Amazon takes advantage of its sellers

[daxelrod]

I have been selling on Amazon on and off for a few years recently I decided to focus more on selling on the site. After getting income of about $1500 for about two months I decided that I could use a pro account. After making several inquires to amazons’ customer service, (and it took a few inquires)I was told that the only way to do this would be to close down my current account and start again. I was unhappy about doing this by I reluctantly agreed. So I closed my current account and opened up a pro account. The site said that funds would be held on new account for two weeks as a security measure. I was not happy with this but it seemed reasonable. Right before the two weeks were up I had accumulated about $1400 in my account. The day before the funds were two be released, I received the following message

“As part of our ongoing commitment to improving the customer experience on Amazon.com, we are conducting a review of your seller account. During this review period your funds will be reserved in your Amazon Payments account for up to 30 days…”

I immediately stopped selling on Amazon despite them telling me that it was ok. I called customer service and they told me that I had been “selected” and that this was “routine”. At that point I started doing research on Amazon and I was surprised to learn how often they do this and get away with this. I provided them with all the tracking information like they requested (everything was delivered and there were no complaints). I also receive a total of 17 positive feedbacks with no negative feedback. They requested information about where I source my merchandise from and I other business information. Information which I feel is an invasion of my privacy. Why should I have to reveal to Amazon detailed information about how I sourced my merchandise. No other online company has requested this. Not eBay; not overstock and not others. My merchant account company has also not requested such information. It is clear to me that they are requesting it to gain useful selling information for their own use.

I did not try to contact them again about the fairness of holding my funds because I read that a number of people that have tried to do that have had their accounts permanently terminated, rudely told that any further emails would not be returned and fund that were already held for a long time would remain in ‘custody’ for several more months.

After I received the notice mentioned above I sent them in all the information that they requested in spite of my objections. Immediately afterwards, I emailed them asking if the information that I sent was sufficient. I only received a form letter that did not answer my question. I repeated this and I got the same response.

About a week ago (3 ½ weeks after they sent the initial email), I received another email that the information that I provided them was insufficient and that my funds would be help for an additional 15 days. They did not explain what was insufficient, but I knew from experience that it would not help to ask. I again sent them more detailed information and I am now waiting. It has been more than thirty days since I shipped my last orders and I have no complaints against me. If they do not want me to sell on Amazon because they think that I am not trustworthy (actually I think that the opposite is true), so they should not let me sell, but why should they hold my money?

[Amazombie]

boy that blows....u seem to be a legit seller getting screwed by amazon....btw, If you don't mind me asking what was/is your percentage of feedback to sales?

[catdaddy]

Everything that you say is true. What's hilarious about Amazon is that your fortunes (literally, figuratively) are controlled, via the review board - whatever they call it, by one random kid who "reads" your email and, depending on what kind of a mood he's in that day, responds back with one of about three or four form letters. They NEVER send you a true response. Occasionally, they may add a sentence or two to the letter, with necessary pertinent information, but that's at the best of times.

Its sad that Amazon has come to this, as they never used to be this terrible, but, I believe a combination of the economic downturn and a great number of scammers over the years has caused them to become iron-fisted and, honestly, illegally-fraudulent in their business ethics (akin to the mighty beast of inequity, paypal/ebay - Amazon could certainly use a class-action lawsuit like that dinosaur received a few years ago).

[daxelrod]

In response to you question, I received 17 feedback for 82 orders. This was after they made me email all my customers to request feedback.

After some research, I found that Amazon has hidden away in their help files a rule that their are sales velocity limits for sellers. This means that sellers may not sell over a certain limit. The punishment for doing so is account suspension and that your money is taken 'hostage' for several months. The problem with this fact is that it is hidden in the help files where most sellers probably would not see it. It should be displayed prominently somewhere. The second problem with this is that amazon refuses to tell anyone what their limits are. So it is very easy for many sellers to go above the limit inadvertently.

I have read about people trying to make class action lawsuits or to speak to various government agencies. I am not a lawyer, but it appears that these sellers were not successful. Amazon has been playing games for at least five years and they have everything figured out. Usually by the time the trial comes up, it is after the 3 or 4 months that they are holding your money,so their is nothing to sue them for anymore. However, God will get them. They did not count on that.

I wish everyone good luck on their Amazon problems.

[daxelrod]

Originally Posted by catdaddy

Everything that you say is true. What's hilarious about Amazon is that your fortunes (literally, figuratively) are controlled, via the review board - whatever they call it, by one random kid who "reads" your email and, depending on what kind of a mood he's in that day, responds back with one of about three or four form letters. They NEVER send you a true response. Occasionally, they may add a sentence or two to the letter, with necessary pertinent information, but that's at the best of times.

Its sad that Amazon has come to this, as they never used to be this terrible, but, I believe a combination of the economic downturn and a great number of scammers over the years has caused them to become iron-fisted and, honestly, illegally-fraudulent in their business ethics (akin to the mighty beast of inequity, paypal/ebay - Amazon could certainly use a class-action lawsuit like that dinosaur received a few years ago).

Any business involves risks especially e-commerce. Still that is no excuse for acting this way. Ebay has their problems, but they do not do this.

[catdaddy]

Originally Posted by daxelrod

Any business involves risks especially e-commerce. Still that is no excuse for acting this way. Ebay has their problems, but they do not do this.

If you believe that ebay/paypal doesn't use similar tactics, you clearly need to dig a little deeper - they're worse than Amazon, and when they decide to ban you, its 180 days that they're keeping your money, and there is no guarantee that you're ever getting it back. There are hundreds of sites dedicated to discussing/letting sellers air out their grievances about ebay/paypal.

Still don't believe me? As I previously mentioned, paypal were SUED by a class action lawsuit several years ago and LOST. They had to pay out millions. Its widely documented on the internet, and is for exactly the same sort of fraudulent withholding of funds that Amazon is currently involved in.

As for the velocity limit, correct, a lot of new sellers don't realize it, though its been that way for years. In the old days you'd hit it, Amazon would let you know, you'd request an increase and in few hours you were fine. Now, its a crapshoot.

The initial velocity limit seems to be between 1000-1500 over a rolling 30 day period.