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Originally Posted by Liviu_5
Not allowing reselling is definitely enforceable in two ways.
First is drm and making stripping it illegal
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Yes, but what is the legality of using DRM to restrict the right of first sale? That has never been tested for eBooks. With software, which works a little differently, courts have ruled that you can resell the protected software along with the key to access it.
The practical aspects of "is there a market" or "how exactly do you give someone else your DRM key", are separate issues from the legal aspect of "does the law allow companies to demand that you must forfeit your right of first sale". If the law says that first sale applies, then everything else can be worked around.
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see Amazon vs MobileRead controversy for a recent well knwon example here
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That's a bad example, since what Amazon did to MobileRead was an abuse of the DMCA takedown provision.
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Second is the lack of availability of places to resell your ebooks
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That's because there are currently questions about the legality. If it gets tested in courts, and they rule that first sale applies, then places to resell ebooks will appear. Even if there's not a large commercial market for a "used ebook store", you can still sell it to a friend, etc.