High Powered lasers on Amazon.com

[Milos]

Every 2-3 months i check Amazon.com, and for the lest two years (at least) nothing has changed as far as legality and availability of high powered Class-3B lasers (except price that went down

so, I ask you..

why do you think FDA lets me buy 10mW-250mW (ten different styles of pointers), while we should worry about them knocking on LPF and LE forums doors, and busting hobbyists for making/selling DIY home projects?

anyone with credit card can buy 50mW green pointer for $19 or

i'm interested in your opinion.

peace

 

[dr-ebert]

Has there just been a price drop for 50mW greens, or were they that cheap before?

Could it be that the FDA can't do its own policing but takes action only if they're notified of a violation... and nobody has fingered Amazon yet? (Otherwise one would wonder why only one member here currently seems to be in big trouble with the FDA.)

Also, tackling a twenty-something hobbyist is certainly less work and safer for the carreer of an FDA employee than getting into a battle with Amazon...

 

[pullbangdead]

One thing I see is that Amazon is not selling those lasers. Amazon, in this case, is the same as ebay would be considered. For every laser I just looked at (I scrolled through 4 or 5), Amazon isn't selling any of them, they are simply listed on Amazon and being sold by other companies. For example, this laser is being sold by 8 different vendors, none of which are Amazon.

Now you could certainly ask why the FDA isn't cracking down on those vendors, but I suppose it would be the same reason that such items flourished on ebay before ebay itself started cracking down. There may very well be things already going on behind the scenes to pressure Amazon to block such listings. I don't really know all the contracts and details of what one signs or does when listing to sell your own items on Amazon, but I bet there's a disclaimer somewhere in there that Amazon isn't responsible for what you sell, and that you're not allowed to sell illegal items, and Amazon is just too big to police every little thing and hasn't caught onto lasers yet. I bet they'll be catching on soon enough, though, just like ebay and Paypal (and by extension DX and KD) caught on not long ago.

 

[bschott]

One thing I see is that Amazon is not selling those lasers. Amazon, in this case, is the same as ebay would be considered. For every laser I just looked at (I scrolled through 4 or 5), Amazon isn't selling any of them, they are simply listed on Amazon and being sold by other companies.

It makes one wonder why the double standard. Here's what I mean. Amazon is just listing the lasers, but the vendors are the ones supplying the lasers. The FDA isn't going after Amazon for listing the lasers or asking them to remove any listing of the lasers, or even telling Amazon they can not accept any US-Based orders for these lasers.

Now we look at some of the Torrent sites out there. Yes, they list illegal pirated software but all they do is provide a list and many sites will only list legal torrents and will remove any illegal torrents uploaded. Users of the sites (or 'Vendors' if you will) are the ones that supply the torrents, the sites just provide a way to contact the 'vendors'.

Now I know you can point out that Amazon is a multi-million to billion dollar company and they have a nice building filled with nothing but lawyers, while the torrent sites have maybe a couple admins (who may or may not live in their parent's basements), but stepping back from the differences in product and 'sales' they both are providing illegal goods to internet users.

I'm thinking that the money/lawyer thing is what is stopping the FDA from going after Amazon.

 

[bschott]

...I bet there's a disclaimer somewhere in there that Amazon isn't responsible for what you sell, and that you're not allowed to sell illegal items, and Amazon is just too big to police every little thing and hasn't caught onto lasers yet.

Disclaimers wouldn't protect Amazon from legal action. If they have a disclaimer but allow a listing of illegal goods (let us take an extreme and unlikely example...) like POT, Amazon can get it's butt sued off by the Government (and probably shut down all together in the US). Just like torrent sites that use disclaimers....those don't protect you from legal action.

 

[Tech_Junkie]

You are comparing lasers with torrents? :crackup:Man are you funny.

What makes the company, not Amazon, responsible is that the company signed a contract with Amazon. If they break the contact they take all the responsibility, not Amazon. I'm sure in their contract Amazon lists a ten page release from legal action clause if the contract is broken. The government will never sue Amazon. Worst case is they will pressure Amazon to police their listing more accurately. Like they are doing with EBay.

 

[Mr_Lazo]

Yep, Amazon's got a little bit of everything:
http://searching4.co.nz/blog/weird-things-can-be-bought-on-amazoncom/

I had a spot of trouble with customs when I ordered my uranium ore from as seller in Ukraine through eBay, but now that I've seen this article I realize my mistake: I should've gone with Amazon

(I wonder if the uranium qualifies for Amazon Prime?)

 

[pullbangdead]

It makes one wonder why the double standard. Here's what I mean. Amazon is just listing the lasers, but the vendors are the ones supplying the lasers. The FDA isn't going after Amazon for listing the lasers or asking them to remove any listing of the lasers, or even telling Amazon they can not accept any US-Based orders for these lasers.

Now we look at some of the Torrent sites out there. Yes, they list illegal pirated software but all they do is provide a list and many sites will only list legal torrents and will remove any illegal torrents uploaded. Users of the sites (or 'Vendors' if you will) are the ones that supply the torrents, the sites just provide a way to contact the 'vendors'.

Now I know you can point out that Amazon is a multi-million to billion dollar company and they have a nice building filled with nothing but lawyers, while the torrent sites have maybe a couple admins (who may or may not live in their parent's basements), but stepping back from the differences in product and 'sales' they both are providing illegal goods to internet users.

I'm thinking that the money/lawyer thing is what is stopping the FDA from going after Amazon.

The difference is the RIAA/MPAA. They are the driving force for everything to do with piracy enforcement, at least in the US. What big organization is there out there that has billions of dollars to lobby congress for their own benefit when it comes to lasers? None, the only organization doing anything about it is the FDA itself, which just doesn't have the same level of motivation or resources as the RIAA or MPAA.

Oh yeah, and very different kinds of laws surrounding copyright vs. lasers. The laws surrounding them are VERY different.

 

[HanMan5000]

I agree..

In fact, My first laser ( a 20mw greenie ) was from amazon, because it was the only site i knew of that sold lasers to the US LOL..