Forum

Vero takedown, 7 days later, email cease and desist letter from Law firm, looked pretty official, demanding ALOT (over $50K) of money within 10 days , account was in real info, only selling for about 6 mos. on that account that particular brand, sold no where near the amount demanding. Came as .pdf with text saying US Mail to follow. Wanted supplier list, sign something saying wouldn't sell brand anymore, and a detailed list of who bought, how many sold, and rest of remaining inventory and money. Said anything less was not sufficient. Bull crap or not? I have never had or seen this for this brand before, listed as one of the vero brands that was not as aggressive (safer) to sell. Have had good input from several members via PM on the board, have not responded, and communicated at all and don't plan to to email have not received letter as of today 4 days later. Is that the majority of opinions on the board.
thanks!

Note to add: email attachment on 10/21 as of today no US Mail or Fed Ex received, from others I have heard of the same company supposed law firms sending several of these emails on the same day. Any Input?

Empty scare tactics. Want you to give in easy and pay them a couple bucks. Definitely not official service of process, so not legally actionable, at least not yet. Possibly even an elaborate scam. Somebody pretending to be something scary, hoping an easy mark will pay them for nothing.

Do not reply to it or them, unless and until you get certified registered US Mail or a process server comes to see you in person.

lyda,
incorrect.....a big fortune 50 company did send out a letter via email to me with a cease and desist demand, i called them and sure enough, it really was them that sent the email to me.

It has no legal weight. To be actionable, they must serve process via registered mail with certificate of service and notarized blah blah blah.

Seriously, too many holes and too many possibilities. I know they do it, but it means NOTHING.

Look it up on any website for a law school. Basic basic info.

Might be from a real company. Has no legal standing OR right as a means of notifying a party. There are strict, written rules of service of documents in legal matters.

gulp --i got the email today.

Ive been sent letters and emails by 2 different large firms for selling vero. For some reason they thought they may be of questionable authenticity. They judged this by looking at an ebay picture and description. the first one, I was worried by the letter from a big London Law firm, I stupidly made contact with them, eventually they told me to nominate lawyers for a court date. I never replied and never heard from them again- over a year ago.

I don't understand how someone recieves a letter using a ⊗⊗⊗⊗ adress? and do you get taken to court if they don't know who you are or where you are? and how does the fbi get involved if you never make any transactions or have any merchandise over $10,000? The purpose of this site is to make yourself invisible to ebay and paypal who can do nothing to you anyway but why would you make yourself visible to the people who can do something to you like courts, law enforcement etc. you would think you would focus more on the latter.

I got the email from the law firm, asking for a large amount of money, plus all of my remaining stock, a list of everyone I sold to, and my supplier. Then the same letter (it was a large envelope, maybe 100 pages or so thick) came in the mail (non certified).
I stopped selling that on ebay completely, but I had to exhaust my inventory, so I switched to Amazon, sold out my stock, and did get banned from Amazon, the same email from the same law firm, the same scare packet in the mail. I have not sold that product again and will not (chi hair straighteners).
My own personal investigating, googling, experience, and consulting with lawyers told me that
1. They are just scaring you out of selling it. If they were serious, they would properly serve you. Never be scared of an email or even a letter in the mail. However, don't be retarded like an aforementioned friend in this thread- getting several notices, letters, etc, to cease and desist- if you blatantly continue to do so, they WILL follow through with the lawsuit. Cut it out, now!
2. DO NOT send them ANYTHING. Ignore it! Sending them your inventory- insane! Sending them anything, anything AT ALL- insane! Stupid! Just IGNORE IT. Unless, of course, you're a lawyer and you're selling legitimate sh*t. Otherwise, do not converse with lawyers if you aren't one yourself.
Ps not legal advice.

