Experiences

by: Jeannine Hughes

Fri Oct 12 23:37:37 2007

I was forwarded this link. I was banned from the Pottery Barn Outlet in Lancaster PA on Oct. 12th. I do not resell. I do not have a tax ID #, I am a stay at home single mom who has had to buy furniture and accesories on the cheap. They refused to sell to me and I had two 70% clearance chipped candles in my cart!!! I felt like a thief. I was told that "corporate" had flagged me because of my frequent purchases. Yeah which may have totalled 4000$ and furnished my house and my exes townhouse. While I don't fault anyone for trying to make extra cash with EBAY Pottery Barn has gone too far. So I like to shop clearance! So what! I'm on a budget and I get punished for being a savvy shopper? I am livid. Dept. of Consumer Protection here I come.

Retailers Banning eBay Sellers - Your Experiences

by: debbie M.

Sat Oct 13 02:15:31 2007

It is totally crazy that outlets are allowed to do this to people. I know several sellers on ebay who have been banned from Coach. I thought we lived in a free enterprize country where a person is allowed to make an honest living. Instead we ebay sellers are made to hide, sneak, and feel like we are committing crimes for trying to make a living. Isn't everything that is made-resold at a profit, **hello**its called BUSINESS! Perhaps Oscar Myer hotdogs will decide not to let their hotdogs be sold at little league parks anymore, or perhaps pepsi doesnt want their products resold at amuzement parks for 2.00 a cup anymore, where does it end. I hope this board will bring more awareness to what is happening to ebay sellers, we are not the bad guy, just business people.

Retailers Banning eBay Sellers - Your Experiences

by: Tymo

Thu Nov 1 20:28:54 2007

I wanted to give the unfortunate people who were banned from Pottery Barn outlets some information after shopping today at the outlet store. I do have to say that things have DEFINITELY changed at the outlet. The crowds are no logner there and there are piles and piles of inventory everywhere in the store. There's so much inventory that there's hardly any place to put it. Even with the store offering 50% off rugs and 70% off furniture the place was piled with these items and there was hardly any movement of the items out the door. There use to be vans and trucks parked constantly and I didn't see one piece of furniture sell while I was there. The lines are not long at all in fact they only had one person working the registers when I was there. I should also mention that the pricing in the store has definitely changed. There were rugs priced the same as the catalog pricing and even with the 50% discount the rugs are pretty beat up to spend that much money. I do have to say that even if Ebayers were allowed back into the outlet store that they wouldn't shop there for long. The prices are way too high for merchandise that is spent. Don't be sad about the banning... you're definitely not missing anything!!!!

Retailers Banning eBay Sellers - Your Experiences

by: Somebody

Sun Nov 11 18:03:06 2007

I agree, some ebayers were rude, obnoxious, dishonest, bribed, pushed, shoved, cheated, and even stole! So why not ban those ebayers instead of everybody as a whole? And how do you guys feel about being banned, while there is still over ten thousand pb items on ebay and new listings added every single day? Not even counting West Elm or Williams Sonoma items. It looks like the ban didn't work at all. So how fair is it to the people who are being stopped, when SO Many are not being stopped? It is only working against the honest people who will abide by it, but the big sellers who made a fortune and were greedy, if you check their auctions they are still at it going strong. Yet others are being told they can't even buy for personal homes. Seem right??

