# My boards are on a store's website



## Betsy (Sep 25, 2007)

Not sure how I feel about this, but I was going through Pinterest looking for unusual and unique wine themed doodad for a friend's Christmas present, and I saw a cutting board that looked very familiar. Turns out the company has three of my boards on their site. They also use my information on cutting boards pretty much word-for-word. They do list my business name and indicate I'm local to their store. I am pretty sure they bought these boards at one of my local shows and are simply reselling them. How they intend to make any money on these boards is also hard to see. They are only selling them for $5 more than what they bought them from me for.

I'm not sure how to approach this. Part of me says it's good advertising for me. But they don't give my contact information. Another part of me is upset that they've put my boards on their site without my permission.

How do you think I should approach this company about the issue?

(The good news is that I found a gift for my friend.)

Looking forward to your thoughts.

Betsy


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## Slemi (Mar 7, 2014)

First thing that pops in my head is: call them and ask them if they want to do bussiness. Maybe something else beside the cutting boards.

I believe that legally they can do anything they want with your boards.


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## Blackie_ (Jul 10, 2011)

Betsy, are these boards signed by you? You'd first have to prove that they were yours and if your signature is on the boards, than you'd have advertisement.

On future boards make sure you sign, company name and date them.


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## ellen35 (Jan 1, 2009)

I would think being a "re-seller", they would at least notify you of this. If you went into a brick and mortar store and saw your boards being re-sold and didn't know about it, would you say something? I'm for calling them and just asking as a courtesy that they notify you if they are going to re-sell your work.

Of course, it is the internet and you have no control over them, really. Pinterest uses everyone's stuff on their site.


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## Jim Jakosh (Nov 24, 2009)

You might first call as a customer and ask about the boards and see if they give your information to a prospective customer.
It might turn into a business venture if they want to sell your product, but I think I'd like to see what they say and then let them know you are the maker and go from there with them. They might do this for a lot of different products and I think they should be telling the makers if they do. I know a number of people who sell some pretty nice stuff too cheap and they get orders for a lot of them sometimes and know it is being resold at a place that can get a higher dollar.

I think they should be letting you know of their intentions. You have to discuss it with them.

Jim

Jim


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## DustyM (May 16, 2016)

It seems like the general feeling is to contact them to get a conversation started. This seems reasonable. You mention they are already listing your buisness name, but not your contact information. Maybe offer to send them something to link to (a facebook page, website, etc)? If they are already listing your business name, they don't strike me as the dishonest type…but maybe a gentle push/request toward doing totally right by you is warranted.


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## Betsy (Sep 25, 2007)

Thanks all - I was leaning toward just calling them but wanted your thoughts on it. The part that really irks me though is the only way they could have gotten these boards was at one of my shows. If they bought them with the intention of reselling they could have at least said so - I'm not too hard to get along with after all.

Randy - I don't sign my boards. In this particular instance though - I know for sure they are mine as I have pictures of exactly the same ones on their site (grain patterns matches perfectly).

Ellen - the internet is a wild place where lots of things go on that shouldn't. Wish we could have more control over our own stuff though.

Thanks for your thoughts.


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## shipwright (Sep 27, 2010)

I'm for absolute honesty. Meet with them, since they are local, and just say pretty much what you said here, that you don't know how you feel about the situation. The ensuing conversation should either resolve the issue or end it.


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## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

If you wanted to be a real "you know what" you could post their listing here and let us have at them!!


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## TravisH (Feb 6, 2013)

I don't see the big deal. They bought the board from you and they are now reselling it. It is no longer your board it is their board. Why would they need your permission to sell their board? They are not making any claims of making the board and further acknowledge you as making it giving you free advertising. What is to be irked about?


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## MrUnix (May 18, 2012)

+1 to the above.

Just as with anything else, there is nothing preventing someone from re-selling a product, and you have already made your 'profit' from it when you first sold it to them. I'd maybe use it as free advertising - "Look, here are my boards being sold somewhere else for much more than I'll let you have one for!".

