Are companies allowed to re-sell my products?

[MaxT]

I'm planning on promoting my products to certain companies and allow them to re-sell my products in their locations. I'm OK with them re-selling them for profit, as long as they buy them initially from my Zazzle store.

Specifically, these companies are health organizations, like hospitals and care-houses, which often have small shops or corners where they sell cards and gifts, but they're not real stores.

So, are they legally allowed to do so? I'm also thinking about having the companies that want to re-sell subscribe to my brand with an agreement that they're allowed to do so. But that's just an idea. First of all, my question is whether any of this is even possible.

[CreativeLeahG · Accepted solution]

People do this without requiring our permission. As long as they've paid for them, they can resell them. What they can't do is claim our designs are theirs or that Zazzle products were manufactured by them etc. I recently as an example sold a lot of a product I'd only expect to sell in a single unit so I expect it was for resale.

In addition to your idea to approach these organizations, you can let them know they can earn 15% (as an affiliate) for referring customers to your 'site for customizations'. This could be very appealing to them. I have also done this. I approached my 'competition' to let them know they could instantly tripple their offerings by adding my products to their online store. Whether they did or not remains to be seen as I didn't follow it up. It's possible they simply opened their own Zazzle store 😉 So it's a 'game' of chance. 

I wish you luck with this innovative approach.

[MaxT]

Thank you for the clarification. Now I can approach them with confidence. Haha!

That's a good idea as well. It's interesting in general to think about how these organizations can actually make a profit by reselling. Makes it way easier to convince them to work together, I would guess. We'll see.

Thanks for the quick reply.

[Barbara]

I came close to doing something akin to this with a local seasonal organization, namely for postcards. The plan was to create direct-only cards for the organization to order. Almost got there, and now I can't remember why I decided to not do it. Probably something going on in my own life, but I probably should have done it. Not that I would have made bundles of money on it, but because little effort on my part would have been involved.

EDIT: As soon as I posted the above, I remembered why I didn't bother. It was because they would have enjoyed having their logo on the cards, and trying to place logos on Zazzle products might have run into blockades. The organization orders tees and hats with their logo elsewhere.

Colorwash's Home

[MaxT]

Interesting to read about your experience. I get that it's tricky to place logos on Zazzle products. I have thought about letting these organizations know that they can customize the products on their own and write a message on the cards and indeed place their own logo on them. This is different than me publishing products with their logo on it, which I suspect was your idea. This way the products themselves are still neutral, but organizations can choose to place their logos on them and then buy them to resell them in their locations. But I'm reluctant to include this idea because I suspect that a lot of people don't know how to do this themselves. Which would lead to a lot of questions.

[Barbara]

Exactly. The organization was a yacht club where their clothing is done by a company that specializes in such things. I wasn't willing to take all the time necessary to customize a variety of cards, even if this led to a bestseller for them. A bestseller for them would not be a true bestseller for me. Not worth it.

Colorwash's Home