Trading standards have seized my jewelry

[jimmy1969]

the trading standards recently seized my jewelry at a car boot sale under the trademarks act, they said it is counterfeit ? , i didnt know this , i purchased the jewelry off ebay wholesale so i was buying it pritty cheap e.g. £3.99 for a bracelet and i was selling it for £5.99, i didnt think about checking the jewelery to see if it was fake cos as a guy i dont really know about jewelry i just thought i was buying it cheap wholesale so i sold it cheap, i never had any complaints, i have only been selling it for a few months, with not working i just started to make my own beaded jewelry with my partner and sell it on car boot but we saw this other jewelry cheap so we started to sell some of this jewelry on the stall, the trading standards and police showed up and seized some of the jewelry and watches betty boop/kitty etc didnt arrest me , gave me a form which states what they have seized and advised me not to sell again , and ssaid they would be inb touch that was 3 weeks ago , i am really worried about this as i have never been in trouble for selling counterfeit goods before, and i dint even know they were counterfeit , i know i should of checked everything out first before selling them and realised they were cheap etc but i didnt, i am wondering what will happen to me now? please does anyone have any knowledge of what will happen
thanks

[woofgang]

Have you gone back to ebay and to the seller?

[jimmy1969]

it was quiet a few different sellers in china i got them from

[woofgang]

well deffo contact ebay and open disputes.

[EvianBaby]

Unfortunately for you ignorance is no defence.

I'd imagine you'll get some sort of fine.

[jimmy1969]

also i dont work, and have a £140,000 mortgage , i live with my partner and 1 child, the only reason i was doing the car boot was to get a few extra quid for petrol through the week and some gass and leccy and most of the time i only made enough money to pay to get on car boot and for my me and my sons dinner on there about £40 $60 if it was a good day, so i dont know how id pay a fine, my partner has 2 jobs on minmum wage and we are really struggling with the mortgage payments never mind anything else,

[jimmy1969]

could i not sign a disclaimer form and just not sell anymore?

[joko]

did you check properly who they were before you let them take all your stock...?

you may have been robbed...?

[DTCwordfan]

scam of the day perhaps, Ed is raising a new topic on this, I believe.....did you ask them for any ID, jimmy......

[hc4361]

What sort of jewellery were you selling? It must have been some sort of brand like Pandora.

[ilovemarkb]

keep us updated Jimmy!!! Easy mistake to make!!!

[EvianBaby]

I imagine Hello Kitty and Betty Boop are both trade marked.

[jimmy1969]

yes i did see the trading standards id and there were a police officer present, i wish it was a scam and i had been robbed instead, yes some of the jewelery did say pandora on the clasps and some said tiffany and thomas sabo on, and some of them came in gift boxes that said the names on as well but that is how i purchased them, there were betty boop and hello kitty watches , necklace watches, and charm necklaces and bracelets (how am i supposed to know that even kitty and betty boop charms are fake?, i was only selling the necklaces for £1.99 and the watches for £3.99 i was making approx 75p on each watch etc

[EvianBaby]

No offence jimmy but you know they are fake when you buy a job lot from china on eBay cheap. You must have realised they were not legitimate.

[daffy654]

Nobody who has at least half a brain would think they could purchase genuine Pandora, Tiffany or Thomas Sabo jewellery for such a low price.

[yogasun]

Friends of ours who have been trading honestly on eBay for years were recently prosecuted for selling some trademarked goods even though they had done all the checks they thought necessary before re-sale. There was one particular check they didn't know about and it had to go to court. They pleaded guilty. The main seller was fined £15,000 and had to do Community Service for so many hours. Her husband had a conditional discharge.
They have said they will never sell such goods again! However it might have been Customs and Excise that prosecuted, I can't remember now, it was a year ago. Trademarked goods are a minefield.
This might be different to your case so please don't worry too much. But you did ask. It's SO difficult. They could well let you off with a warning.

[Maydup]

//(how am i supposed to know that even kitty and betty boop charms are fake?, //

Equally how would you know they were genuine? At that price it is more likely to be counterfit.

You ask what will happen. As you were selling them at a boot fair which is supposed to be for people selling a few odd bits from their attic, you'll probably get a bit of an investigation in to your tax and any benefit payments you might receive. You haven't been arrested which is a positive step for you but you should expect a court date and a fine.

If its been 3 weeks you should hear soon, if the wait is making you anxious then call them and ask what happens next.

[sandyRoe]

How much had you paid for the stuff that they confiscated?

[rowanwitch]

Branded goods like these are normally only sold through a retail network recognised by the manufacturer... odds and ends could be sold legitimately as resale from private ownership or 'bankrupt stock' any large quantity going cheap is almost certainly not authentic.

Basically if it has a recognisable image or trademark and its not coming from the original company or a formal bankrupt sale its not worth the risk.

[jimmy1969]

the prices varied, e.g. i purchased some kitty watches for £2.99 each and i sold them for £3.99 each, Shambala bracelets for £6.00 each and sold them for £7.99 each etc

[jimmy1969]

i have contacted ebay about this situation saying that all the jewelry i purchased through ebay are counterfeit and that i found out through trading standards seizing them and that i could be prosecuted, and that i didnt know they were fake and asked could they help?? they basically washed their hands of me and cut me off online chat with them?