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Disgraceful treatment by Amazon - Account Suspended

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  • Disgraceful treatment by Amazon - Account Suspended

    Hello,

    I'll try and keep this pertinent. Apologies though as this will be a long initial post to try and give all the relevant information that I am likely to be asked.

    SUMMARY.

    On 6th December, we received an email from Amazon at 02:18 GMT stating that one of the comments in one of our product listings breached their policies and that we should remove 'prohibited language' or the account will be suspended.

    12 hours 20 minutes later our account of 4 years standing was suspended with no reason given. They have enjoyed in the region of £50,000 in fees over those 4 years.

    We currently have in excess of £21,000+ of stock across their fulfilment centres. Despite numerous emails, they will not respond and give a valid reason nor tell us when we will get our stock back or if the account will ever be reinstated.

    This has driven me to the edge and we are going to have to lay staff off on Xmas Eve if this does not get resolved which it is unlikely to in the time available.

    DETAIL.

    This is the initial email we received from Amazon.

    "Greetings from Amazon.co.uk.

    As you may know, sellers at Amazon.co.uk are not permitted to direct buyers or transactions away from the Amazon Payments system.

    A seller's listings may not contain email addresses, URLs, phone numbers, and references to external web sites in their comments. We have closed the listing(s) in your storefront which violate this policy and have listed them for your reference at the end of this email.

    As stated in our Policies, any attempt to circumvent the established Amazon.co.uk sales process or to divert Amazon.co.uk users to another Web site or sales process is prohibited.

    More information about our Policies can be found in Seller Central here:

    Help > Learn More About... > Policies and Agreements > Policies

    To avoid the suspension of your account, please remove all prohibited language from your listing comments prior to relisting these items on our site.

    Please note that this e-mail was sent from an address which does not accept incoming mail. In order to contact us please visit our help pages on Amazon.co.uk under Help > Marketplace Selling FAQs > "Contact Seller Support by e-mail" and select > "Respond to Seller Performance" from the subject line drop down menu.

    Thank you for your business on Amazon.co.uk.

    -------------------------------------
    Cancelled Listings
    -------------------------------------

    ASIN SKU TITLE
    B002MRRRNC NANO-5-BLUE-B--UnboxedDing Apple iPod nano with Camera 16GB - Blue - 5th Generation"


    This email was not even seen by us until after the account was suspended at 14:38 hours 06/12/2013.

    "Greetings from Amazon.

    We are writing to let you know that we have removed your Amazon.co.uk selling privileges, cancelled your listings, and placed a temporary hold on any funds in your seller account. Any new selling accounts you open will be closed.

    We took this action because your seller account has failed our review process.

    Note that we reserve the right to limit or remove selling privileges as we deem appropriate. This is in accordance with the selling agreement you entered into with Amazon Services.

    We encourage you to take appropriate steps to resolve any pending orders. Note that any amounts paid as a result of A-to-z Guarantee claims and chargebacks may be deducted from your seller account.

    After 90 days, the hold will be removed and any remaining funds will be available per your settlement schedule. In addition, balance and settlement information will be available in the Payments section of your seller account. If you have questions about these funds, please write to payments-investigate@amazon.co.uk.


    Regards,

    Seller Performance Team
    Amazon Services"


    We were given an option to appeal but the issue was how could we appeal what we do not know what we have done wrong.

    These are the comments in the item that caused Amazon to suspended our account.

    "Very good condition: Grade B This iPod is used but in very nice condition, the front is perfect but there is a slight ding on the back of the iPod. Nothing serious at all but it cannot go without mention. Comes unboxed with brand new genuine Apple USB cable and brand new genuine Apple earphones. If you are unhappy with the item upon receipt, please contact us to arrange a return for full refund in line with the Distance Selling Regulations. (For internal use only: 380502317077)"

    Remember they stated, "A seller's listings may not contain email addresses, URLs, phone numbers, and references to external web sites in their comments".

    I see none of those attributes in the listing comments.

    Anyway, we appealed at 16:19 that day including a contact number in the box provided for someone to contact us and we received a reply.