Cheers,
Brad


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## OldFarmer (Dec 14, 2016)

Betsy, several here have said that the boards are theirs to do as they wish, including reselling. That is absolutely correct. Once you sell an item the new owner may give it away, burn it, or sell it again. I would certainly never broach them on that subject, they may want more and if you offend them you may lose a customer. 
SIGN YOUR WORK and put your contact info or website!!! You never know, whoever buys one from a reseller may want another one as a gift…. 
Oh also, they are under no obligation to tell what they intend to do with it…..be happy for the sale.


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## OldFarmer (Dec 14, 2016)

A little parable that may help….several years ago I was a vendor at a craft show. I found a lady selling some really nice items at a very reasonable price. I bought several, took them to my booth and marked them up to resell (I was naughty like that). I did not remove her contact info as it was not my work. A little later she strolled by and was very indignant that I would do such a thing. I apologized immediately and got my receipt out and told her I would just let her have them back….well as the ball was back in her court she decided she was not as mad as she thought..she did not want to return my money and lose a sale. It turned out that I bought from her several more times to resell.


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## Betsy (Sep 25, 2007)

All good points. I didn't have a chance to do anything about this today - had a very odd day.

I'll let you know what I decide to do.


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## Tootles (Jul 21, 2011)

If they bought the boards, they can sell them. And they get to choose the price they sell them at.

If I sold a car, I would list the name of the company that made the car, so them listing your business name as the manufacturer is no different. I would not expect them to list your contact details as they would rather the customer did not contact you directly - they would lose a sale, even at only $5 profit.

However, there might be some issues around copyright that you might want to discuss with them. As long as the information presented that came from you almost word-for-word is only used to describe your boards, and nobody else's, it is probably not a big deal. After all, surely you want your products presented in the best way possible?

Right now, you are probably ahead in the game - you sold three boards to someone who did not want to own or use them. You actually have the money in hand, while they are still out of pocket.

Have you thought about just contacting them and offering to supply them on an ongoing basis? I don't know how far apart your local shows are (time-wise), but perhaps offer them the opportunity to sell some boards as you make them while you are building up stock to take to a show. Also discuss what other products you could supply to them based on what they know they can sell.

If your business is making the wooden products and theirs is selling them online to a wider target market online than you can achieve, isn't that an ideal symbiosis?


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## Betsy (Sep 25, 2007)

I've left a message for the owner and I plan to discuss with them a plan to supply boards in future. I've come to the conclusion with all of your input, that combined with the fact that they gave my company credit for the boards and that since they are a brick and mortar (as well as an internet vendor) I can walk in and have some face to face time with those who want to sale my boards. Can't be anything wrong with that.

While I would have liked it more that they asked me about buying my boards for resale there's no reason to get my tail in a wad - move on and enjoy the extra attention my boards get. This may be the little push I need to actually expand my market from in-person shows to a little brick and mortar investment.

Thank you all for the comments and advise.

P.S. I've not mentioned the name of the store/website for the simple reason that I did not want to create the possibility of a bad review for the business. Reviews are important these days.


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## ArtMann (Mar 1, 2016)

Double post.


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## ArtMann (Mar 1, 2016)

I would regard the incident as a great opportunity to expand your business if that is what you want to do. If someone buys your product for a price that is acceptable to you, then they have every right to do whatever they want with it. I think your feelings are not justifiable. People buy stuff all the time to resell and there is nothing ethically wrong with that even if they don't mention your name. That is why you should brand or otherwise mark your pieces to begin with.

Suppose you bought a nice rocking chair from a fine craftsman and then decided you didn't have room for it. Would you really feel obliged to go back to the maker and inform him that you were reselling it? Would you ask him to provide a tag so you could inform the buyer where you got it?


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## Jim Jakosh (Nov 24, 2009)

Hi Betsy, after reading all the comments, I think if you get them to be a regular customer and buy them outright from you, it is a whole lot better than putting them in their shop on consignment and having them sell them for a commission. This way they are SOLD and you have the money up front and they have to work to market and resell them and if they don't sell at their store, your are still n the money !!

Cheers, Jim


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