eCommerce selling international products

Hello DP,

I know this isn't the place to ask for legal advice, but I want to know what you guys may have learned through past experiences. If I had an eCommerce store that sold candy, snacks, or accessories from another country, what are the obstacles involved as far as reselling them. To be clear, if I were selling Japanese candies online would it be illegal to buy them at a Japanese supermarket within the United States and retail them on my website? Would I need any special licenses to retail other company's products or am I fine with just an eCommerce license. Because these are not handcrafted goods I would be buying commodities made by actual companies (ie. Hi-Chew).

 

In order to re-sell an item like candy direct to consumer, it is always safest to seek a license or permission from the manufacturer. There are plenty of people who resell goods via eBay, websites, and even face-to-face without a license or permission, but it does carry some legal risk.

 

All depends on distribution policy and agreements. Distributors usually have strategies for some markets and keep them straight- we do same with our services- customer gets always the same price, no matter form where they buy.

It is better to work directly with official distributors and resellers since they usually provide product feeds and updated pricing via XML or CSV (some might use IOF). With time you can also benefit from join marketing. Sometimes you can get discounts due loyalty programs etc....

 

I am not providing legal advice. In the US (as well as in other countries), the doctrine of first sale gives anyone the right to sell any product they have legally purchased, even if it is trademarked, copyrighted, or patented.

There are exceptions relating to music recordings, but apart from those items anything can be resold.

The doctrine of first sale even allows for the resale of goods purchased overseas and imported, (known as gray market goods) provided what is imported has been lawfully made with the authority of the Intellectual Property (IP) owner. Some exceptions apply there also, because the authority to manufacture might have exclusion clauses and the manufacturer might be prohibited from selling the goods in the country where they are manufactured.

If you have more questions on the subject, please post them on my thread: Ask Me Anything About Product Sourcing and Importing There are ways to safely import and resell goods on the gray market and I would be happy to explain.

Walter Hay