    "We've received your appeal


    Our Seller Performance team will review your appeal, and you should expect a reply by 7 Dec 2013 16:19:47 GMT.

    Things you can do while awaiting our response:

    Confirm all the items you have dispatched and provide tracking information.
    Update your inventory.
    Monitor customer contacts and resolve any customer issues.
    Solicit feedback from your customers.

    Learn more about how to improve your
    selling performance."

    Within 16 minutes, our appeal was off-handedly rejected.

    "Greetings from Amazon.

    Upon careful consideration, we have decided not to reinstate your selling privileges.

    Once the hold is removed from the funds in your account, balance and settlement information will be available on the Payments page in the Reports section of Seller Central (https://sellercentral-europe.amazon....t-summary.html). If you have questions about these funds, please write to payments-investigate@amazon.co.uk.

    Regards,

    Seller Performance Team
    Amazon Services"

    We emailed the managing director after we got his email from the SellerCentral Forums asking why, where and when noting that they still have some stock of ours at their Fulfilment Centres. Thank God they only control a small proportion of our stock and that we did not send all our stock in for Fulfilment by Amazon which was our intention a year or so ago.

    We received this response which is incredulous.

    "Dear Mr. Widdowson,

    Thank you for contacting Christopher North with your enquiry. I am the manager of the Seller Performance team and your email has been passed to me for review. Mr North has been advised of the outcome of my investigation.

    Please be advised that your selling privileges were removed because your account failed our review process. Due to the proprietary nature of our business, we do not provide detailed information about this process. After a further review today, the decision has been taken not to reinstate your account.

    I regret that I am unable to provide further information on this situation at this time.


    Regards,

    Thomas
    Seller Performance Team
    Amazon.co.uk
    http://www.amazon.co.uk"


    Now to the nitty gritty.

    The Participation Agreement is here and I believe that this is the one we originally signed up to but they will have altered some provisions since the original agreement.

    It states in Section 18 Miscellaneous. The laws of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg govern this Agreement and all of its terms and conditions, without giving effect to any principles of conflicts of laws.

    My basic question is how can we force Amazon to give us a definitive reason for suspension of our account, to either tell us if and when our account will be reinstated and if and when our stock will be returned to us.

    Every email I send is met with the same non-plus response.

    If you search the internet for the term, Amazon Account Suspension, it comes up with no end of YouTube videos where this has happened to many other sellers.

    I typed Boycott Amazon into Google and a local-ish MP is backing a campaign against Amazon as they are guilty of not paying reasonable corporation tax. £3.2 million on a £4.3 billion turnover. That really makes me angry.

    I am pretty sure that I do not want to continue to deal with Amazon purely on the basis that they could treat a business 'partner' in this manner.

    It really has knocked us for 6.

    Any advice please gratefully appreciated but go easy on me, I'm in a dark place at the moment.
    Tags: None

  • #2
    Re: Disgraceful treatment by Amazon - Account Suspended

    Oh and our customer performance is 100%.

    One reason we did think that it may have been suspended is that they expect you to achieve 15% of positive feedback response in sales. This is not written anywhere as far as I know but I recall funds being held very early on in our relationship because we did not meet that criteria. In the last 30 days, we didn't even receive 1%.

    I will try to find how to attach images and upload our feedback and customer metrics information.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Disgraceful treatment by Amazon - Account Suspended

      I should perhaps also say that the offending listing that caused our account to be suspended was created on 23/11/2013. So this listing was live for 13 days before they took away our livelihood in less than 13 hours.

      Not only did we sell using the Fulfilment by Amazon service but also Merchant Fulfilled where we would dispatch from our own warehouse. It is an income stream we can ill-afford to lose.

      The ridiculous thing is having spoken with Seller Support on Monday 9th they told us that we can continue to sell on Amazon DE and that we could link to our UK Stock in the Amazon Warehouse. This turned out in part to be true but because the account is suspended, we cannot link the FBA items in UK to Amazon DE listings.

