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Amazon's War on Fake Eclipse Glasses Trips Up Newbie Merchant

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Re: Amazon's War on Fake Eclipse Glasses Trips Up Newbie Merchant

#51

Post by bluGill »

micaksica wrote: post #4
Spivak wrote: post #2

I can't really say I'm surprised about this. If your income depends on the corporate policy of a 3rd party you don't have any contractual business relationship with then you have to be able to take the hit if/when they pull the rug out from under you.

Perhaps I am just risk averse, but this sounds enormously financially irresponsible. This man literally shoved all in on with a vendor he neither understood nor had a previous relationship with. I don't think you should be risking making rent for this type of thing.

That is what you have to do to start a business: take large risks. Many businesses fail like this and the entrepreneur loses a lot. It is common for someone running a small business to have to work a night job at a gas station or some such job because after paying the bills there isn't enough left to pay himself.

Re: Amazon's War on Fake Eclipse Glasses Trips Up Newbie Merchant

#52

Post by jethro_tell »

ProAm wrote: post #19
AlexC04 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "The problem is that anybody, anywhere, can sell just about anything on Amazon and eBay, including counterfeit glasses that may be dangerous. Buyers won’t discover their error until after the eclipse, or they suffer serious or permanent eye damage. The sellers will be long gone." seems like a perfectly reasonable case of due diligence on the part of Amazon.

Except Amazon doesn't do due diligence on anything else they sell. They got scared because they know they sell counterfeit products but this one will have potential lawsuits on August 22nd

To be fair, a counterfeit that ruins your sight and a counterfeit phone case are a bit different are they not?

Re: Amazon's War on Fake Eclipse Glasses Trips Up Newbie Merchant

#53

Post by jethro_tell »

yazan94 wrote: post #6
Spivak wrote: post #2

I can't really say I'm surprised about this. If your income depends on the corporate policy of a 3rd party you don't have any contractual business relationship with then you have to be able to take the hit if/when they pull the rug out from under you.

Yes, but at the same time there are news articles going back to at least late July (google 'amazon policy eclipse') to Amazon giving refunds for shady (pun intended) sellers of fake eclipse shades. If his ability to pay rent is literally hinging on this get-rich scheme, you would think he would be more diligent. I do think Amazon acted correctly in suspending his account until he proved his items are legit.

Well, see if the get rich scheme worked, we'd all be doing it.

Re: Amazon's War on Fake Eclipse Glasses Trips Up Newbie Merchant

#54

Post by j-c-hewitt »

oasisbob wrote: post #42
j-c-hewitt wrote: post #30

I work with Amazon sellers (including on getting suspended sellers reinstated). I am not sure that his story is the actual story. If the glasses were counterfeit, obviously his suspension was justified and he might have committed a felony. If they were authentic but just unsafe, he was foolish to have listed them when buying in such quantity and it's not surprising that Amazon would suspend him for trying to sell the…

> Most frequently counterfeited (like Jewelry) or otherwise problematic/hazardous categories are 'category gated' and require you to submit a bunch of documentation to sell in it. I find it surprising that Amazon doesn't gate protective products that can injure people when there's so much focus on counterfeits which primarily injure brands. This time they got burned by simple category 1 PPE and made a big stink about…

Yeah Amazon doesn't review any stuff like that. They may respond to reports after the fact and have a pretty low threshold for suspending a product, but they aren't going to inspect it or test it.

Re: Amazon's War on Fake Eclipse Glasses Trips Up Newbie Merchant

#55

Post by j-c-hewitt »

yahna wrote: post #37
j-c-hewitt wrote: post #30

I work with Amazon sellers (including on getting suspended sellers reinstated). I am not sure that his story is the actual story. If the glasses were counterfeit, obviously his suspension was justified and he might have committed a felony. If they were authentic but just unsafe, he was foolish to have listed them when buying in such quantity and it's not surprising that Amazon would suspend him for trying to sell the…

> he was foolish to have listed them when buying in such quantity and it's not surprising that Amazon would suspend him for trying to sell them. The fuck are you talking about? They operate a business which specifically allows people to sell stuff. Why would he expect to have his account suspended. Have you been paying attention to these problems? They fucked up by binning counterfeits with real glasses, and now peop…

It's not clear from the article whether this was a counterfeit issue or if the issue is that the glasses (allegedly) don't work and can cause people to damage their eyes. There's nothing in the article about co-mingled inventory.

Totally legitimate multi-million dollar sellers get suspended for dumber reasons and even by mistake.

Re: Amazon's War on Fake Eclipse Glasses Trips Up Newbie Merchant

#56

Post by yahna »

jethro_tell wrote: post #49
vec wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not a lawyer, but intuitively it seems like the more control they exercise over their products the weaker the claim that they're just a middleman becomes. Wouldn't a record of being directly involved in quality control significantly damage their case in the event that a lawsuit does occur?

well, you can't start that today right before someone's eyes get burned out. You could have taken that stance in 2000.

People have been complaining more and more lately about Amazon's problems with counterfeiting.

Re: Amazon's War on Fake Eclipse Glasses Trips Up Newbie Merchant

#57

Post by yahna »

jethro_tell wrote: post #52
ProAm wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except Amazon doesn't do due diligence on anything else they sell. They got scared because they know they sell counterfeit products but this one will have potential lawsuits on August 22nd

To be fair, a counterfeit that ruins your sight and a counterfeit phone case are a bit different are they not?

Root cause is the same bad policies.

Re: Amazon's War on Fake Eclipse Glasses Trips Up Newbie Merchant

#58

Post by TAeGTrVNmP »

sarah2079 wrote: post #12
hammock wrote: post #7

How to tell if your eclipse glasses are fake?

I have the same question. I ordered some from Amazon for my kids. I hope this article means that they were carefully verified by Amazon, but it has still made me uneasy about using them. Just knowing fakes are common is really concerning.

Don't risk it. I've got some extras I ordered directly from one of the NASA-endorsed suppliers. E-mail me your mailing address and I'll send you some. My e-mail is (also in the profile, but doesn't seem to be visible; maybe my karma's too low?) [HN user name] at x0.ms.

Re: Amazon's War on Fake Eclipse Glasses Trips Up Newbie Merchant

#59

Post by MrRadar »

klodolph wrote: post #13
burkaman wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Put them on and look at a bright light. You shouldn't be able to see anything. It's not foolproof, but cheap fake glasses are usually so bad that you can see household lights through them. You can also see if the brand you have is on this list, although someone could have faked a reputable brand name: https://eclipse.aas.org/resources/solar-filters

It depends on the light. If you stare directly at a bare LED or filament for an incandescent bulb, you will probably be able to see it.

Yep, I have a pair of glasses shipped directly from American Paper Optics (so I know they're genuine) and the only things I can see through them (besides the sun) are the bare filament of a 60W incandescent bulb and the LED chip in my phone camera flash.

Re: Amazon's War on Fake Eclipse Glasses Trips Up Newbie Merchant

#60

Post by sbov »

obsurveyor wrote: post #40
tantalor wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't a faker just steal the name of a manufacturer on the list?

As far as I understood, the "fake" part of these fake eclipse glasses is calling them eclipse glasses with the implication that they are safe when they are not or not made to the proper standards, not that they were forging real manufacturer information.

Your understanding seems wrong: https://www.eclipseglasses.com/pages/safety

If your understanding were correct, the difference between fake and real glasses wouldn't be minor ones such as round-ness of certain parts.

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