Amazon account temporarily deactivated for inauthentic issues

alekov · #23 12-05-2019

Here is my response to the Dec 4th Amazon Email stating:

"We received your submission but do not have enough information to reactivate your listings at this time. We cannot accept this invoice because it does not include the items listed below.

ASIN: B07M6ZV***, B07BGD8***, B07JBMT***, B07QCQJ***

To reactivate your listings, please send the following information for the items listed above:
Copies of final invoices or receipts from your supplier issued in the last 365 days
--These documents should reflect your sales volume during the last 365 days.
--Please include contact information for your supplier, including name, phone number, address, and website. We will maintain the confidentiality of your supplier contact information.
--You may remove pricing information, but the rest of the document must be visible. For ease of our review, you may highlight or circle the ASIN(s) under review."

Dear Amazon Seller Performance Team,

our apologies for not being more specific when sending the receipts. We understand that between ASINs, UPC, Bundled Sets (sets made of 2 or more items) and different companies compiling their invoices in a different manner it could be very confusing trying to decipher what is what.

We used red rectangular box marks on the receipts showing the item and the quantities purchased. To make things easier we have renamed the receipts to the item corresponding and the UPC of the item. Some of them have the UPC listed on the receipts, except ***** who does not list the UPC on the receipt, however, they usually have an image and title.

Title: ********
ASIN: B07QCQJ***
UPC: *************

We are providing the receipt for this item which is named the name of the item and the UPC, quantity of 6. We have sold one that was returned to us and we have taken pictures of the item that are included for your review. the LP return number is on one of the pictures, as well as the label, and the item itself. The item is brand new and unused, authentic, and includes the manufacturer's box and tissue paper as it comes from the factory.

Title: *********************
ASIN: B07BGD8***
UPC: **************

We have sold 9 of these, all sourced at the same time and never had a problem with this item. The item returned was also sold later without a problem. The receipt is included with a red box around the item in question, and shows quantity 10 which is more than what we have sold on Amazon the last 365 days.

Title: ************
ASIN: B07JBMT***
UPCs: ******* for the ***** in the set and
UPC: ********* for the ***** in the set

This is a bundled items listing. It consists of 2 items, ***********. As per amazon policies, the bundled listing CANNOT be either of the singled items UPCs, therefore, it has a different UPC under the ASIN on Amazon. The receipt provided shows our purchase of quantity 2 each for the 2 sets that we have sold in the last 365 days.

Title: *****************
ASIN: B07M6ZV***
UPC: ********* for the ****** and
UPC: ********* for the ***********

This is a bundled items listing. It consists of 2 items, **********. As per amazon policies, the bundled listing CANNOT be either of the singled items UPCs, therefore, it has a different UPC under the ASIN on Amazon. The single item UPC is clearly visible in the included pictures of each item/manufacturer tag for your review. We have included 2 separate receipts as each of the item in the 2 sets we sold were purchased on a separate receipt. The receipts have red box drawn around the items in question. The receipts show the quantity that we have sold of this set which is 2 for the last 365 days.

Please let us know if this is sufficient to fulfill your requirement and reinstate the temporary block on our account as it is very detrimental to be losing the holiday sales at the moment. The Plan of Action can be reviewed in our Appeal, let us know if you need us to resubmit that again. Thank you for your help,

Sincerely,

If anyone has an idea what I am doing wrong, or what they aren't liking, please let me know. Their response to this is also listed above, Dec 5th response. FML

alekov · #24 12-06-2019

I have hired Josh on here from the marketplace to help me with the appeal and the invoices. Not sure yet if this is a good move as I have used several appeal services before with mixed results. I'll keep you guys informed how it goes. Apprehensive at providing counterfeit invoices as it seems that Amazon sometimes calls to verify the info on the invoices, but so far I haven't been able to pass with the store receipts I have. Wish me luck lol

alekov · #25 12-07-2019

Update:
Still waiting on Josh to provide me with something, it's been couple of days now. I truly hope I am not making a mistake using a 3rd party to appeal this.

His proposal he is working on, is to write an appeal explaining to amazon that we have been doing retail arbitrage, and even though we used to source inventory through buying at the company stores before, we have managed to find a better supplier now and here are some invoices from our purchases from this supplier and going forward we will no longer do Retail Arbitrage but would only purchase from this Supplier.

Couple problems I can see with going this route:
1. Would Amazon consider "safer" buying from a 3rd party Supplier than going and purchasing directly from a company store?
2. The invoices will obviously be made up, if Amazon attempts to verify them this potentially maybe the end of us.
3. Amazon may find it weird that we provided "Receipts" first, and now suddenly change to invoices?

Anyway, just keeping everyone informed and please pipe in if you have any suggestions or an opinion on this.

alekov · #26 12-07-2019

Quote:

Originally Posted by tinsoldier

They will not accept store receipts. They want formal invoices form an authorised supplier with the purchasers name on it which, in some way, matches the seller account name.

Regardless of what anyone on this forum says, store receipt have been unacceptable for quite some time now, go read the man Amazon forums for confirmation.

I tend to agree with you, however, I have personally gotten back about 3 or 4 accounts with store receipts. I know it works, it's just a hit or miss thing. Maybe it depends on who you get reading your appeal and reviewing your receipts, or maybe it's rather the details on the suspension that dictate whether or not they accept them. As a rule of thumb, however, I agree with you that invoices are what they ask for normally.

