# Legality of buying stuff in bulk and reselling it myself? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 16, 2013, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-buying-stuff-in-bulk-and-reselling-it-myself/666436 "2013-08-16T18:00:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2013, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-buying-stuff-in-bulk-and-reselling-it-myself/666436/1 "2013-08-16T18:00:46Z")
Let’s say I go to REI or something and buy thousands of dollars worth of stuff, then go down to Mexico, open a shop called SFJ, and resell all of it at a markup. What are the legal issues here? I ask b/c I just read an interesting [article](http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Trader-Joe-s-drags-a-pirate-to-court-4736782.php) about a Canadian guy who is doing exactly that - buying thousands of dollars of Trader Joe’s items around Seattle, then reselling them at a store back in Canada, and is getting sued. I’m not sure that Trader Joe’s has a case, but I’m not sure about the legalities involved. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2013, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-buying-stuff-in-bulk-and-reselling-it-myself/666436/2 "2013-08-16T18:03:59Z")
The [First Sale Doctrine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine) might be a good place to start reading. ---
**Author:** ![dstarfire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dstarfire/32/5762_2.png) [@dstarfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dstarfire)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2013, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-buying-stuff-in-bulk-and-reselling-it-myself/666436/3 "2013-08-16T18:10:41Z")
The legal problems aren’t about reselling good purchased from a retailer, but rather distributing trademarked products without permission of the trademark holder. In the article you mention, the canadian names his store “Pirate Joes”, and sells goods from Trader Joes, which implies a connection or endorsement that doesn’t exist. TJ could also have some exclusivity agreements with it’s suppliers, or consider (the uniqueness of) their product selection a key aspect of their business method. Aside from the trademark issues, I don’t think there’s any problem with reselling goods purchased from a retail store (mini marts resell stuff from Costco (and similar stores) all the time). ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2013, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-buying-stuff-in-bulk-and-reselling-it-myself/666436/4 "2013-08-16T18:17:50Z")
It’s also a trademark issue. If you appear to “be” Trader Joes, then do people think you are part of the chain? If so, you are piggy-backing off their success and reputation. > [@](#): > > The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington state, alleges federal trademark infringement; unfair competition, false endorsement and false designation of origin; false advertising; federal trademark dilution; injury to business and reputation; and deceptive business practices. … “Trader Joe’s thinks Canadians are too ignorant not to tell the difference between the empire and my little shop on Fourth Avenue,” said Hallatt… That’s the key of the matter. Would an average person get confused between the two and assume there is some sort of connection? Would you assume a store with ONLY TJ merchandise is a TJ or affiliate store? Does finding TJ’s stuff in another store when it’s supposedly an “exclusive” brand cheapen the perception of the brand? It’s not cut and dried, that’s why there are courts - to decide the tough questions. ---
**Author:** ![SpeedwayRyan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@SpeedwayRyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpeedwayRyan)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2013, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-buying-stuff-in-bulk-and-reselling-it-myself/666436/5 "2013-08-16T18:20:16Z")
The fact that he got mad and peeled the “P” off the window to turn “PIRATE JOE’S” into “IRATE JOE’S” is absolute genius. Between that and crossdressing to buy stuff without being recognized, I kinda like this guy. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2013, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-buying-stuff-in-bulk-and-reselling-it-myself/666436/6 "2013-08-16T18:32:02Z")
> [@dstarfire](#): > > Aside from the trademark issues, I don’t think there’s any problem with reselling goods purchased from a retail store (mini marts resell stuff from Costco (and similar stores) all the time). One difference is that virtually all of the Trader Joe’s merchandise is sold under house brands, so it’s unavailable elsewhere. But if I sell a can of Coca-Cola or a Hershey bar in my mini-mart, I could have gotten them anywhere. (I wonder if Costco would care if I resold Kirkland-branded merchandise.) ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2013, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-buying-stuff-in-bulk-and-reselling-it-myself/666436/7 "2013-08-16T18:55:02Z")
Since he’s taking the product across an international border, there could well be customs issues as well. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2013, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-buying-stuff-in-bulk-and-reselling-it-myself/666436/8 "2013-08-16T19:35:01Z")
[QUOTE=Dewey Finn] (I wonder if Costco would care if I resold Kirkland-branded merchandise.) [/QUOTE] I’ve bought Kirkland products via Amazon sellers, so either they don’t care once someone buys it from them, or they just don’t have the resources to monitor everyone. One ugly snag I can envision with the OP’s premise is sales tax. They’ll want a reseller’s certificate / tax license / etc so they can buy things in the US without paying sales or use tax, but then they’ll have to collect sales tax in Mexico. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2013, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-buying-stuff-in-bulk-and-reselling-it-myself/666436/9 "2013-08-16T21:24:01Z")
What if he changed his store’s name to “Pirate Jack’s”? Or maybe “Pirate John’s”, to keep Disney off his back. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2013, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-buying-stuff-in-bulk-and-reselling-it-myself/666436/10 "2013-08-16T23:02:51Z")
