RNLI free booklet for sale on eBay

[bobgosling]

Someone is selling a booklet given away free by RNLI on eBay ( actually he has several for sale ).

See
here

I just posted this as a buying enquiry :
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You are not authorized to sell this item !!!

It is given away free by the RNLI ( a registered charity ) and is not for resale or redistribution.

Selling this is not only illegal but also immoral as you are snatching away potential funds for the RNLI.

I will give you the benefit of the doubt by allowing you 24 hours to withdraw this item. If it is still listed after 24 hours I will report you to eBay and the RNLI Legal Department.
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I just got this as a reply !!!

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it does not say on the booklet not for resale or redistribution. Therefore you are either mistaken or bluffing. Go ahead and report all you want - I am certainly not breaking any Ebay rules...
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What should I do next ?

 

[BrendanS]

report it to the RNLI and let them make the decision

 

[Richard10002]

and ebay

 

[bobgosling]

Reported the cheeky git.

Do I have to move to a safe house and change my name now ?

 

[PilotWolf]

I asked if he was giving the proceeds to the RNLI - he's just replied saying "of course not"...

w.

 

[bobgosling]

Just had a reply from RNLI.

Apparently nothing they can do about it !!!

No law being broken.

( Have ordered 5000 copies of each of their free publications and am awaiting delivery )

 

[bigwow]

I've emailed his bidder on the item and told him he can get one free from the RNLI

 

[danielbroad]

We live in a free market economy people, if the buyer is stupid enough to pay for something that is free, caveat emptor...

Good luck to the seller, fools and their money are easily parted.

 

[Steve Clayton]

[ QUOTE ]
I've emailed his bidder on the item and told him he can get one free from the RNLI

[/ QUOTE ]
You could also email an earlier "winner" of the same item. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[bobgosling]

Just had another reply from this git .

Yes, I know selling these is not morally right - I am simply exploiting the fact that they are good little books and people don't know they can get them for free. I presume you are a member of the RNLI and I would also be pissed off with me if I were you. I am not directly diverting potetntial funds from the RNLI to myself though, as as you point out, you give them away free. Thanks

 

[bobgosling]

[ QUOTE ]

You could also email an earlier "winner" of the same item. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I have done ! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[PilotWolf]

Just had this second reply...

If i were stealing from a charity I would not care at all, but I am not doing any such thing. You give them away free as you, and approx. 50 of your friends have pointed out, therefore I am not 'stealing' any potential revenue from the RNLI. I am also not breaking any Ebay rules by selling these, so you can report me to whoever you want. Unless you put something in the book which says NOT FOR RESALE, i will continue to sell these. Thanks

Nice chap eh?!

W.

Edit to add his email address - should anyone wish to email him!

 

[AIDY]

lets hope some spammer gets hold of the email address /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[sailorman]

so did i

 

[BrendanS]

he's posting now on the scuttlebutt thread 'What an arse'

 

[aitchw]

As there is nothing you can do about it from a legal standpoint the only other thing you could do is get a few copies from RNLI and list them on eBay at 1p (or your listing fee) plus postage and make a big issue of 'Available Free from RNLI' giving information on how to obtain them.

You may still get someone buying from you.

Howard

 

[whisper]

Or, you could do what he is doing and sell them for £1.50 and give the proceeds to the RNLI /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[Rabbie]

Have you seen the 'other items' he has for sale?. Email should read perhaps,

 

[pvb]

eBay revenge...

Some people have been known to register for eBay, then bid ridiculously high prices for items, only to default on payment. It causes the seller a lot of problems, as they're responsible for paying eBay the sale fees (based on the high sale price), until they can get the sale cancelled. I'd have thought that discovering that the sale item was a free gift from a charity might be reasonable grounds for defaulting on payment.

Incidentally, no-one has queried why an organisation as big as the RNLI doesn't possess the basic commercial common sense to print "Not for resale" on its free publications.

 

[Seagreen]

Re: eBay revenge...

Someone (me or anyone else here) ought to point this loophole out to the RNLI for their next reprint. It takes a monemt to alter the data file, and I don't suppose the RNLI printers use offset Litho (new plates and a faf to change) but their stuff is digitally printed?
Morally, this ought to be done.