      Also, I should point out that Seller Performance is not contactable by phone and that a call to Seller Support cannot even get you transferred as they do not have a number for Seller Performance either.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Disgraceful treatment by Amazon - Account Suspended

        I should perhaps also say that the offending listing that caused our account to be suspended was created on 23/11/2013. So this listing was live for 13 days before they took away our livelihood in less than 13 hours.

        Not only did we sell using the Fulfilment by Amazon service but also Merchant Fulfilled where we would dispatch from our own warehouse. It is an income stream we can ill-afford to lose.

        The ridiculous thing is having spoken with Seller Support on Monday 9th they told us that we can continue to sell on Amazon DE and that we could link to our UK Stock in the Amazon Warehouse. This turned out in part to be true but because the account is suspended, we cannot link the FBA items in UK to Amazon DE listings.

        Also, I should point out that Seller Performance is not contactable by phone and that a call to Seller Support cannot even get you transferred as they do not have a number for Seller Performance either.

        And in the agreement:-

        F.7. Returns to You and Disposal
        F.7.1. You may, at any time, request that Units be returned to you. We may return Units to you for any reason, including upon termination of these Service Terms. These returned shipments will be sent to your shipping address designated by you in accordance with the Business Solutions Agreement (including the applicable Programme Policies). If the address we have for you in connection with a particular Amazon Site is outdated, incorrect or outside the applicable territory, or if we cannot make arrangements for you to pay for the return shipment, the Unit(s) will be deemed abandoned and we may elect to dispose of the Unit(s) as provided herein.

        Clearly, we cannot request our units be returned to us because the FBA Inventory has been locked down. We have stock there which we are selling on other channels and we use Amazon to fulfil them because the costs to us are reduced than if we were to send via Royal Mail.

        I cannot help but think that this is all because we were undercutting Amazon on a lot of their lines and they don't approve of competition. Until last month, they had a policy whereby you were not allowed to sell the same item at a cheaper price on any other channels. If that isn't price-fixing, I don't know what is.

        We always felt how can they have such policies like that and remain legal? It didn't seem right or just.

        I spoke with a Barrister friend on Wednesday I think it was. He gave me the name of some solicitors to speak to and he couldn't quite believe this treatment we are suffering.

        At the back of my mind, is irrespective of what agreements are in place, if there is any clause in that agreement which breaches EU laws and Luxembourg is within the EU then it doesn't make for a fair contract.

        Would Unfair Contract Regulations come into play here?

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Disgraceful treatment by Amazon - Account Suspended

          In my considered opinion, they are full of brown stuff - and I don't mean chocolate sauce!

          However, what was that "for internal use" reference in the listing?

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Disgraceful treatment by Amazon - Account Suspended

            Ironically, though not funny, is that the only Negative Feedbacks we receive on Amazon is directly due to Amazon's failure to provide customer service as good as our own.


            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Disgraceful treatment by Amazon - Account Suspended

              Originally posted by Rhothgar View Post
              F.7. Returns to You and Disposal
              F.7.1. You may, at any time, request that Units be returned to you. We may return Units to you for any reason, including upon termination of these Service Terms. These returned shipments will be sent to your shipping address designated by you in accordance with the Business Solutions Agreement (including the applicable Programme Policies). If the address we have for you in connection with a particular Amazon Site is outdated, incorrect or outside the applicable territory, or if we cannot make arrangements for you to pay for the return shipment, the Unit(s) will be deemed abandoned and we may elect to dispose of the Unit(s) as provided herein.
              I am less than wholly convinced that would stand up, as they seem to be trying to legalise theft.

              I cannot help but think that this is all because we were undercutting Amazon on a lot of their lines and they don't approve of competition. Until last month, they had a policy whereby you were not allowed to sell the same item at a cheaper price on any other channels. If that isn't price-fixing, I don't know what is.

              We always felt how can they have such policies like that and remain legal? It didn't seem right or just.
              It isn't right and it isn't fair but, then, neither is Mugabe's left buttock.

              Stuff Amazon. Sell your wares on eBay instead.

              I rather doubt that they could rely on Luxembourg law when they are clearly based in the UK.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Disgraceful treatment by Amazon - Account Suspended

                Well. It's certainly not a phone number or email address or link to another external website.

