Reselling goods, is this legal?

June 24, 2008 5:47 AM

Are there any specific illegalities to purchasing clothing (e.g. name brand shorts) from an outlet store and then offering them for sale in a boutique that specializes in selling resort wear?
posted by lungtaworld to Law & Government (5 answers total)

I do not see why there would be a problem. But the clothing will be taxed twice.
posted by deep_sea_diving_suit at 6:05 AM on June 24, 2008

Outlet stores frequently sell seconds. To pass them off as non-seconded clothing would be fraud.
posted by notsnot at 6:05 AM on June 24, 2008

Outlets also frequently black out the label inside the garment, presumably to keep you from doing what you're proposing.
posted by hydropsyche at 6:36 AM on June 24, 2008

Some outlet stores have slightly different tags (i.e., the permanent tags, not the price tags) identifying the articles as from an outlet. If those were left in place, then you'd probably be okay. Certainly you'd need to be honest about the source if someone asked, and you might want to disclaim any affiliation with the original seller upfront (i.e., via a small sign near the clothes or in the front of the store).

This is somewhat different than a second-hand shop where one might find the same shorts because the buyer knows that they are 1) used and 2) not affiliated with the original seller. So to be on really firm footing I think you have to recreate those conditions.

To answer your general question, though, no reselling name brand clothing is not illegal per se. A fair number of folks make a living buying items on sale or off-season and reselling them on eBay. You may want to follow some of those pointers.
posted by jedicus at 6:47 AM on June 24, 2008

Outlets also frequently black out the label inside the garment, presumably to keep you from doing what you're proposing.

This is done to prevent you from returning the item to the original store for full price credit.
posted by qvtqht at 3:11 PM on June 26, 2008