Resmed Warning for eBayers?

Every once in a while when I have extra pillows, will post on eBay for sale (or here at cpaptalk ). I got a 'warning notice' via eBay from Resmed that reads:

ResMed has established a US Internet Sales Policy requiring that its products be sold over the Internet only by approved Internet Providers and only if consistent with the Internet Sales Policy. Most of ResMed’s products are regulated by the FDA, are classified as Class II medical devices, and require a prescription. ResMed has identified that you are selling ResMed products via ebay, but you are not on ResMed’s list of Authorized Internet Providers. Only ResMed Authorized Internet Providers may use ResMed intellectual property, offer ResMed warranties on products, or claim an online affiliation with ResMed. If you are an Authorized Internet Provider of ResMed products, please contact ResMed Internet Sales at 800-424-0737 within 5 business days. If you are not an Authorized Internet Provider, we require that you immediately remove all ResMed products from ebay.

Michael J. Rider Esq. | Vice President & General Counsel - Americas

From a quick survey, they're over 2000+ ResMed brand products on eBay....selling for a few dollars each. Are they serious?

You got caught first?
Maybe you should find out how much they need for "approval".

If you are afraid of ResMed taking some action against you in the future you could omit their brand name from the posting (that's how they found you - a search on their brand name), but I don't see how they can stop you from selling their products (as long as it's not against eBay's policy, such as machines), otherwise. People who are looking for mask parts would still find your listing, even without the brand name (e.g., "mask nasal pillows").
McSleepy

I guess they are trying the back door. They haven't stopped Ebay from listing them so they try to scare off individual sellers.

Make sure you don't have any money in your eBay or PayPal account. PayPal has a reputation for freezing your PayPal account at the drop of a hat and being real hard to get them to reverse the freeze. Last time I looked, their agreement gives them the right to freeze your account for a long time before doing any investigation. I think the time was 6 months, but check your user agreement. Google PayPal payment problems to get some horror stories.

They also have the right to reverse electronic transfers and get the money back, even if you've transferred it to the bank already. I don't know if they reverse transfers that often.

Unfortunately, a lot of companies like eBay, PayPal, and credit card companies have begun to knuckle under to legal, political, and social bullying and block transactions at the top of a hat.

archangle wrote:Make sure you don't have any money in your eBay or PayPal account. PayPal has a reputation for freezing your PayPal account at the drop of a hat and being real hard to get them to reverse the freeze. Last time I looked, their agreement gives them the right to freeze your account for a long time before doing any investigation. I think the time was 6 months, but check your user agreement. Google PayPal payment problems to get some horror stories.

They also have the right to reverse electronic transfers and get the money back, even if you've transferred it to the bank already. I don't know if they reverse transfers that often.

Unfortunately, a lot of companies like eBay, PayPal, and credit card companies have begun to knuckle under to legal, political, and social bullying and block transactions at the top of a hat.

And don't have it linked to your regular bank account. Open a "business" account at another bank that is always emptied immediately.

A few years ago a seller of sock yarn got EVERYTHING frozen as the credit card company decided they must be selling something illegal because people wouldn't buy sock yarn that way. They were wrong but it just about destroyed the sellers.

OkyDoky wrote:I guess they are trying the back door. They haven't stopped Ebay from listing them so they try to scare off individual sellers.

Yep. You know ResMed already tried to get EBay to block the sales and EBay probably told them where to stick it so now they are going after the private sellers.
All this in an effort to keep their prices up and maintain control of the prices.
Too bad...if they didn't have to pay their ResMed internet police so much to harass private sellers maybe they could/would reduce their prices a bit. I know they won't reduce the prices but it sounded good.

Quote: ResMed has established a US Internet Sales Policy requiring that its products be sold over the Internet only by approved Internet Providers and only if consistent with the Internet Sales Policy.

Since you have never signed an agreement with them it will be hard for them to follow through on it.

Selling used or new PARTS is not illegal !

A "critical' read of this is interesting. I have added comments in (IN BLOCK LETTERS) for your amusement...

dtsm wrote:Every once in a while when I have extra pillows, will post on eBay for sale (or here at cpaptalk ). I got a 'warning notice' via eBay from Resmed that reads:

ResMed has established a US Internet Sales Policy requiring that its products be sold over the Internet only by approved Internet Providers and only if consistent with the Internet Sales Policy. Most (BUT NOT ALL) of ResMed’s products are regulated by the FDA, are classified as Class II medical devices, and require a prescription. ResMed has identified that you are selling ResMed products via ebay, but you are not on ResMed’s list of Authorized Internet Providers. Only ResMed Authorized Internet Providers may use ResMed intellectual property (ARE YOU USING THEIR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY?), offer ResMed warranties on products (ARE YOU OFFERING WARRANTEIES?), or claim an online affiliation with ResMed (ARE YOU CLAIMING AN ONLINE AFFILIATION?). If you are an Authorized Internet Provider of ResMed products, please contact ResMed Internet Sales at 800-424-0737 within 5 business days. If you are not an Authorized Internet Provider, we require that you immediately remove all ResMed products from ebay.

