Jeff Bunnell: Amway Forcing Tapes Off eBay

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From: Jeff L Bunnell <jlbun@juno.com>
To: dst@cs.cmu.edu
Date: Sat, 21 Jul 2001 00:23:18 -0700
Subject: Ebay and my worthless tapes.....

I am so PO'd at Amway because they won't allow me to sell my worthless
organizational tapes on Ebay.  You and I both know that they are not
"licensed or endorsed by Amway", but each time I try to sell these, the
auction is removed.
I called their offices and was told that "only Amway distributors may
sell this material".  When I told them that the material is no longer
available and possibly desirable to current distributors, then I was told
that the material "must be out of date", and therefore should not be
resold.  I can't even put in a disclaimer, because if I even mention
"Amway" or "not Amway" in the title, the auction is removed.
If you have time, your input would be appreciated.  Feel free to add my
story to those of many others that have been burned by Amway.  The funny
thing is, if I sell a car on Ebay, Ford or Chevy has no problem with it. 
If I sell my VCR, Sony won't come after me.  And yet, a product NOT
manufactured or endorsed by Amway is pulled due to "copyright
violations".   Makes no sense.  The link for the "explaination"
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/elhines/is   BS is what it is.

Thanks,

Jeff

P.S. If you do know of any way for me to either sell these or to even
take legal action because of this, let me know.

From: Jeff L Bunnell <jlbun@juno.com>
To: Dave_Touretzky@cs.cmu.edu
Date: Sat, 21 Jul 2001 02:17:18 -0700
Subject: Re: Ebay and my worthless tapes.....

I have no idea if what I signed (in 1993) said that I could or could not
resell their stuff.  But you are correct, the tapes were created by the
AMO, and sold thru them also (all with organizational/non-Amway
paperwork).  Its funny, I was always told that "we don't work for Amway,
we're just involved in a marketing organization that sells many products,
some of which are Amway products."  Yes, feel free to put me down (and my
name & email address) as someone who is really ticked about this
harassment from Amway all these years later.  Many of us blew thousands
of $$ on this stuff and to threaten us with legal action when we try to
get back a few hundred is ridiculous.  Hopefully someone will once again
sue over these AMO materials.  And they say that Microsoft has unfair
business practices........


Jeff Bunnell