Retailers Banning eBay Sellers - Your Experiences

by: FYI

Sun Nov 11 18:21:38 2007

FYI folks, I think the whole class action lawsuit was a hoax from the get go. If you want to get a lawsuit going, don't trust someone who says they are doing it for you and then you never hear a word from anyone. Real lawsuits don't work that way. You would have been contacted by the lawyer to opt in. If you weren't, then it never existed! Wise up. You just took her word for it and you took her word that you were in it and you took her word that the lawyer said there was nothing they could do, and what if that word was no good? My personal opinion is that this supposed lawsuit was a ploy specifically engineered to keep you from filing real lawsuits and seeking real legal advice and alerting the real media, to the real issues. The supposed leader of that lawsuit NEVER stopped listing, and is still listing the top rated Pottery Barn rugs and other items. Suspicious? Absolutely it is! She wants you all to believe that she does it by paying Retail and Catalog prices. How many of you are that stupid? Raise your hand! We all see the catalog and retail prices and even when they have sales it doesn't support ebay pricing. You know that!! Come on!! How many of you have been so nieve and have set back and thought I can't do anything about this, because ''they'' tried and ''they'' couldn't do anything about it. Who are they? How well do you know them? What if what you think you know is all a lie? Trust to no one what you should be seeing to yourself. There is a lot of money involved here. People will LIE over a lot of money, don't doubt it. The lady who was supposedly heading up that lawsuit and pretending to have to sell her house, told me probably five years ago that she'd have her house paid off in two years. You cannot believe a word she says people! She says someone was working with WS and infilterated her message board. Well what if it was her? Did any of you consider that? She collected All of your information so you could be in the lawsuit right? Or did she collect your information so she could pass it on to Williams Sonoma?? Why when she did her t.v. spot was she the only one cited as being banned, and none of you mentioned? She explained that away as nothing and assured you that you were included, but you weren't! Why did the lawyer say on tv that she was going to be filing suit and not a word about anything class action? You all fell for it and you all did nothing!!! Which is exactly what you were supposed to do.
THINK IT OUT PEOPLE. CONNECT THE DOTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Retailers Banning eBay Sellers - Your Experiences

by: Frank

Thu Nov 15 12:08:07 2007

I also was banned!! Im an ebay powerseller. I am a stay at home dad trying to make ends meet at home!

This is why this entire ban is discrimation! Unless you can ban across the board everyone who is doing it, otherwise it discrimination!!! There are still thousands of items listed on ebay, so obviously there are still ebayers buying product from POTTERY BARN OUTLETS. This is where the discrimination takes place. It should be all or nobody.

I have been doing ebay for 7 years and PB for almost 2 years now. I HAVE NEVER ONCE SEEN A FIGHT ABOUT PRODUCTS.

About the person who said that they work in groups and block ailes, what a joke actually they stock so much that you can even get a cart through most ailes!

I go in with my daughter or sometimes both of my daughters. I mind my own business, never ask for help, i fill up my cart with some items(carts are super small by the way) and i pay and go on my way. When i sell those items i come back for more, sometimes on the weekend i go 2x a day, BUT NEVER EVERY HAVE BEEN RUDE TO ANYONE, but on the contrary i have made friends with some of the associates.

I was taken to the side one day by a manager and was told that i would be banned cause i have been flagged by corporate for buying too much. She did it very low key which was nice of her, she also said that she didnt agree to it but had to follow through otherwise her job would be on the line. She told me she loved ebayers as her goals would be met because of them and that inventory was always circulated cause of ebayers.

There was always a limit on six items per sku, so if there was always a limit like that set then they also knew that people were re selling, why else would they put a limit on something?

As far as the fight that we cheapen there products somehow, once they opened the doors to an outlet they have already themselves cheapened there name, not us! If you dont want to sell it for cheap then dont put in on clearance or at an outlet store.

One of the oldest ways to make money is to buy and sell. Buy low and sell high. Just like stocks, buy xerox low at $50 a share and sell high at $75 a share and hopefully make a profit. Not everything i buy at PB i make a profit on, but that is the nature of the beast. If it were so easy to do then everybody would be doing it!

It should be first come first serve, if im there with money in hand and find what i want and willing to pay that price for it then it should be sold to me. Im not stealing, fighting, haggling i go in spend my green american dollars and go on my merry way!

