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Amazon.com as of writing my comment has tens of models listed. If birkenstock pulled their product how is Amazon allowed to list this?

thiagocsf 9y ago
If Amazon can get their hands on stock, nothing stops them selling them. At least I believe there's no law against it.
- bluejekyll 9y ago
  What about counterfeit stock? Isn't Amazon liable for that?
  - LeifCarrotson 9y ago
    Yes, if someone buys the product and it turns out to be counterfeit, they can sue Amazon. But Birkenstock can't sue Amazon for selling legitimate Birkenstock products, and no one (so far) has been able to force an audit of Amazon warehouses to prove that their stock is legitimate. The problem is that Amazon can fall back on the possibility of unofficial resellers of hypothetically genuine Birkenstock goods - you or me walking into the mall, buying a pair of Birkenstocks, and reselling them on Amazon. This, obviously, isn't an efficient business model: You or I paying list price, adding our markup for our expenses and profit, and Amazon's profit demand that we find a way to get them at less than the price on the sticker at the mall to have a competitive price (or we just list them on Amazon at higher than list for people who want to NOT go to a Birkenstock shop and would instead prefer to have them appear on their doorstep...just saying...). Hypothetically, we could find them on sale, or go to the shop owner and get them at near wholesale prices under the table, or the shop owner could list them himself. Of course, the other hypothetical way we could make this business work is to make our own fake Birkenstocks and send those to Amazon. Amazon is just throwing their hands up and claiming they aren't responsible for determining which of these is the case. And I honestly don't understand why Birkenstock isn't able to bring them to court, get a warrant to check their warehouses, and prove that the goods they have are counterfeit. After this, they could either go for monetary damages and try to incentivize Amazon to self-police for fear of a repeat suit, or they could see if the judge is willing to force Amazon to stop listing products under the Birkenstock name.
macNchz 9y ago
I searched and clicked one of the first few products and among the top reviews is a one-star review with pictures claiming to show a fake pair they'd received from Amazon. So that's at least part of it. There are large categories of items that I just don't even bother looking at Amazon these days for exactly this reason. I can't believe they can get away with selling so much counterfeit stock.

thiagocsf 9y ago

If Amazon can get their hands on stock, nothing stops them selling them. At least I believe there's no law against it.

bluejekyll 9y ago
What about counterfeit stock? Isn't Amazon liable for that?
- LeifCarrotson 9y ago
  Yes, if someone buys the product and it turns out to be counterfeit, they can sue Amazon. But Birkenstock can't sue Amazon for selling legitimate Birkenstock products, and no one (so far) has been able to force an audit of Amazon warehouses to prove that their stock is legitimate. The problem is that Amazon can fall back on the possibility of unofficial resellers of hypothetically genuine Birkenstock goods - you or me walking into the mall, buying a pair of Birkenstocks, and reselling them on Amazon. This, obviously, isn't an efficient business model: You or I paying list price, adding our markup for our expenses and profit, and Amazon's profit demand that we find a way to get them at less than the price on the sticker at the mall to have a competitive price (or we just list them on Amazon at higher than list for people who want to NOT go to a Birkenstock shop and would instead prefer to have them appear on their doorstep...just saying...). Hypothetically, we could find them on sale, or go to the shop owner and get them at near wholesale prices under the table, or the shop owner could list them himself. Of course, the other hypothetical way we could make this business work is to make our own fake Birkenstocks and send those to Amazon. Amazon is just throwing their hands up and claiming they aren't responsible for determining which of these is the case. And I honestly don't understand why Birkenstock isn't able to bring them to court, get a warrant to check their warehouses, and prove that the goods they have are counterfeit. After this, they could either go for monetary damages and try to incentivize Amazon to self-police for fear of a repeat suit, or they could see if the judge is willing to force Amazon to stop listing products under the Birkenstock name.

macNchz 9y ago

I searched and clicked one of the first few products and among the top reviews is a one-star review with pictures claiming to show a fake pair they'd received from Amazon. So that's at least part of it. There are large categories of items that I just don't even bother looking at Amazon these days for exactly this reason. I can't believe they can get away with selling so much counterfeit stock.