Supreme Court to Rule on Legality of Selling Used Items

[bjl584]

Your right to resell your own stuff is in peril - Jennifer Waters's Consumer Confidential - MarketWatch

[elessar78]

Your right to resell your own stuff is in peril - Jennifer Waters's Consumer Confidential - MarketWatch

Might be a good thing for American manufacturing.

[disneysteve]

That's insane. So no more yard sales, church bazaars, flea markets, ebay, craigslist, used car sales, antique shops, Goodwill, Salvation Army, thrift shops, etc. This would sink the economy.

[bjl584]

That's insane. So no more yard sales, church bazaars, flea markets, ebay, craigslist, used car sales, antique shops, Goodwill, Salvation Army, thrift shops, etc. This would sink the economy.

I agree. I have heard rumors of the IRS wanting to tax items sold at yard sales and flea markets. That would be bad enough. But, to not be allowed to sell those used items at all would be devestating.

[kork13]

I say whatever... Wal-Mart isn't going to come down the street with a bushel of cops to shut down the neighborhood yardsale. And as the article states in closing, even if the Supreme Court rules with the appellate court and rejects the first-sale doctrine, Congress will step in and change the law. The entire thing is ludicrous, and although the congress is filled with children and sycophants, almost universally they try to protect American consumers.

Best case, some congressman catches wind of the story, and pre-empts the supreme court and gets the law revision in before the court even rules on it. The supreme court moves about as slow as the congress, so who knows....

[disneysteve]

I say whatever... Wal-Mart isn't going to come down the street with a bushel of cops to shut down the neighborhood yardsale.

I agree that the yard sale could probably stay under the radar if this passed, but what about organized, professional resale operations? How could a Goodwill thrift shop continue to operate? How could a used car lot exist? Antique shops would be breaking the law. Sotheby's couldn't hold auctions unless they only sold new merchandise.

I have no idea how this managed to get as far as the Supreme Court. It is bizarre that this didn't get shot down way earlier in the process as being a frivolous case.

[phantom]

That would be really sad. People already throw away so much stuff that is still usable just because it's too hard to make enough money selling it to make doing so worth while. It would be a shame to also make it illegal.

I wonder what such a ruling would do to collectables. It's awfully hard to collect something if you can't buy it second hand, and collectibles can't go up in value if reselling them is illegal. Get ready for a drop in demand for baseball cards and the next Beanie Babies when people can't convince themselves that buying cool and colorful (but ultimately useless) items is an investment.

[jpg7n16]

So does this mean people can't sell their homes until first authorized by the original contractor?

After all, a house is a product made by another company.


Would be bad news for the history channel:
Pawn Stars
American Pickers
American Restoration
Counting Cars

[disneysteve]

That would be really sad. People already throw away so much stuff that is still usable just because it's too hard to make enough money selling it to make doing so worth while. It would be a shame to also make it illegal.

I wonder what such a ruling would do to collectables. It's awfully hard to collect something if you can't buy it second hand, and collectibles can't go up in value if reselling them is illegal.

Good points. Landfills would get overwhelmed if everything we no longer needed had to go into the trash instead of getting sold to someone else. Of course, you could just give it away but who is going to take the time and effort to do that if there's no money in it.

And being a collector, I agree with the 2nd point too. I've done thousands and thousands of dollars of sales of collectibles over the years. And I've bought thousands and thousands of dollars worth of collectibles over the years. None of that could happen if they ban the resale of used items.

[phantom]

So does this mean people can't sell their homes until first authorized by the original contractor?

I believe most homes would be fine since in order for a house to be in the United States it generally must be made in the United States, and this ruling would only apply to foreign made products. But, I'm not sure where you draw the line with what is part of a house and can be included in the sale. I would assume that imported wood used in hardwood floors could be resold with the house, but I would assume that a washer made in another country could not be. But, before reading this article, I would have assumed that I could sell almost any item I owned, so who knows.

I also wonder how much trouble the car industry would be in. I'm not sure what percentage of cars are assembled in the US, and I'm not sure whether the law would care more about where cars were assembled, where the parts came from, or where the manufacturer was headquartered. But, not matter what, I'd guess a lot of cars would not be able to be resold. I'd hate to have a lot full of used cars that it was suddenly illegal to sell. At first manufacturers might see the inability of people to buy used cars as a good thing. But, I wonder if people would still be able to finance their new cars if a bank couldn't resell them on repossession. Of course, I guess car companies could probably explicitly grant the rights to resell a car if they had to to make a sale. But, it's interesting to think about what would happen if they couldn't or decided not to.