Medusa50
I own Oakley
I don't work for Oakley and I do not claim to know the rationale but let me say this. I work along with other departments doing risk management. There is a similar disclaimer at our company. Here's the intention. Our employees along with those of large companies are entitled to a discount. As such an employee could purchase retail merchandise up to 50% off routinely. Those items are intended for personal use. Technically if you sold it to your neighbor of gifted a family member with it the company is losing money since persons who aren't employed are receiving a discount for which they aren't normally entitled. Buying discounted merchandise and selling it for any profit is considered a conflict of interest where I work as individuals should not be using their position with the company to leverage that discount for personal gain. We are not supporting employees to front their own side business so to speak. We do not however get too involved when a consumer purchases discontinued items for say $5 which we suspect are being sold for profit on the Internet or through private sale. We limit quantities of certain items to discourage that behavior but that is a vast undertaking. Look at the demographic of persons on line who buy iPhone when it launches. Apple would have a field day with that if every cash and carry customer on launch day was asked for whom is this purchase. Suffice to say a vast majority are resold in other countries for significant profit. I agree that purchasing items for the sole purpose of resale does hurt the brand and the consumer mostly. No one wants their name associated with that type of activity. It might be different if the item was let's say an antique tail light for a classic automobile. I believe many would argue that the recent release of the product or lack thereof is what lends to the frustration when anyone looking to legitimately purchase may feel blocked from doing so. Personally I have bought and sold a number of items that you cannot find in stores any longer. It is a great way to support fellow collectors and promote the hobby. If someone only made the purchase in order to profit financially are they running a business or were they just smarter than everyone else hence why so many others could be upset by it. I can't answer that as anyone reading this has to ask themselves that same question. Now I am going to go see if the Pope tickets I paid for have a rain date on them. Now where is that receipt?