But no i am banned, i beleive that they bit there nose off to spite there face! Just like any business its about bottom line, once they realize that they have made a grave mistake and start losing money instead of making money, and once the outlet stores can no longer hold the amount of merchandise coming in and its just sitting there, this will all come to pass and eventually they will let the ebayers back in slowly but surely!

Cant have it both ways though!

As a matter of fact i think the buyers at Pottery Barn should have to answer to the bosses that be, as they have over purchased lines and items that have not sold that need to be put into the outlets!! I guess they are not doing the jobs they were hired to do very well, now are they?

Retailers Banning eBay Sellers - Your Experiences

by: Attn: FYI

Thu Nov 15 12:55:22 2007

To the above poster with the FYI thread:

I have read everything you have written across all the different boards, you have very strong feelings about this, I know that you have been burned by JI and the like in the past and have info that could blow everything up in their faces. I also agree with alot of what you say, know who you are talking about in the above post and am not surprised at all by your words.
But how come you are posting all this stuff and not doing anything with the info you have?

Retailers Banning eBay Sellers - Your Experiences

by: FYI

Thu Nov 29 17:54:59 2007

Being prepared...priceless
For everything else, there's mastercard.

Retailers Banning eBay Sellers - Your Experiences

by: ann

Fri Dec 7 20:03:42 2007

Pottery Barn didn't really want to ban all ebay. They have over 12,000 auctions up now, more than before the ban.

Someone from Texas has maybe 50 sheet sets up. Pottery Barn had to know they were selling to ebaywhen they sold them sheets. Someone else has a lot of flokati rugs. They are doing nothing to keep new ebayers out.

They just wanted the old ones out because they knew too much about what was going on in their stores. They knew which employees were selling to ebay and how employees would get all the good bargains which they themselves would mark. They knew which employees were stealing from store and marking their items cheap. Ebay kept a watch on employees and management. They were in store enough to know exactly what was going on and what managers were doing. That is why managers wanted old ebayers out of store.

Retailers Banning eBay Sellers - Your Experiences

by: Banned ebayer

Sat Dec 8 22:04:15 2007

The seller with 50 or more sheets is a Pottery Barn employee.Read the auction and you will see her even say she uses her EMPLOYEE discount.

Retailers Banning eBay Sellers - Your Experiences

by: other avenues

Sun Dec 16 00:43:19 2007

Get this!! Apparently PB Outlet has felt the pain. They had their first warehouse sale in years. Open to the public! As banned ebayers, 2 of us walked in together, and was greeted by the outlet manager who also said, PLEASE COME IN AND BUY A LOT!! You can shop here freely. Another Lowly assistant manager of the outlet, pointed us out to the corporate guys. She told us we may not be able to shop there either. HA!! YA RIGHT!! We were also greeted by the corporate guys who explained how making the purchases worked. Several employees from other outlets also worked the sale. It was funny to shop being welcomed by corporate people and outlet employees at the warehouse, but banned from the store.

Retailers Banning eBay Sellers - Your Experiences

by: Banned ebayer

Sun Dec 16 09:28:24 2007

other avenues,Where is this warehouse sale? Is it in TN? If so way too far for me :(

Retailers Banning eBay Sellers - Your Experiences

by: Banned ebayer

Tue Jan 15 15:42:38 2008

Williams Sonoma released their 4q earnings this morning and down went their stock to its lowest its ever been! Somebody at WS needs to wake up and let the banned ebayers back in.In todays market you refuse peoples money? Not a good business decesion in my opinion.Let your loyal customers back in Williams Sonoma!

Retailers Banning eBay Sellers - Your Experiences

by: Tammi

Tue Feb 12 18:45:04 2008

I am glad they have banned ebayers from the Pottery Barns and Coach stores. They are the ones who cheapen the brands. If the woman that is sueing the company makes her living at selling Pottery Barn and Williams Sonoma products, then I think she owes them money from all the advertising and catalogs they send out all year long. If she is using the photos from them, she is infringing on the photographer also. Sounds to me she owes them money. And if you are going to do this as a living by buying up large containties you better know the store policies and laws. Remember, when you go for the lawsuit be prepared for the worst, they know their polices inside and out, do you? And as any business in this world you may come up against hard times, and you can't adapt, then you need to close up shop and find another business or get a real job, where you can have health insurance and pay taxes.

