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Comment by Spivak | Hacker News Reader

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.

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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.

True, but when making investments like this you shouldn't invest money you can't afford to lose.

> "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?

Root cause is the same bad policies.

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.

Well with that logic, it must work in some fashion else people wouldn't bother.

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