Michael J. Rider Esq. | Vice President & General Counsel - Americas

From a quick survey, they're over 2000+ ResMed brand products on eBay....selling for a few dollars each. Are they serious?

As you can see some questions arise...

Are pillows considered a Class II medical device?
Are you using their intellectual property?
Are you offering a warranty that involves returning products to ResMed?
Are you claiming to be an authorized ResMed dealer?

If your answer is NO to these questions, the letter doesn't have any meaning to you.

You can't use ANY name that Resmed uses, company, product, or anything that IS their property.

They have no idea who you are, but they really do not want you to be authorized to buy from them and then sell on Ebay at lower than market prices.

They do not want you to imply warranty or Resmed affiliation to help you sell the product. Their warranty is not transferable.

Personally I buy BreatheRight strips from Ebay at WAY below market price and I am sure that some authorized seller is buying them for their store front and selling more on Ebay for some extra money. Resmed does not want this to happen with their products.

Resmed also does not want to look at every Ebay listing to make sure that someone is not selling a Rx product without an Rx. I would assume that they would have some responsibility to make sure that is not happening.

HoseCrusher wrote:A "critical' read of this is interesting. I have added comments in (IN BLOCK LETTERS) for your amusement...

dtsm wrote:Every once in a while when I have extra pillows, will post on eBay for sale (or here at cpaptalk ). I got a 'warning notice' via eBay from Resmed that reads:

ResMed has established a US Internet Sales Policy requiring that its products be sold over the Internet only by approved Internet Providers and only if consistent with the Internet Sales Policy. Most (BUT NOT ALL) of ResMed’s products are regulated by the FDA, are classified as Class II medical devices, and require a prescription. ResMed has identified that you are selling ResMed products via ebay, but you are not on ResMed’s list of Authorized Internet Providers. Only ResMed Authorized Internet Providers may use ResMed intellectual property (ARE YOU USING THEIR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY?), offer ResMed warranties on products (ARE YOU OFFERING WARRANTEIES?), or claim an online affiliation with ResMed (ARE YOU CLAIMING AN ONLINE AFFILIATION?). If you are an Authorized Internet Provider of ResMed products, please contact ResMed Internet Sales at 800-424-0737 within 5 business days. If you are not an Authorized Internet Provider, we require that you immediately remove all ResMed products from ebay.

Michael J. Rider Esq. | Vice President & General Counsel - Americas

From a quick survey, they're over 2000+ ResMed brand products on eBay....selling for a few dollars each. Are they serious?

As you can see some questions arise...

Are pillows considered a Class II medical device?
Are you using their intellectual property?
Are you offering a warranty that involves returning products to ResMed?
Are you claiming to be an authorized ResMed dealer?

If your answer is NO to these questions, the letter doesn't have any meaning to you.

Agree completely and thank you for saving me the trouble of writing this. You do not need a prescription to purchase pillows.

PoolQ wrote:You can't use ANY name that Resmed uses, company, product, or anything that IS their property.

.

I disagree with you on this one; if I own a Resmed product, or Ford or anything else, I can say I am selling a Resmed whatever, a Ford F-whatever; it is the name of the product you own and you have the right to say what the product is. What you do not have the right to do is say, or even infer that you represent the company.

The First-sale doctrine (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine) applies to intellectual property but should easily apply to protecting an individual from reselling a legally owned product of any kind, that is not otherwise protected. Just about everything on eBay falls into this category and ResMed can only use the above-stated limitations. The OP's use of the ResMed brand is most probably fair use (I haven't seen it), but, as alluded above, it is better to check for precedents as eBay could take action that would be prohibitively expensive for an individual to defend against. In the US common law has been stretched closer to law of the jungle, so - beware. In this particular case, the OP probably has nothing to fear - until ResMed takes a more serious action (e.g., a cease-and-desist letter with a threat of legal action); but if eBay has been as trigger-happy as suggested above, I'd be real careful.
McSleepy

Just to clarify original post.

The message I quoted was sent through the eBay "ask the seller a question". It was not an 'official letter' per se. I'm assuming they randomly selected some small-time and part-time sellers (like me) as a 'scare' tactic?

Probably drafted by their general counsel and sent by an intern tasked with trolling eBay seller sites.
Wonder if they're doing the same for CL sellers too?

ebay = license to steal

As bad as craigslist.

Buyer beware.