IMPORTANT AUTHENTICITY AND SAFETY INFORMATION
Update: Aug 17
American Astronomical Society (AAS) press secretary Dr. Rick Fienberg on the Amazon recall (see full news story here):
“Amazon screwed up. I’ve been telling them that for weeks and as the problem gets worse, the person there stopped responding to me. I think they’re overwhelmed. They know they screwed up. They’re trying to do the best they can. They don’t know what they’re doing.”
Update: Aug 14
Here is an email we received earlier this evening from Amazon, about 10 days after we submitted all requested documentation and two days after their "recall":
From: [removed]@amazon.com
Sent: Monday, August 14, 2017 3:46 PM
To: [removed]@agenaastro.com
Subject: Your Amazon.com Seller Account
Hello,
We have approved your request to sell approved Solar Eclipse products on Amazon.com.
We appreciate your patience as we processed your application.
Regards,
Amazon Services
Posted: Aug 12
On Sat, Aug 12, Amazon sent an email to all customers who had purchased several solar products (glasses or viewing cards) from us that that product they received from us may not be safe or certified, and they recommended that customers not use these items. This is completely untrue and incorrect.
All solar products shipped by us, including but not limited to Baader Planetarium AstroSolar Gold/Silver glasses and Thousand Oaks glasses/film/viewing cards, are 100% genuine and comply with all required CE and ISO standards. We had also provided Amazon with all the requested documentation verifying that these are safe and authentic, and we do not know why they are incorrectly claiming that we did not.
In fact, these are two brands of just five solar glasses that NASA recommends (https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/safe_glasses_flyer.pdf). Furthermore, Baader Planetarium, Alpine Astronomical (Baader's exclusive US distributor and our source for this item), Thousand Oaks Optical, and Agena AstroProducts (our company) are all listed as reputable retailers by the American Astronomical Society to buy these products from (https://eclipse.aas.org/resources/solar-filters).
If you purchased Baader Planetarium, Thousand Oaks items or other brands from us via our website here, directly from us on Amazon (seller name "agenaastro"), or from us but shipped by Amazon, then you have a 100% genuine product that you do not need to worry about.
Enjoy the eclipse!
Additional Links:
- Baader Planetarium has posted an announcement in this regard on their home page here.
- Thousand Oaks has posted an announcement in this regard too on their home page here.
- You can also see our comments on an NBC (Portland) story at this link.