There are now just days to go before a decision on the EU ‘Vertical Restraints’ Regulation. If approved in its current draft form, this legislation would allow brand manufacturers to impose restrictions on sellers who do not have a physical, ‘brick and mortar’ shop.
This blog believes that online-only outlets can offer a professional, high quality and economically sound way to shop and should not be put at an unfair disadvantage against high street buildings.
We urge people to contact the European Commission’s competition section and their Member of the European Parliament to protest against the proposed discriminatory change.
With Christmas around the corner, millions of us are in the process of buying gifts for friends and family.
According to a report in the Guardian once we enter December our ‘must buy presents’ mindset kicks in. Apparently we spend the first weekend in December browsing the shops for gifts and then use online venues to search and buy said gifts online, often at a discounted rate. This year it’s predicted to be on Sunday 6th of December and again on Monday 7th of December, known as Mega Monday.
eBay.co.uk is expecting almost 5 million visitors to snap up over a million Christmas gifts (on Sunday, 14 Christmas gifts will be bought every second). Research conducted by eBay shows that 89% of Brits will do their Christmas shopping online this year, an increase of 16% from last year. Other online retailers such as Asos are reporting high forecasts as well.
Added to this are thousands of high street retailers pushing sales in their online stores, for example John Lewis’ online store now accounts for 13% of the John Lewis division of the group – more than even their most successful high street store. This truly highlights just how online shopping has come of age.
But while millions of us all over the country are buying our well-intentioned Christmas gifts, it is inevitable that come Boxing Day and the New Year we’ll see just as many people turning back to online marketplaces, including eBay, to re-sell their ‘not-quite-right’ presents. Similarly many more people will need to sell existing goods that have become redundant with the arrival of bigger, better, newer and shinier Christmas replacements.
But our right to buy and sell freely online is still threatened by bullying brands, which want to prevent the sale of their products by non-official resellers. The EU Commission is currently reviewing the legislation that governs this but if brands get their way then going online on Boxing Day to offload unwanted gifts may become a thing of the past.
You can help us protect the right to re-sell unwanted Christmas pressies by joining our campaign. Or if you have been subjected to bullying by brands let us know what happened.
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