The Surprisingly Bad Bill Resellers Need To Know About

It seems as though many things are overly politicized. Resale should not be one of them. I’m sure it will be a shock to hear this, but the Government is currently considering some resale legislation. This legislation will effectively eliminate resale as an option for individuals or smaller businesses. It sounds good on paper, the SHOP SAFE Act: “Stopping Harmful Offers on Platforms by Screening Against Fakes in E-commerce Act of 2021” S. 1843. At first glance, preventing counterfeit sales sounds like something everyone can get behind. However, this Act has a lot of other broad definitions and a scope that would be devastating to small resellers.

The Run Down

The good part of S. 1843 is its focus on protecting consumers by having higher penalties for trademark violations which certainly sounds worth supporting. No one wants to purchase counterfeit or misrepresented goods.
This level of legislation prevents accomplishment of the goal without collecting a lot of personal information from people who even casually sell. The resale industry itself would then be so regulated, you’d have to have a higher level of expertise and funds to do it at all. Many of the pieces of this Act would basically disallow all small platforms like Etsy, Poshmark, Facebook Marketplace, Offer Up, Tradesy, Kidizen, Thred Up, etc., from selling items that are Copywritten. This level of specificity includes practically all secondhand markets. Imagine not being able to sell your gently used item because the manufacturer says it infringes on their rights to the item.

Who It Impacts

Even selling something via an online messenger app to a close friend would fall under this level of scrutiny and regulation. This further hurts the smallest members of resale commerce while not being much of a deterrent for the bigger corporations. Larger companies can then control the market prices for secondhand items at a higher rate.
This type of resale legislation is devastating for smaller competitors without resources or large amounts of capital. The lower supply of resale items would increase the prices on those who could stay in the market.

Find Out More

One of my favorite things about resale is its accessibility to everyone and that it does help people supplement very limited incomes.
I also want the price of used things to stay low because of the sheer abundance of secondhand items. If we start making it more challenging to connect with what you’re looking for, people will shop less. Less will be rehomed, further increasing our waste cycle instead of curbing it through repurpose.
This is basically legislation that looks helpful at first glance but benefits big businesses and those with resources. It also over-complicates a system that many people utilize more and more to stretch their dollars and provide supplemental income for themselves. Please feel free to sign up to POPvox to easily research legislation and provide feedback. You may also reach out to your state representation to provide feedback on this and other bills.
Here’s some follow-up info. This level of resale legislation effects more of us than you would think. Publicknowledge.org is a fantastic site to get more information about many pieces of legislation.