Can a company/brand say I can't sell a product on my own site?

I'm selling a limited amount of designer branded products that I've managed to obtain. Can any brand tell me to stop selling them eg because I dont have a licence to sell their products etc?

 

Can the brand identify you as a buyer of their products? Or do you look to them like a seller of fakes?

They can try scaring you off selling. Actually stopping you is harder.
Your supplier may end up being unable to sell you anything else.

 

Depends on the company whose goods they are and their provenance - assuming they are genuine?

Big companies are probably not going to pick up on someone selling a few of their items, but technically it would likely be illegal, and if you're using their copyright to market them that's another area that is illegal.

 

Most aspirational brands attempt to place restrictions on who sells their stuff.

They have approved methods of appointing wholesalers and retailers, and make it slightly (or very!) hard for you to buy their things.

Of course, people step outside that. You can buy branded goods through unofficial channels. But you need to be very careful indeed that you actually have the real thing, traceable back, because if the brand suspect that you are selling fakes then they can take very robust action indeed.

It is for that reason that I buy all my stock from the brands approved sources themselves.

 

I'd agree with that. It comes down to IP protection as well.

If you control who can sell what you make (assuming it's something distinct) then it's much easier to spot fakes, copyright infractions etc.

We only sell direct. We've had one business breach copyright and it was a very open and shut legal case to get it stopped.

 

It depends what you're selling and whether the brands are restricted i.e. if you can purchase the brands from major distributers to resell, then chances are you don't need a specific license, but all it's all down to the individual brands. Some brands only allow xx number of retailers in an area, others have minimum RRP prices that all resellers have to abide by.

 

Minimum RRP is illegal to force, but other less seen arguments can apply ,like not selling to the retailer if they are selling a a price you don't approve of