Support our non-partisan non-profit newsroom 💜 Donate now

e-Bay in court over cheapening scents

Stephen Beard Nov 30, 2009
HTML EMBED:
COPY

e-Bay in court over cheapening scents

Stephen Beard Nov 30, 2009
HTML EMBED:
COPY

TEXT OF STORY

Bill Radke: On what retailers call Cyber Monday today, online auctioneer e-Bay finds itself in a Paris courtroom. We get that story from our Europe correspondent, Stephen Beard.


Stephen Beard: The court will decide whether e-Bay has complied with an injunction banning the sale on its French site of certain luxury fragrances.

LVMH, which makes Christian Dior, Kenzo and Givenchy perfumes, brought the case. LVMH is concerned that people are buying their products wholesale and then selling them over e-Bay 50 percent cheaper than their usual retail price. The company is worried this might devalue the brands.

But Alex von Schirmeister of e-Bay says an important branch of e-commerce is under attack:

Alex von Schirmeister: The injunction is the edge of the wedge that could spread to different categories and which would ultimately mean that people cannot sell genuine items that they own on the Internet.

He says e-Bay has complied with the French injunction, but fears that it could be extended to other countries and other brands. He claims the future of online auction sites could be in jeopardy.

In London, this is Stephen Beard for Marketplace.

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.