Some of these brand owners argue that their objective is to prevent the sale of counterfeits on eBay.
But thanks to our work with 31,000 other rights owners, only 0.15% of listings last year were detected or
reported as potentially counterfeit. The real aim of these brands is to block the sale of all their products on our site - regardless of whether such items are new or second-hand, genuine or fake. It's not just luxury items that are affected, but also everyday items like children's toys, electronic equipment, lawnmowers and pushchairs. And if we want to prevent other brand owners from following suit, we need to act now.
We are therefore calling on European policymakers to amend EU competition law to stop these unfair
trade practices. But we need your help to persuade them to take action. If you would like to join our
campaign against online trade barriers, please sign our petition.

Regards,
Your eBay Team

Full text of the petition:

DEMAND AN END TO UNFAIR TRADE PRACTICES

We, the undersigned, oppose attempts by certain brand owners and manufacturers to unfairly limit the sale and resale of their products on the internet.

Increasingly, these brand owners are blocking the sale on online marketplaces and other websites of luxury items, as well as everyday items like children’s toys, electronic equipment, lawnmowers and pushchairs - regardless of whether such items are new or second-hand, genuine or fake. If we want to prevent other brands from following suit, we need to act now.

We believe that such restrictions represent an unfair restraint on the right to buy and sell goods freely in the European Single Market and are based less on a motivation to benefit consumers than they are on a desire to artificially inflate prices and profits by eliminating competition from online sellers, many of them small businesses.

We accept that brand owners should be able to determine, within limits, how their products are initially sold. However, we believe strongly that they should not be allowed to impose blanket bans on internet selling, and any other restrictions on trade must be based on objective and publicly available criteria which are of proven benefit to consumers. For example, manufacturers should generally not be allowed to insist that internet retailers must have an offline retail store before they can sell online, or impose more onerous sales conditions to online sellers. Above all, consumers should be allowed to resell items they have paid for.

We therefore call on European policymakers to amend EU competition law to outlaw excessive limitations on internet selling and force brands to publish all vertical agreements which are designed to limit the trade in their products. At a time when consumers’ purchasing power is increasingly under threat from the current financial and economic crisis, we urge European policymakers to take decisive action to promote competition and free trade within the European Union and call on political parties across Europe to support the right to buy and sell freely over the internet.

Please consider the above and go to your eBay account and Register for eBay Grassroots Campaigns

Regards
Steve H