Tod Cohen, eBay Vice President, has asked Neelie Kroes, EU Competition Commissioner, to investigate restrictive trade practices and distribution agreements in Europe.
The request includes investigation into the pushchair market restrictions by manufacturers who have cited safety concerns or simply refused to supply merchants who sell their products on eBay. Similarly Cohen cited anti-competitive and abusive distribution agreements for sports goods in Spain, schoolbags in Germany.
eBay have been lobbying the EU for a change to laws which allow manufacturers to maintain different prices for the same goods in different EU countries. Charlie McCreevy, EU Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services, has acknowledged the issue saying it is “a problem that is endemic to most distribution contracts for branded products in the EU”.
2 Responses
Lol, I find this laughable considering eBay’s position in Australia in which they attempted to force sellers into only offering Paypal on the grounds of Safety,,
then blustering on to the EU the next month about a couple of Pushchair Distributors who won’t play kiss chase with them.
And I suppose eBay will tell me they are doing it for the benefit of the consumers. I would have thought time would be better spent rectifying the plummeting share price and bringing back the buyers to eBay.
Dear Kettle
You’re looking a bit black, aren’t you?
Yours sincerely
Pot