                This was on ONE listing out of a current 330 at the time of suspension.

                To answer your question, it is a stock number which a member of staff included so that if the item sold on Amazon, the stock number could be reviewed and the identical item could be removed from any other channel we were advertising it on.

                We normally have the same item listed across many channels to increase exposure.

                We were trialling something could Linnworks to automate and look after stock management and co-ordination but that's now shelved!

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Disgraceful treatment by Amazon - Account Suspended

                  Thanks Cleverclogs.

                  This is going in my way of thinking too.

                  I did speak with the Police on the matter but they, as you would expect, claim it to be a Civil Matter.

                  It's a difficult one as they haven't actually taken the stock, per se, or have they? Could it be argued that take means to take charge or care of the property?

                  Because it certainly appears to me at this point in time that they have the 'intention to permanently deceive'.

                  We already sell on Ebay and we are trying to get our website and a couple of other channels off the ground.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Disgraceful treatment by Amazon - Account Suspended

                    Looks like this case will need media attention to bring Amazon to their 'senses'.

                    :beagle2222:
                    "Although scalar fields are Lorentz scalars, they may transform nontrivially under other symmetries, such as flavour or isospin. For example, the pion is invariant under the restricted Lorentz group, but is an isospin triplet (meaning it transforms like a three component vector under the SU(2) isospin symmetry). Furthermore, it picks up a negative phase under parity inversion, so it transforms nontrivially under the full Lorentz group; such particles are called pseudoscalar rather than scalar. Most mesons are pseudoscalar particles." (finally explained to a captivated Celestine by Professor Brian Cox on Wednesday 27th June 2012 )

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                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Disgraceful treatment by Amazon - Account Suspended

                      Originally posted by Celestine View Post
                      Looks like this case will need media attention to bring Amazon to their 'senses'.
                      In the Daily Wail?

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Disgraceful treatment by Amazon - Account Suspended

                        Possibly no help whatsoever but here


                        Disgraceful treatment by Amazon - Account Suspended legalbeagles.info/forums/showthr… @AmazonHelp - 15 Dec


                        @LegalBeagles Sorry to hear that! Please use this link: amzn.to/1hT6cQl and we will investigate this.^CD
                        #staysafestayhome

                        Any support I provide is offered without liability, if you are unsure please seek professional legal guidance.

                        Received a Court Claim? Read >>>>> First Steps

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Disgraceful treatment by Amazon - Account Suspended

                          I replied and told them you already tried that to no avail. The link is just to standard contact us form.

                          I'm wondering if Its automatically picked up on the 'contact us' re returns.
                          #staysafestayhome

                          Any support I provide is offered without liability, if you are unsure please seek professional legal guidance.

                          Received a Court Claim? Read >>>>> First Steps

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Disgraceful treatment by Amazon - Account Suspended

                            This is all very good of you guys and gals and much appreciated.

                            Let's hope something positive comes of it.

                            I wish I understood how to use Twitter. If I RT from Amazon Help or Legal Beagles what do my followers see?

                            How can I RT to BBC Watchdog?

                            EDIT:

                            Just emailed one of our followers on Twitter, the British Boxer, Ashley 'Treasure' Theophane. He is really tight with Floyd Mayweather and trains at his academy I understand. FM has 4,500,000 followers on Twitter. If he RT's and includes link to AmazonUK or AmazonHelp, do you think that will maybe help?

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Disgraceful treatment by Amazon - Account Suspended

                              Just tweeted @AmazonMarketPl

                              Their catchline is "Amazon Marketplace is one of the fastest ways to start selling online. Learn how Amazon can help you build your business at http://bit.ly/13wzakM"

                              Naturally I tweeted my version of their truth, "Learn how Amazon Marketplace can destroy your business too!" With a link to this thread.

                              I don't know a lot about Twitter or how it works but I am guessing the only people that will see that is Amazon unless they respond? Is this correct?

                              Also, my business partner is worried about defamation but I have reassured that I am unaware of anyone being sued for telling the truth?

                              Comment

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