115 replies to this topic

[Stephanie]

Ah some results from Amazon!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you for writing to Amazon.com with your comments regarding the sale of Dragonfly Shark Fin Soup in our Gourmet Food store.

Please accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience this has caused.

The listings you mentioned were provided by a third-party seller.
Some of these particular listings are now no longer available for sale on our site.

And rest assured I have passed along your desire that we exclude items of this sort from our site.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact us at Amazon.com.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Finally they are seeing some sense!!!!!!!!!!

[Alexxxy]

Now Greenpeace have discovered a different brand of Shark Fin Soup on Amazon!!!

http://www.amazon.co...;s=gourmet-food

..... American Roland Food Corp is advertising the stuff aswell as Dragonfly/Pacific Rim Gourmet.

Here we go again?

Alexxxy

There is a quite lively discussion about the Amazon.com/Shark Fin issue going on at the Greenpeace Webste too:

http://weblog.greenp...s.html#comments

I would encourage everyone to leave comments there aswell, so that the Greenpeace folk who read them will hopefully get as fired up about the sharks as they are about the whales - which can't be a bad thing!!

Alexxxy

[Rocha]

Thanks for the new info, I tried to leave a review there but it seems to not be working!

Note, you will only find it on a search if you use "sharkfin" (no space), a typo or maybe a sneaky way to list a product.

Also, here is the contact information for the vendor:

* E-mail: Phyllis.Goldberg@rolandfood.com
* Phone: (800) 221-4030, ext. 390

[KazooDiver]

I recieved a reply from Amazon about this product:
____________________________________________________________________________________
Thank you for writing to Amazon.com with your comments regarding the sale of certain game meats in our Gourmet Food store.

Please accept my sincere apologies for any inconvenience you may have experienced.

The listings you mentioned were provided by a third-party seller.
Some of these particular listings are now no longer available for sale on our site.

Our seller's agreement specifies the following restrictions concerning the sale of living creatures:

"The sale of live creatures and illegal wildlife products is prohibited, and this includes any type of pet or livestock ... the sale of live shellfish and crustaceans is permitted, as long as the seller adheres to all state and federal laws concerning the delivery and sales of these perishable food items."

Thank you again for taking the time to contact us at Amazon.com.
_________________________________________________________________________________

It looks like they will not be selling this item at Amazon now. Amazon just needs to have a better screening method for things such as this....

Thanks for everyones support!

[Rocha]

Interesting, the page is not taking reviews. I left a review a few minutes ago but it doesn't show in the page, when you scroll down to the review all you see is "Be the first to review this product". When I click on the link to review it I get the message "Sorry, only one review per customer allowed".

[Rocha]

Hi all, here is an updated BB code for discussion boards now including links to both products, just copy it and paste in other forums that you participate:

*SNIP* [edited by moderator]
Please use the code here instead.

[shawnh]

Wags,
Way to take the ball and run! Let's show consumers what is going on. Though the US and Ausi markets may not be big shark fin consumers, they are big conservation investors and activists. Increasing public outrage at this attrocity, means more money to fuel groups like WildAid and more political pressure to enact international laws to protect the oceans. How do we make this content prime time?
Shawn

[3@5]

wrote all emails, and tried as well to leave a feedback on the other shark fin product at amazon but it did not work,
also updated my my site with the info and a call to arms...
i would also suggest that in terms of boycott, it's not just amazon.com that should be addressed it's all of amazon.
i guess the combined weight of all wetpixel and the amounts we probably spend at all the amazon sites could start to become a small small small part in the game.
it would also show the international nature of our actions...
just a thought

[Rocha]

Thanks for the continued support everyone, I just updated the front page with the new links:

http://wetpixel.com/

The feedback didn't work for me on the Roland product either, strange.

[lewinp]

Shameful that Amazon would sell this - as much as I'd like to be idealistic in hoping they would do the right thing and prohibit the sales of this product, in reality they will probably only act if it hits them in the pocket book. The scuba community is an active and affluent group, with enough combined economic clout to bring real pressure to them if we sincerely boycott Amazon.

Another avenue, many of you know that Apple Computer is a big environmental advocate, and there are many comments on their website about how they expect their business partners to be ethical and responsible. Their Safari browser comes preloaded with an Amazon.com short cut, I have sent a note to their corporate contact for Environmental and Legal affairs, Kristin Huguet, informing her of this issue, you may wish to do the same:

Kristin Huguet
Environment, Legal & Speakers Bureau
(408) 974-2414
khuguet@apple.com

Might be another source of pressure on Amazon

[Alexxxy]

Actually, and sorry to say this, but Apple are really not that green themselves:

http://www.greenpeac...apple/itox.html

[lewinp]

Very interesting, and thanks.

As a graphic designer and long time Apple user, I am dissapointed to see Apple is better at talking the talk than walking the talk.

