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I'm a minor and I sell on Ebay, can I go to court? Law firm wants me to pay $900 to avoid them pursuing me in court. Please help
I recently receive a letter from a law firm representing Product Partners/Beachbody. They said that I was selling counterfeit P90X dvds, but I never knew they were fake or counterfeit. I never even got to see what I sold, I would sell it then use the money I received to buy it from another site cheaper. Then I would have the DVD sent to the person who paid me. I would keep the leftovers. The people I bought the DVD from stated that they were authentic from Beachbody and I thought they were authentic like stated, but apparently not. They want me to send them approximately $890 to avoid court.
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No I haven't been doing the DVDs for two years, I've been dropshipping for 2 years. At first I was selling legitimate cellphones from a reputable wholesaler www.uniqbe.com then I started doing the DVDs this year and I didn't make that much money, or at least I think, definitely not up to $900. So I hope you're correct. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Sorry one last piece of information, I stopped selling the P90X dvds a couple of months before I receive the letter(which was today). Attorney answers (1)
What can happen to you, after 2 years of trafficking counterfeit goods. Hmm, let's see, you could be prosecutedor civil and criminal trademark infringement and selling counterfeit goods, and if your conduct was willful, seek puntitive damages, attorney's fees, and treble damages, plus disgorgement of all your profits, costs, and an injunction so a court will order you not to do this anymore. And then there are the criminal penalities, monetary and jail time.
You'll say you had no idea, that you thought that DVDs that cost $1 each were genuine, and hey, you're just a kid, you didn't know they were fake. No one will believe that, but a court would take your age into account. On the other hand, a court would also take into account that you did this for 2 years. That's what COULD happen. Will CA lawyers make you come to CA to defend yourself? No, they have to sue you where you live, but they know where you live and they can easily hire TX counsel to sue you and make an example of you. Will they? I doubt it, unless you did a really big business in counterfeit DVDs. Disclaimer: Please note that this answer does not constitute legal advice, and should not be relied on, since each state has different laws, each situation is fact specific, and it is impossible to evaluate a legal problem without a comprehensive consultation and review of all the facts and documents at issue. This answer does not create an attorney-client relationship.
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Answered by a user, about 2 years ago.
Ok kid...whether you knew what you were doing or not, I do not know. But it looks t me like the people you were doing business with were using you as a front so thay would not be busted directly for selling illegal items. Kind of like the guy that sells the drugs to the guy that sells the drugs to the guy that sells the drugs to the guy.... YOU got left holding the bag!
There are severe penalties for this but what the previous person who answered you did not elaborate on is that you are a MINOR. The penalties you would face as an adult will be hard to press on you as a minor. BUT...you may have gotten your parents in a huge amount of trouble as they are legally liable for your activities and YES that includes what you do on the internet. You are a minor and could not have signed up on ebay to sell unless you had established some kind of bank connection via an account and or card. You could not have done this without the help of an adult. Do you have a bank account under your parents name? Even if you did/do...HOW can you deposit checks/ access paypal or cash checks/withdraw money(that you say you spend)either from a bank or even if it is all thru paypal...as a minor? More troubles for your parents. How can your parents not see the paper trail you are leaving via a bank account(savings?)that is ultimately connected to them? I do not think you are telling the whole truth and you can bet the court will see that for sure. I do not agree with all that ebay and paypal do. But they do have a system that you have to go through to qualify to set up accounts with and you did not do that by their policies...however you did it. SOMEBODY (whoever)had to be in on this to get you set up. You won't be in as much trouble as they are in now...depending on what your parents think or do about all of this(assuming they are not involved). It is naive of you to sell anothers products site unseen. Why would anybody need YOU to sell their stuff and take part of the profits if their was not a reason??? if my kid got me in that trouble by doing what you did...he would be in big trouble and not just with some lawyer trying to get $900.00. Related Questions3 Attorney answers: 
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