Adidas to Prohibit Dealers from Selling on Amazon and eBay

According to European publisher Markt Intern (German language), Adidas will prohibit its dealers from selling Adidas and Reebok products on the Amazon.com and eBay marketplaces effective January 2013. The publication said an Adidas company spokesperson had confirmed the report.

This is not a new problem for retailers and distributors, and in 2007, online merchants raised the issue with eBay executives during a conference. When an eBay manager asked attendees how many of them had experienced a manufacturer banning the eBay sales channel, between 30 - 50 percent of them raised their hands.

While many brands worry about online marketplaces putting downward pressure on pricing and not providing the customer experience they wish to control, they are also tempted to sell on such venues themselves in order to reach marketplace shoppers.

eBay has attracting brands to its site to sell directly and acquired GSI Commerce last year to help it reach top brands - at last count, it had helped 13 of about 200 GSI clients open stores on eBay. A look at eBay.com/Brands shows manufacturers/brands Sony, Timberland and DeWalt - many emphasizing discount pricing. KitchenAid, for example, shows a banner on the page reading "up to 60% off."

It's unclear how those brands explain their discount pricing on eBay to their dealers who are restricted from selling under MAP (minimum advertised price).

While the Markt Intern report seems to indicate the policy affects European dealers, we conducted a search on eBay.com and Amazon.com to see how many Adidas listings were available on the U.S. marketplaces.

On Thursday, a search for Adidas on eBay came back with 219,551 results, of which 198,683 were for new (not used) items.

On Amazon, there were 56,627 results, and the marketplace offers an Adidas brand store where customers can buy Adidas items directly from Amazon.com.

See updated news story confirming a global rollout of the policy.