eBay misclassifying clothing brand's market segment

[SmoothPinkJazz]

What is the name of your state? Arizona

eBay is incorrectly classifying the clothing brand IZOD as a "Value" brand, even though parent company PVH has confirmed themselves that IZOD is designed to be a mid-range brand. This IMO constitutes brand defamation and hurts the reputation of the brand and hurts sales of sellers who are selling the brand on eBay. Since PVH confirms IZOD is a mid-range brand and is designed to slot between fast fashion and premium brands, this is a confirmed statement of fact and the prices prove it.

I was wondering, what would be my approach to get this changed? Should I contact eBay, or should I try to get a hold of PVH's legal department?

 

[justalayman]

Unless you represent izod, you don’t do anything. If you are a legal representative for izod, you would already know how to handle this.

 

[Just Blue]

What is the name of your state? Arizona

eBay is incorrectly classifying the clothing brand IZOD as a "Value" brand, even though parent company PVH has confirmed themselves that IZOD is designed to be a mid-range brand. This IMO constitutes brand defamation and hurts the reputation of the brand and hurts sales of sellers who are selling the brand on eBay. Since PVH confirms IZOD is a mid-range brand and is designed to slot between fast fashion and premium brands, this is a confirmed statement of fact and the prices prove it.

I was wondering, what would be my approach to get this changed? Should I contact eBay, or should I try to get a hold of PVH's legal department?

2 Questions.

1. Why do you care?
2. Do you realize that "value" to some may be "mid-range" to others?

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state? Arizona

eBay is incorrectly classifying the clothing brand IZOD as a "Value" brand, even though parent company PVH has confirmed themselves that IZOD is designed to be a mid-range brand. This IMO constitutes brand defamation and hurts the reputation of the brand and hurts sales of sellers who are selling the brand on eBay. Since PVH confirms IZOD is a mid-range brand and is designed to slot between fast fashion and premium brands, this is a confirmed statement of fact and the prices prove it.

I was wondering, what would be my approach to get this changed? Should I contact eBay, or should I try to get a hold of PVH's legal department?

You can contact IZOD/PVH and point out to them eBay's classification.

[email protected] or [email protected]

That will be your good deed of the day.

There is not much else you can do.

 

[Taxing Matters]

What is the name of your state? Arizona

eBay is incorrectly classifying the clothing brand IZOD as a "Value" brand, even though parent company PVH has confirmed themselves that IZOD is designed to be a mid-range brand. This IMO constitutes brand defamation and hurts the reputation of the brand and hurts sales of sellers who are selling the brand on eBay.

The holder of the brand may like to think the brand fits into a certain category, but it is ultimately consumers who decide how they think of a particular brand. In any event, it is the holder of the brand (PVH) that might have cause to complain to ebay about any brand defamation. The wholesale/retail sellers of the goods do not hold any rights to the brand and thus cannot take any action on brand defamation.

I was wondering, what would be my approach to get this changed? Should I contact eBay, or should I try to get a hold of PVH's legal department?

I should think that since it is ebay's actions that you are complaining about, the obvious first place to start is contacting ebay itself. If that does not help, then quincy's suggestion of contacting PVH would be the next step. That would also be pretty much all you could do about this.

 

[quincy]

SmoothPinkJazz, are you selling IZOD goods on eBay and feel your sales are suffering because of eBay's "value brand" classification?

This really is an issue between PVH/IZOD and eBay. It is a pretty good bet that PVH already polices eBay (and other sites) and is aware exactly what of their goods is being sold and how these goods are being sold. That said, it doesn't hurt to tell the company in case they haven't noticed and have a problem with it.

 

[Just Blue]

SmoothPinkJazz, are you selling IZOD goods on eBay and feel your sales are suffering because of eBay's "value brand" classification?

This really is an issue between PVH/IZOD and eBay. It is a pretty good bet that PVH already polices eBay (and other sites) and is aware exactly what of their goods is being sold and how these goods are being sold. That said, it doesn't hurt to tell the company in case they haven't noticed and have a problem with it.

Px Hx...OP seems to wear IZOD tops(likes the pink ones) and was "defamed" by a person who thought he was gay for wearing pink. In fact OP doesn't like gay people ...

 

[quincy]

Px Hx...OP seems to wear IZOD tops(likes the pink ones) and was "defamed" by a person who thought he was gay for wearing pink. In fact OP doesn't like gay people ...

I read his posting history prior to posting yesterday.

 

[mjpayne]

What is the name of your state? Arizona

eBay is incorrectly classifying the clothing brand IZOD as a "Value" brand, even though parent company PVH has confirmed themselves that IZOD is designed to be a mid-range brand. This IMO constitutes brand defamation and hurts the reputation of the brand and hurts sales of sellers who are selling the brand on eBay. Since PVH confirms IZOD is a mid-range brand and is designed to slot between fast fashion and premium brands, this is a confirmed statement of fact and the prices prove it.

I was wondering, what would be my approach to get this changed? Should I contact eBay, or should I try to get a hold of PVH's legal department?

"Value" and "mid-range" are likely going to be viewed as opinions by pretty much any relevant court and therefore not subject to defamation laws. IZOD doesn't have to sell their clothes on eBay or to anyone who can potentially resell them on eBay if they don't want to deal with such entities describing their clothes in a way they do not like.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

"Value" and "Mid-Range" have no legal meaning in this case.

And they sell the stuff through Sam's these days so they can't be trying to be too uppity.

 

[quincy]

Care must be taken in describing products because brand reputations are valuable.

But it will be PVH that needs to address eBay's use of the word "value" if they believe the use of the word in some way diminishes the reputation of their brand.

The most that can be done by an eBay seller of brand name goods is to contact eBay and the company that holds the trademark.

 

[Zigner]

Value is a meaningless phrase. The clothing that the CEO of a fortune 500 company buys may be "value" to her, even if her secretary views the same clothing as mid-range, and the mail-room clerk views the clothing as high-end.

 

[quincy]

Value is a meaningless phrase. The clothing that the CEO of a fortune 500 company buys may be "value" to her, even if her secretary views the same clothing as mid-range, and the mail-room clerk views the clothing as high-end.

Advertisers need to choose words carefully - but I agree there is little here that is likely to disturb PVH.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

Considering the changes in Izod over the last decade are so they are, I'm sure, happy anyone is buying them at all. They don't even have the Alligator anymore.

 

[Just Blue]

Considering the changes in Izod over the last decade are so they are, I'm sure, happy anyone is buying them at all. They don't even have the Alligator anymore.

Literally the last time I saw a guy wearing an Izod shirt was about 1982 and guys name was Todd. Need I say more?....