Those hair straighteners are made in china anyway! They are identical to the " real" ones. The factory is selling them to you out the back door. It's a joke. So if your stealth who they gonna sue? First thing when you bought them they said authentic right? So you got bit by china,then your customer get bit..... Why didn't they call the cops to bust you first! Then they would have proof that you where scammed by china? Or you can buy one from another seller on ebay then sell it to the lawyers office. It's a scare tactic.100%

Anyone can pm me? I received email letter from a lawyer... looks like scared tactic because it's been 3 months since I sold those items and they have no evidence? at least i didn't receive anything certified

"My-client has-recently received evidence from Amazon.com-that you are the person associated-with the-Amazon.com account"

That was one that got taken down. Had no idea. Ebay removed and I contacted the owner or whatever and apologized. But, it was another company that sent me a letter.

sounds like another scare. stop selling that item on that account. if all your personal info for that account is ⊗⊗⊗⊗ then just ignore the email.

precautions are to have a box as your return address, and dont do anything too dastardly on ebay..if you sell vero, make sure it is good quality, and abandon a line where you get regular complaints..most buyers want and know what you are selling but if buyers want a refund and return - give it to them...never fight with a troublesome buyer..it may cost you more that you think...and when it comes to vero, dont be in the big guys league or you will be targeted for sure..

I did get a C&D from FSI attorneys aka CHI via email. Then it came via registered mail. I got a lawyer and ended up paying 4k to FSI 4K to the lawyer and turning over 2K worth of product....

Now I wonder if I should have just let it ride out. Honestly I was scared ****less and although the loss was great it was nice to have it done with. I still havent found out how to make that 10k back yet!!!!

They asked for 5k, I negotiated down to 500 dollars, and I turn nothing over. When it happened the 2nd time to a ⊗⊗⊗⊗ name/address, I just ignored it. If they really wanted to see who was behind the selling, they could have search the IP and the payment processor(paypal), to see who was behind it.

Has anyone here got a letter from Johnson & Pham LLP demanding $800+?They represent P90x.

One time way back in the day when I didn't know any better like 2000. I sold 4 ⊗⊗⊗⊗ Rolexes. I got them from a friend that came back from Thailand. I sold them on ebay and some guy bought them for like a $1000 bucks total. 4 watches he thought he was screwing me over. He asked if they were real I told him yea they looked real. I sent him pictures of the markings and stamps tags he said fine. But when he got them in the mail he brought them to the jewelery store and they said that they were really good replicas. So he demanded his money back (cashiers check). But he wouldn't send the watches back until he had his money back? WTF lol. Needless to say he just filed a judgement in his state with the info he had and that was the end of it.

if they really wanted to investigate further, and have bring lawsuites, they might get the law enforcement involved which would then reveal where the money is being deposited to (your real bank info)

Law enforcement is not interested unless it's ten of thousands of dollars.

I also got these e-mails and letters which led me to find this forum. Those who have answered are those that answered me..

"I was scared, but now I'm angered and lookin' to smash. I found this....

WORLD Law Direct Forums » Intellectual Property & Internet Law » Copyright, Trademark, Patent » Cease and desist letter from adidas America, Inc

There were 13 pages of people in the same boat. It's a scare tactic by the same guy that sent me the letter. A John Malcusly (sp). Nothing came of any of the letters sent out. It is interesting reading. Once I get back on e-bay, I'm playing the game and playing hard."

These guys and dolls eased my mind as they have yours.

yup got one in email then from the usps same item. mine was real and ebay took the listing down same day never sold to anyone and still have the one piece of product. they want 800 from me. i have not responded to them at all.\

what's up with you and them

interesting thread. lot of good information. was a good read. thanks to all who posted.

I received an e-mail from the same office, demanding $15.000 for P90X I sold.
What did you do? Did you contact the office? I really don't know what is the best option...

I also was contacted by this same law firm back in January. I called and talked to them about it. They had gotten my information from Ioffer where I had purchased 3 P90X sets from someone who they were suing. The attorney had a list of everyone who had purchased from this guy. He asked me what I did with them and I told them I kept one for myself and the other 2 were gifts. He asked me to send the one that was mine back to them and he said it would be dropped. Never asked for a dime. I know use a stealth Ioffer account to avoid this problem from ever happening again!