Generally this is not a good idea because you will be paying higher prices than you need to. Instead buy from manufacturers, wholesalers. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2013, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-buying-stuff-in-bulk-and-reselling-it-myself/666436/11 "2013-08-16T23:13:51Z")
Crossing international borders to do it, there’s got to be a myriad of duty and tax issues. Plus, I wouldn’t go to Mexico with a load of anything to try and sell it. So much corruption & violence you could wind up dead. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2013, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-buying-stuff-in-bulk-and-reselling-it-myself/666436/12 "2013-08-16T23:24:38Z")
Sometimes you’ll see a little notice on something like a box of individually wrapped twinkies, telling you that they’re only supposed to be sold as a package and not resold as individual items. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2013, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-buying-stuff-in-bulk-and-reselling-it-myself/666436/13 "2013-08-16T23:47:58Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Sometimes you’ll see a little notice on something like a box of individually wrapped twinkies, telling you that they’re only supposed to be sold as a package and not resold as individual items. [George Takei]Oh my![/George Takei] ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-buying-stuff-in-bulk-and-reselling-it-myself/666436/14 "2013-08-17T00:05:07Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Sometimes you’ll see a little notice on something like a box of individually wrapped twinkies, telling you that they’re only supposed to be sold as a package and not resold as individual items. The issues with that is labelling requirements. For example an individual package of twinkies has nutrition (heh) and ingredients information that bulk boxed products lack. The simple fact that you bought in bulk and resold individually does not bring any kind of criminal law into effect. We have had numerous dicussions along this line on the topic of girl scout cookies. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=304552&highlight=girl+scout+cookies](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=304552&highlight=girl+scout+cookies) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-buying-stuff-in-bulk-and-reselling-it-myself/666436/15 "2013-08-17T00:06:17Z")
I believe that’s because the wrapping on the individual Twinkies doesn’t include the nutritional and ingredients information. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-buying-stuff-in-bulk-and-reselling-it-myself/666436/16 "2013-08-17T00:38:17Z")
My impression with Trader Joe’s is that they have a sort of core of beloved cheap products (such as the infamous Two Buck Chuck) that I assume are loss leaders but get people in the door. I could see how they might be annoyed since the guy is probably mostly buying those products and not the various more marked-up stuff they actually make their money on. > [@dstarfire](#): > > Aside from the trademark issues, I don’t think there’s any problem with reselling goods purchased from a retail store (mini marts resell stuff from Costco (and similar stores) all the time). Well, Costco has always ostensibly been a wholesaler catering to small businesses as well as individuals (even if in reality they’re pretty much a retailer). So I would expect them to be okay with it, if for no other reason than bolstering their wholesaler schtick. I also often see Great Value (Wal Mart’s generic brand) stuff in mom n’ pop places out in the middle of nowhere, but I don’t know if Wal Mart actually tolerates that or if those places are simply so far off the radar they don’t care. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-buying-stuff-in-bulk-and-reselling-it-myself/666436/17 "2013-08-17T00:38:54Z")
> [@dstarfire](#): > > (mini marts resell stuff from Costco (and similar stores) all the time). Remember Costco started as a wholesale supply place. The whole intent was to sell to other stores. A lot of places resell their products. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-buying-stuff-in-bulk-and-reselling-it-myself/666436/18 "2013-08-17T00:43:05Z")
Plus, even if they can’t stop you from reselling it (and on the trademark issue I have no idea what obligation Canada and/or Mexico have in terms of protecting American trademarks), they can try to stop you from buying it, which is pretty much what Trader Joe’s is doing outside of the lawsuit. I’m not a fan of Trader Joe’s but even if you accept the overdone fan worship as completely justified, it is insane to me that there’d be enough people will to pay Trader Joe’s retail price + gas + vehicle maintenance + other travel expenses if he now has to go as far as California to get into a store + customs and any other import fees + plus overhead costs of Vancouver storefront + profit margin to eat TJ branded potato chips. ---
**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-buying-stuff-in-bulk-and-reselling-it-myself/666436/19 "2013-08-17T00:57:49Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Generally this is not a good idea because you will be paying higher prices than you need to. Instead buy from manufacturers, wholesalers. Not necessarily. Even if you can go direct to a manufacturer, many will have minimum order sizes, which may well be out of reach of a small business. Even if you can meet the minimum, your pricing as a small purchaser is going to be substantially different (higher) than what they charge, say Trader Joes or Costco. So much so, that it could be cheaper to buy from one of them and resell. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-buying-stuff-in-bulk-and-reselling-it-myself/666436/20 "2013-08-17T01:02:50Z")
Sometimes when the supermarkets have an especially good sale on something like soda, they will limit the maximum purchase amount because they don’t want smaller retailers buying it up for resale. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legality-of-buying-stuff-in-bulk-and-reselling-it-myself/666436.md?page=2)