Selling Non Branded Cell Phones

[Killed by Ebay]

Is it illegal to sell non branded Look alike cell phones? Cell phones that clones and look like the iPhone and the N95 but dont have any Nokia or Apple branding on it. Like those CECT phones you see everywhere?

Is this illegal even tho there is no trademark names on it?

[jscan]

yes it is illegal because apple, samsung, nokia whoever file a number of design patents which are like trademarks on each of their designs.

its exactly the same as selling a copy of a louis vuitton bag.

[Killed by Ebay]

Are you sure? because i see china men selling these on ebay and some of these china men have like 10k feedback, would ebay suspend them if that were the case?

[jscan]

its illegal but isnt closely monitored by the authorities unless its to do with large volumes. Counterfeit laws in china and most of asia are non existent and are not policed at all.

as for the Chinaman on ebay, if his got 10k feedback and is a gold/titanium powerseller then ebay will be less likely to touch him.

its not worth the effort trying to sell them on ebay, because eventually ebay will just pull the listings, and eventually result in suspension.

you have to remember powersellers get the special treatment.

[Kleidis]

Special treatment ? Only special treatment I got was to be specially shafted..

[MOBSTER]

me too, i was a powerseller and got the boot too! but i gots ALOT of warnings before the boot.. so maybe that was the special treatment.. i also got my account re-instated within a week or so.. not bad!
"look alikes" will get you in trouble, im facing trouble right now for a "likeness" picture.. totally lame too! but there are attorneys out there that pray on small business owners counting on you paying a settlement to avoid court.. be careful.. learn from my experience! they didnt warn me with a C&D letter 1st.. they are demanding money from the get go! dont do it, its not worth it!

[divine422]

umm yeah....that would be considered special treatment.

[jscan]

powersellers get more noticed before they get booted, thats some special treatment.

[GreenBean]

jscan, don't you mean less noticed?

[jscan]

lol yes greenbean, thanks for correcting me

[MOBSTER]

my other account (not powerseller status) also got the boot for being related to some other suspended account i never heard of. i emailed ebay on both accounts and got responses together for both accounts (evertime, i would get responses almost like they were automated to each account) and both accounts got re instated, 1 account i didnt have to provide anything, i simply said, hey im not related to this unknown person, registered in the UK.. they responded, oh we made a mistake, your account is reinstated.. my powerseller account, i had to provide documents and that one was also reinsated around the same time. only difference is, is my powerseller account got alot of chancies with veros before getting the big boot. but as far as reinsating and getting answers to emails, i didnt see a difference.

[MOBSTER]

sorry, let me start off with
both my accounts were suspended for different reasons.
powerseller account: suspended for too many veros
non-powerseller: suspended for being "in association with some other account (not mine).

anyways, my point is, is there emails seemed to be automated to both accounts.. okay.. its late and im rambeling.. not sure if im even making sense..

[mantisinc]

Also, it would be pointless to sell non branded phones. I VERY much doubt you'd get any sales. I mean, who wants to buy a non branded phone?

[jscan]

exactly, id rather spend more on brand that i can trust and that actually has all the buttons 1-9 lols

[ivegotinfo]

its not illegal... you just cant use words like "looks like an iphone" "works like an iphone"

[MOBSTER]

how about "not an iphone", i actually just asked this similiar question in another similiar post lOL

[Sammi007]

ivegotinfo is right...It's not illegal unless the actual no name phone bears a nokia logo on it or any other major brand...Therefore, it would be counterfeit and they will take it down...

If it's a phone that doesn't have any brand on it but it looks like an iPhone for example, don't write in the listing "iPhone lookalike" or anything like that....

You won't have many people seeing your listings but it's not illegal if you do it right....

I've done it before and I didn't sell anything...

[MOBSTER]

according to ebay, if its "compatible" with another brand, then you are not violating ebay rules.. or "use with" in the title is okay. so if you are selling phone chargers, or cell phone accessories, you could say "wireless headset compatible with iphone" in the title. saying " "cell phone compatible with iphone car charger" might be within ebays limits according to them, if its "compatible" its okay. but i dont know how iphone would like it.. it could be "confusing" and risky!