Experts Say Fake Eclipse Glasses Flooding Market; Amazon Recall Leads To Confusion

Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN has begun issuing refunds and unlisting what the company feared were bogus eyewear meant to safely glimpse the Aug. 21 eclipse, and some sellers said the online giant was being overly cautious.

Confusion and concern began last week, when the American Astronomical Association warned people not to buy sunglasses that don’t meet the required industry specifications for staring into the sun. It listed vendors that met the ISO 12312-2 international safety standard for such products.

It specifically noted that “Baader Planetarium’s AstroSolar Safety Film and AstroSolar Photo Film, sold in the U.S. by Alpine Astronomical and Astro-Physics are not certified to meet the ISO 12312-2 international safety standard and are not designed to work as eclipse shades or handheld solar filters.”

Related Link: Serious About Seeing The Solar Eclipse? There’s An App For That

Some Sellers Say Their Banned Shades Approved By NASA

Amazon said in an email to buyers and in a listing on its website that it removed a few listings for glasses on its website "out of an abundance of caution." It did not name any of those listings in its statement.

Portland, Oregon, television station KGW quoted two sellers as saying their glasses were approved by NASA but were delisted from Amazon. One seller, Manish Panjwani, said his Los Angeles-based astronomy product business, AgenaAstro, was selling eclipse glasses from Baader and a firm called Thousand Oaks and that they had been approved by NASA.

The NASA link to reputable glasses redirects to the American Astrophysical Association’s listing of sellers, which does include products made by Baader and Thousand Oaks, though it specifically said another Baader product doesn’t meet industry standards for looking at the sun.

It’s unclear which specific products Amazon has removed from its listings.