[Rocha]

Another call for action!!

Here are the facts:

1) The first product (Dragonfly) is no longer available but the page is still there (although you can't find it through a search, only the direct link).

2) The second product (Roland) is still there and listed as "In Stock":

http://www.amazon.co.../qid=1167910431

3) Everybody that tried to leave negative feedback in this second product failed.

4) Amazon is sending answers with things like "we have a wide range of customers"...

I am now wondering if the first product was removed by Amazon or by the vendor, as Amazon won't do anything about the Roland soup. Please, don't let this cool down, there are other ways to express your opinion. Please, copy the text of the e-mail that you sent to Amazon and send it again to these addresses:

jeffb@amazon.com Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com CEO.

curry@amazon.com Bill Curry, Public/Media Relations.
tel: 206-266-7180

Let's keep the pressure on!

Luiz

[aboshoff]

I am working through all the books I ever ordered from Amazon and writing reviews at the end I state that I will not buy from Amazon until the cease this selling shark fin soup. The more people know and pressure them the better---

[aboshoff]

I am working through all the books I ever ordered from Amazon and writing reviews at the end I state that I will not buy from Amazon until the cease this selling shark fin soup. The more people know and pressure them the better---

Lets take the issue to a larger audience.please leave feedback at:

http://news.bbc.co.u...int/4784595.stm

[lewinp]

FYI, I got the same pat response from Amazon. In addition to Amazon's censorship of negative reviews, i find it appallingly arrogant that they try to play down their responsibility by saying its a third party's product, not their own. My rebuttal is at the bottom of their note.

Thank you for writing to Amazon.com with your comments.

We have great respect for your concerns. One of our goals as an
online retailer, however, is to offer our customers the ability to
purchase a wide variety of products on our site. It is unfortunate
but inevitable that some of our customers may find a few of these
items objectionable.

Please note that the items in our Gourmet store are offered by third-
party merchants--they are not sold directly by Amazon.com.

We always value customer feedback, and I have passed along your
desire that we exclude items of this sort from our site.

I thank you again for taking the time to send us your comments about
this issue. We hope you will allow us to continue to serve you.


Please let us know if this e-mail resolved your question:

If yes, click here:
http://www.amazon.co...hrxqy3418360035
If not, click here:
http://www.amazon.co...hrxqy3418360035

Please note: this e-mail was sent from an address that cannot accept
incoming e-mail.

To contact us about an unrelated issue, please visit the Help
section of our web site.


Best regards,

Gayathri R.
Amazon.com Customer Service
http://www.amazon.com

Here was my response to their note:

I realize the line can be fuzzy at times of what makes a product objectionable - for example, meat products that are objectionable to vegetarians are perfectly fine to many others. But I do not see any ambiguity in the fact that you are selling a product which is indisputably collected in a way which kills endangered marine life including sharks, dolphins and turtles.

Although the items in your gourmet store are 3rd parties, Amazon is still acting as a sales channel for the product, and benefitting financially from the sale. That makes you part of the supply chain for this product, and it is shameful for you to deny partial accountability.

I now regret purchasing several hundreds of dollars of merchandise from Amazon this past year, I will not do future business with you as long as this product remains on your website, and I will do everything in my power to see that other environmentally conscious people are made aware of Amazon's irresponsibility in this area.

[aboshoff]

"We have great respect for your concerns. One of our goals as an
online retailer, however, is to offer our customers the ability to
purchase a wide variety of products on our site. It is unfortunate
but inevitable that some of our customers may find a few of these
items objectionable.

Please note that the items in our Gourmet store are offered by third-
party merchants--they are not sold directly by Amazon.com."

Yeah right!
Amazon is not excactly e-bay.Like any trading company , they have "Buyers"
that rate a product and determine the quality,supply and possible profit.
Most products are well research before being available.
NICE try but Bull**** AMAZON .(forwarded to amazon)

[Rocha]

One more shark fin product sold by Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co...4901285-1804722

Shark fin cartilage, this one is taking reviews, I just left mine.

Luiz

[wagsy]

I just sent this off to the CEO
See if I get a responce...maybe get a letter from their lawer HA HA.....happend once before when I posted negative stuff about a Lowrance depth sounder.... power of the internet....
................................................................
Gday Jeff

Thought you might like to watch this clip.
http://www.hdvunderw...cottamazon.html

You don't have to be a rocket scientists to work out that this kind stuff is not good for the marine world.
Do you know how long it takes sharks to repoduce and what would happen to the worlds oceans if they wre all gone?

Would you like your grandkids to be able to see these animals as well in 10 or 20 years.
Well believe it or not, there will be no more sharks left if this keeps going on.

Anyhow would be good if you guys do the right thing and help by doing your bit?

Cheers

Wags

[Snappy]

Wagsy, perhaps Youtube would be a good place to get the word out?