Could I be sacked for this ?

[Steven5]

I work for a well known retailer as a customer services advisor.

A few years ago I bought some clothes in there Sales from my employer and put it up on a bidding/auction website. I have found out indirectly that they know it's my account that the clothes are up for sale on.

With all the information above could I get sack??

They have not bought it to my attention yet but I have managed to see some info regarding the clothes on my online bidding/auction site. No staff discount was used in purchasing the clothes.

Thanks

[Sangie595]

Re: Could I be sacked for this ?

I don't understand. You bought these clothes a few years ago and are only selling them now? Where have they been for the last few years?

How do you know they know? Why are they even looking? And it's that last questing I am most interested in - if employers spent their time monitoring the millions of sites that their staff could sell on, they'd never do anything else. Which suggests someone had told them something.

If you simply bought them, and got are now selling used clothes that are a few years old, I can't see what you have done wrong?

[Steven5]

Re: Could I be sacked for this ?

Please see my reply below sangie.

[Steven5]

Re: Could I be sacked for this ?

I bought them because they were dead cheap and thought I could make a bit of money by selling them online/ car boot markets/etc...obviously I didn't say at the time of paying that I was going to do this.

I recently came across the clothes at my house and decided to list them online and somehow I'm in this situation now.

I don't know how they know or why are they looking/monitoring but I 100% know they know.

[Sangie595]

Re: Could I be sacked for this ?

I bought them because they were dead cheap and thought I could make a bit of money by selling them online/ car boot markets/etc...obviously I didn't say at the time of paying that I was going to do this.

I recently came across the clothes at my house and decided to list them online and somehow I'm in this situation now.

I don't know how they know or why are they looking/monitoring but I 100% know they know.

Well I'm afraid that on this amount of information I have no idea why they are looking or what they are looking at, so it's impossible to say whether they may dismiss you. There's not even any disciplinary in place. So I guess it depends on what is going on. I can't see what might be wrong about this, but they are looking at something, you say, so you'll have to wait and see what happens.

[Steven5]

Re: Could I be sacked for this ?

Still not a word from the management about my situation. They have not approached or called me in the office about the clothes I had purchased from the store that were being sold online. I must say i am baffled by this but also keep thinking maybe they are waiting for the busy Xmas period to be over and then call me in the office about it and sack me. I read a similar case online yesterday where a **** store employee was selling his USED **** trainers online and he got the sack for it.

[spirit2534]

Re: Could I be sacked for this ?

Still not a word from the management about my situation. They have not approached or called me in the office about the clothes I had purchased from the store that were being sold online. I must say i am baffled by this but also keep thinking maybe they are waiting for the busy Xmas period to be over and then call me in the office about it and sack me. I read a similar case online yesterday where a **** store employee was selling his USED **** trainers online and he got the sack for it.

When you bought the clothes then ownershuip passed from the store to yourself, I assume that you have a receipt since the only way they could take actuion if they thought that you had stolen them.

[Steven5]

Re: Could I be sacked for this ?

When you bought the clothes then ownershuip passed from the store to yourself, I assume that you have a receipt since the only way they could take actuion if they thought that you had stolen them.

Thanks for the reply.

I certainly do still have the receipt for all the items. I hope they do think I stole them so I can easily solve it by showing them the receipt.

Do you think it's worth letting my trade union rep know about the situation?

I have definitely not stolen them and can prove I paid for them...if I'm really guilty of anything is that they were up for sale on an auction site with price tags still attached...and if they have come across my add of the clothes and figured out its my online account they still can't sack me???

Thanks

[seduraed]

Re: Could I be sacked for this ?

First don't panic. My guess is as follows . The company routinely monitors the auction websites. They will be looking for stolen goods and fakes.
The goods you are offering are
1 old as in not this season's fashion.
2 only a small quantity
3 Yours because you bought them.
Nothing to worry about.

[Steven5]

Re: Could I be sacked for this ?

Thanks for the reassuring post. It is old last seasons stock and bought about 30ish mixed clothing items.

Do think I should let my trade union rep know?

Thanks

[seduraed]

Re: Could I be sacked for this ?

Speak to them though really I don't think it's an issue. I can't see it's being misconduct . My advice is speak to your line manager.

[charitynjw]

Re: Could I be sacked for this ?

I would check my contract of employment, or any terms/conditions of employment that may be on file or published electronically (ie intranet).
& yes, if you are a union, have a talk with the rep.

[Steven5]

Re: Could I be sacked for this ?

Thanks for the reply back.

[Steven5]

Re: Could I be sacked for this ?

Speak to them though really I don't think it's an issue. I can't see it's being misconduct . My advice is speak to your line manager.

Thanks for the reply

[Sangie595]

Re: Could I be sacked for this ?

When you bought the clothes then ownershuip passed from the store to yourself, I assume that you have a receipt since the only way they could take actuion if they thought that you had stolen them.

That wouldn't necessarily be true. A number of retailers have additional staff discounts or "first access deals" for staff, and the conditions often include conditions such as the items being bought for personal use. The OP has said that they haven't worn them and the labels and price tags are still on them. So it could be argued that they didn't buy them for personal use. As, in fact, they didn't. Although I wouldn't admit that.

As has been said, checking terms and conditions or staff handbooks may help, but in the end, the OP does not know what the employer has looked at or why, so we couldn't possibly say that they are in trouble or that they are not. Or why the employer is looking in the first place.