Geobra's lawyers act against selling klicky-parts on ebay (?)

[Wolf Knight]

Thank you for all the clariications H_M!

[Indianna]

. . . I really would like to know what Geobra's problem with people buying a part adding value to it and reselling it is? If I go to Walmart, buy an item and list it on the web for 10X the price what law am I breaking?

If Geobra had a more user-friendly DS system that was well know, this "problem" would take care of itself 

Is Geobra going to go after anybody re-selling even the sets with this mindset? There are a lot of people buying sets and the next day they list them for sale plus a profit. Its called business

You have perfectly summarized my thoughts on the matter, Rasputin!   

[Bill Blackhurst]

That is a true thought that a majority of us are thinking about too. But on the other side of the sword, what if Playmobil starts limiting quantities of parts that we are able to order from DS? Perhaps if they only allow up to 3 or 5 max of an item, that is one way they can crush this business opportunity. That's why I think that a valid PCC member number would prove beneficial to hard core customizers & collectors. It would be able to lift the restrictions, & allow us to buy what we want.

[Tiermann]

shady maltaware

An excellent term for it. EBay in Germany is different than many other countries since the tax laws are very different when it comes to online sales.
Playmobil sells wholesale to retailers. If someone has their DS account cancelled because they are a professional seller, does that mean they now qualify to become a wholesale customer instead?

[Emma.J]

This is a very interesting topic, a remember hearing about PM limiting DS sales due to over inflated prices of parts. I agree what does it matter if people sell stuff for over the odds?
I've just seen on ebay someone asking £10 for one set of cups and jug on a sprue. They may ask silly prices for things but they're not forcing anyone to spend that much it's up to the buyer.

That is a true thought that a majority of us are thinking about too. But on the other side of the sword, what if Playmobil starts limiting quantities of parts that we are able to order from DS? Perhaps if they only allow up to 3 or 5 max of an item, that is one way they can crush this business opportunity. That's why I think that a valid PCC member number would prove beneficial to hard core customizers & collectors. It would be able to lift the restrictions, & allow us to buy what we want.

Ds have started limiting amounts. I called them last week as I need about 30 stair rails for my new house to be told that the most you could order was 3 sets as that would be what you would get in a normal house with extention. I was told that PM was limiting big spares orders due to parts being bought on mass for reselling.

All I can think is that if Pm parts are sold at high prices then the average person would think it was because Pm were setting the prices that high. Therefore PM are ripping you off and that would damage Pm's reputation. 

[Wolf Knight]

But we all know that DS spare parts are quite cheap, klickies aside... One reason we needed a DS service for us collectors here in Greece was that reason exactly: we cannot go on paying ridiculously high ebay prices for items we need... And if we need them and we can't get them through DS, I admit I'll be the one to pay a crazy price for a single item... (but not 11 euros on a husar hat...) Bill is correct, I hope PCC membership can lift up these limits, although somehow I doubt it... call it a hunch...

[Rasputin]

So let me get this straight. Geobra a toy business who sells directly to customers through it web sites and telephone orders in limiting set purchases to 9 and now they want to limit the amount of parts customers can buy from DS?

Is there any other business that takes such measures?

A F-ing business that says "No, you can not buy that much"   

[Wolf Knight]

It sound silly, doesn't it? I wonder what is their reasoning for all this? 

[Bill Blackhurst]

Excellent thoughts Ras & Sir Wolf! It doesn't make sense for a company to want to limit a profit potential, does it? I mean, the parts system & departments already exist, so why not want to capitalize on it? Seems like it would be a no brainer to me! It's strange, but they don't seem to realize if their DS departments were more accommodating to parts seeking collectors, it would limit the reason to go to eBay for obtaining spare parts lots. As I already stated, with the PCC looming in the future, it may give leverage for true collectors to be exempt from the recent part ordering restrictions, a perk so to speak, unlimited parts ordering abilities.

[Hadoque]

"Saskia" wrote in another thread that DS in the Netherlands is also limiting spare parts-orders, I guess this new policy is being adopted by most or all DS-departments.

I used to order for example 10x the same pirate because of interesting parts on the klicky for customizing, or 25x a soldier with 25x a specific hat and 50 cuffs for expanding a soldier-regiment, but that's already some years ago....
Since then I've bought not much or only in lower quantities.

I'd like to make a bigger order once again in the coming months, I wonder if DS-Belgium will accept it...
If I can't order 20 cuffs for 10 soldiers anymore, I'm in trouble!