Multiple Account Policy

[guitarca18]

I got this email this morning on a small number of my accounts and I'm just curious if people respond to defend themselves or not? I feel like they might be reaching as we use 24VC for our IP, VM's with different cookies, and don't really have anything else that could link us unless of course the stealth address we use is actually being used by someone and/or the phone number we were assigned is/has been used by someone for amazon. What do you guys think? Respond or no?

Dear Seller,

Amazon’s policies prohibit a seller from operating or maintaining multiple accounts; however, we understand that in certain circumstances, sellers may need to own multiple accounts.

We would like to ask you a few questions:

• Do you have multiple Amazon selling accounts?
• Have you opened or operated more than one seller account in the past?
• In addition to your seller account, do any other members of your household also have a seller account?

In order to protect your account, please reply to this email with the following information:

• The email address(es) associated with each account you own
• The email address(es) associated with each account owned by members of your household other than yourself
• The reason(s) why you need each account

If you own just one account, have never owned more than one account in the past, and no one else in your household has or has had an account, please disregard this notice.

Best regards,
Seller Performance

[imboxsy]

We use 24vc too and got this email on our main account this morning. I'm wondering if its a VPN issue. From a stealth standpoint, our stealth practices are flawless, the only way they could suspect something would be from the VPN.

[guitarca18]

Originally Posted by imboxsy

We use 24vc too and got this email on our main account this morning. I'm wondering if its a VPN issue. From a stealth standpoint, our stealth practices are flawless, the only way they could suspect something would be from the VPN.

Well that scares me a bit... I'd say our stealth practices are fairly flawless as well. We've been doing this with a lot of accounts for 2 years without issue. This is really the first time we've had a linking issue. Never know about the address though or the phone number.

[guitarca18]

Its interesting the email uses the word "household" instead of "location" or "business" or both "business" and "household." I wonder if this is a clue that its maybe a seller account linked to a buying account?

[imboxsy]

There are handful of threads on the amazon selling forums with people having the same issue. It appears the bots used some algorithm and sent a mass email.

We think we are just going to not respond and hope it goes away.

[amzpro]

I have 3 sellers accounts selling the same products and have not received this email (yet)

[123]

It's impossible to ever know for sure the reasoning for things like this, especially with amazon, who knows just how advanced their detection methods might be getting these days.

Especially with the holiday season fast approaching, amazon has been known to be much stricter around this time. Might even have to do with your selling patterns, especially if you list very similar items between these accounts, or perhaps shipping patterns etc. And yeah there's always other variabilities that can be out of your control especially when making many accounts, such as was the stealth address previously used by someone else, did you get a recycled phone number, etc etc

It's really all speculation of course, there's no way to know for sure besides trial & error. But the fact that your accounts weren't limited right away, probably means they don't have enough evidence to quite link you yet to anyone else, but their algorithm is perhaps notifying them of the "potential" to link you

[amzpro]

My guess is this is an attempt by amazon to get people to fess up to something which will allow them to suspend accounts.

[123]

Originally Posted by amzpro

My guess is this is an attempt by amazon to get people to fess up to something which will allow them to suspend accounts.

Might be, seems to be a problem for users over at the amazon forums as well

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/for...20247&tstart=0

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/for...art=0&start=15

[guitarca18]

I'll probably not respond as well then. Seems like its a fishing expedition for them or someone hit the wrong button and just let us all know which accounts they MIGHT have some linking information on.

[amzpro]

Originally Posted by guitarca18

I'll probably not respond as well then. Seems like its a fishing expedition for them or someone hit the wrong button and just let us all know which accounts they MIGHT have some linking information on.

I would respond stating that you only have 1 account.

It's not a good idea to ignore anything from seller performance.

[imboxsy]

The message clearly states if you have one account then disregard the email. The last thing you would want is a human looking at your account

[amzpro]

Originally Posted by imboxsy

The message clearly states if you have one account then disregard the email. The last thing you would want is a human looking at your account

I have no problem a human looking at any of my accounts. All the information on my accounts is legitimate.

The issue with ignoring the email is, if you do get suspended down the line, good luck appealing with the excuse "but but but you said to disregard the email!"

[fantomas0405]

I got this too and it is not even a stealth account, not even a vpn. I got it on my real account, real details with my real ip! After 5 years of smooth selling! Really clueless on what to do!

[alim]

i got this as well for 1 of my accounts.all accounts have different items listed on them but work with 24vc.

[imboxsy]

I have a theory and i'm curious to hear your guys responses. A while back, we had a bunch of Chinese sellers hop on our ASINs selling counterfeit versions of our product, and they are have been banned multiple times. However, since i still sell on the ASINs, i wonder if the system is flagging us because we are selling on a ASIN that has had multiple hijackers banned from.

For the people who have got the email, have you experienced Chinese hijackers on your listings who were eventually banned?

[halookick]

Originally Posted by imboxsy

I have a theory and i'm curious to hear your guys responses. A while back, we had a bunch of Chinese sellers hop on our ASINs selling counterfeit versions of our product, and they are have been banned multiple times. However, since i still sell on the ASINs, i wonder if the system is flagging us because we are selling on a ASIN that has had multiple hijackers banned from.

For the people who have got the email, have you experienced Chinese hijackers on your listings who were eventually banned?

@Imboxsy, how do you handle your Chinese hijacker. Sent you a PM.

[littleredengine07]

Are you also blocking your browser to access your geolocation?????

Sellers tend to forget you need to deny access to any website of your geolocation. Geolocation on a browser is one of the easiest ways you can be linked too.

NEVER EVER GIVE YOUR BROWSER PERMISSION TO ACCESS YOUR GEOLOCATION.

Also AMZ tends to fish a lot. I had several ASIN where I had to call into AMZ or email them that they got the wrong person. What can you expect when you pay a so called specialist 10 dollars an hour. Not much

[Rellik3600]

Originally Posted by amzpro

My guess is this is an attempt by amazon to get people to fess up to something which will allow them to suspend accounts.

Thinking the same. I believe it's an attempt to get people to rat on themselves. If they had enough evidence, we all know they would have moved on it. Now whether or not to respond or how to respond, I'm not sure about that.

[guitarca18]

Originally Posted by imboxsy

For the people who have got the email, have you experienced Chinese hijackers on your listings who were eventually banned?

Yes definitely had this issue on the accounts that got the email.