The 4Q earnies have nothing to do with the power buyers, it has to do with the public not buying what they normallly do this past year. Remember we are in a time where people cut back this year, because of the harsh interest rates on the homes they bought and now unfortunally cannot afford. Are you going to blame the interest rates and property values declining on Pottery Barn not allowing them to sell on ebay also? Your not loyal customers, you are loyal to making a buck on the company that has paid millions of dollars on their brand name. So why don't you pay them for the advertising fees.

Retailers Banning eBay Sellers - Your Experiences

by: PB

Wed Feb 13 11:09:40 2008

Considering many of the sellers spent $50,000 plus a MONTH in the outlet the ban has hurt them! Sorry but I do not believe for one second that the sellers cheapened PB's or Coach's product.They do that all by themselves.

Ever notice how many Coach outlets there are? Too many! Why would a person buy a $600 dollar purse when it will soon be at the outlets for much cheaper? Same with PB.There is not many PB Outlets but they send lots of their stuff to the outlets where it gets marked even cheaper.Oh and PB now sends its clearence stuff to a liquidator in Utah.These companies are cheapening their stuff all by themselves.Ever noticed the cheap prices the Utah sellers have the stuff? Its because the liqidator gets it for dirt cheap and sells it for dirt cheap.

Retailers Banning eBay Sellers - Your Experiences

by: EBAY101

Fri Feb 15 10:18:03 2008

ATTENTION: BANNED EBAYES. WILLIAM SONOMA/PB IS TRUELY FEELING THE PAIN OF THE ECONOMY AND YES TAMMI FROM ALL OF THE MILLIONS EBAYERS SPEND THERE YEARLY. IF WE ARE TO MAKE AN IMPACT WE HAVE TO BAN TOGETHER AND MAKE A STATEMENT. OBVIOUSLY WE ARE NOT GETTING THRU TO CORPORATE BUT WHAT ABOUT THEIR HUGE INVESTORS WHO HAVE SOMETHING PERSONALLY TO LOOSE? IF YOU WATCH THEIR STOCKS, 2 INSURANCE COMPANIES OWN THE MAJORITY (ABOUT 80% OF COMPANY) AND HAVE LOST LITERALLY MILLIONS IN THE LAST FEW MONTHS... STOCKS WENT FROM AVERAGING $35 A SHARE TO THEIR LOW OF $17 ABOUT 1 MONTH AGO.. SITTING AROUND $25 RIGHT NOW.. STILL NOT GOOD. I JUST CAME ACROSS THIS AND I THINK WE SHOULD ALL EMAIL/CALL/FAX ANYONE WHO HAS A HUGE INTEREST IN HOW PB WILL DO IN THE MARKET... SURELY THEY CARE MORE THAN ANYONE ABOUT HOW SALES ARE DOING...Investor Reports Williams-Sonoma Stake
AP
Posted: 2008-02-07 16:22:59
NEW YORK (AP) - A former director of Williams-Sonoma Inc. has acquired a 10.3 percent passive stake in the home furnishings retailer, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday.

James A. McMahan beneficially owns about 10.9 million shares, or a 10.3 percent stake in the San Francisco-based company.

McMahan disclosed the stake in a Schedule 13G filing, which indicates the investment is passive, and that the shares weren't acquired to change or influence control of the company.

Williams-Sonoma shares jumped $1.06, or 4.2 percent, to close at $26.48.

CONTACT: JAMES MCMAHAN 2237 COLBY AVE, LOS ANGLES CA 90064.. 310-473-8411 PHOHE AND 310-312-1765 FAX

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
02/07/08 16:18 EST

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