The last account I've gotten back on store receipts was about 2 years ago, so maybe they stopped accepting those lately, I know things are much tougher these days.

alekov · #27 12-10-2019

So here are the developments. Josh provided me with an appeal after couple of days of back and forth with him, and suggested NOT to use or send any receipts/invoices. The appeal basically said that the way we do our business is Retail Arbitrage, and we purchase directly from the stores in person. As such, we don't have invoices, only receipts, which we have already provided. We appologize and going forward we promise to use only suppliers with invoices and yada yada, we've implemented quality checks in place so going forward this will never happen again.
They responded about 12 hours later with pretty much the same message as before:

"
Dear seller,

We received your submission but do not have enough information to reactivate your account at this time.

Please send the following information:
1) Copies of invoices or receipts from your supplier issued in the last 365 days for the following ASINs: B07QCQJ*** B07BGD8*** B07JBMT*** B07M6ZV***
--These documents should reflect your sales volume during the last 365 days.
--Please include contact information for your supplier, including name, phone number, address, and website. We will maintain the confidentiality of your supplier contact information.
--You may remove pricing information, but the rest of the document must be visible. For ease of our review, you may highlight or circle the ASIN(s) under review.

2) An updated plan of action that explains:
-- Greater detail on the issue(s) that you believe caused the complaints about the authenticity of your items.
-- Greater detail on the actions you have taken to resolve the issue(s) that caused the complaints about the authenticity of your items.
-- Greater detail on the steps you have taken to prevent future complaints about the authenticity of your items.

You can only send .pdf, .jpg, .png, or .gif files. These documents must be authentic and unaltered.

How do I send the required information?
Please submit this information by clicking the Appeal button next to this message on the Performance Notifications page in Seller Central (https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/...fications.html).

What happens if I do not send the requested information?
If we do not receive the requested information your account may be deactivated.

We’re here to help
You can get help creating your plan in Seller Central Help (https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/200370560).

You can view your account’s performance at (https://sellercentral.amazon.com/per...d?ref=ah_em_pq) or select Account Health on the home screen of the Amazon Seller app on your iOS (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/amaz...er/id794141485) or Android (https://play.google.com/store/apps/d....android&hl=en) device. The Account Health dashboard shows how well your account is performing against the performance metrics and policies required to sell on Amazon.
Sincerely,
Seller Performance Team
amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com"

Beautiful · #28 12-10-2019

Your only option may be to submit those invoices as it seems that's what they want

S4SAL · #29 01-20-2020

Your account still suspended?

agent006140 · #30 01-20-2020

Quote:

Originally Posted by S4SAL

Your account still suspended?

good question.
OP said-
To answer your question, I have approximately 1,000 different SKUs per account. Each of them I stock with several items per sku. The inventory is very expensive and for most part needs to be stored in air conditioning space, properly. This way I have no overhead, no theft, no mistakes, and higher sales...
--------------------------
expensive inventory which needs air conditioning space,and bought from brand name store in outlet mall?
wonder what it could be?
Yogurt??not expensive?
Perfume,no need to refrigerate?
Health food?cant be that expensive?
Buffalo meat??

axerlipas · #31 01-21-2020

Quote:

Originally Posted by alekov

About 2 years old Stealth account just went down. We deal with name brand items, and inauthentic complaints happen from time to time. We have 4 complaints about 4 different items, here is the letter from Amazon:

Hello,

Your Amazon Seller account has been temporarily deactivated and your listings are no longer active. Funds will not be transferred to you but will be held in your account while we work with you to address the following issue.

Why is this happening?
You have not sent us the information we requested that addresses the complaints about the authenticity of the items listed at the end of this email. In order to ensure that customers can shop with confidence on Amazon, we take “inauthentic” complaints seriously. The sale of counterfeit products on Amazon is strictly prohibited. You can learn more about Amazon’s policies regarding the sale of counterfeit items in Seller Central Help:
-- Amazon Anti-Counterfeiting Policy (https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/201165970)
-- Policies and Agreements (https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/521)

How do I reactivate my account?
To reactivate your account, please send us the following information:
1) Copies of invoices or receipts from your supplier issued in the last 365 days for the ASINs listed below
--These documents should reflect your sales volume during the last 365 days.
--Please include contact information for your supplier, including name, phone number, address, and website. We will maintain the confidentiality of your supplier contact information.
--You may remove pricing information, but the rest of the document must be visible. For ease of our review, you may highlight or circle the ASIN(s) under review.

2) A plan of action that explains:
-- The root cause(s) that led to the complaints about the authenticity of your items.
-- The actions you have taken to resolve the complaints about the authenticity of your items.
-- The steps you have taken to prevent future complaints about the authenticity of your items.

Here are a few things to consider as you create your plan:
--Sourcing: Are you sourcing the product from a trusted supplier?
--Listing: Is the product accurately described on Amazon? Have you ensured that there is no ambiguity and the customer is well informed?
--Packaging: Is the product in its original packaging as listed on Amazon?
-- Shipping: Have you taken all appropriate steps and quality checks to ensure that the product is stored, packed, and shipped appropriately?
--Review your communications from buyers to better understand the issues.
--Be as specific as possible in your plan.
--Do not limit your plan to issues with specific orders.

You can only send .pdf, .jpg, .png, or .gif files. These documents must be authentic and unaltered.

How do I send the required information?
Please submit this information by clicking the Appeal button next to this message on the Performance Notifications page in Seller Central (https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/...fications.html).

What happens if I do not send the requested information?
If we do not receive the requested information within 17 days, or after two unsuccessful appeals (whichever occurs sooner), your account will be permanently deactivated. Failure to successfully appeal this decision may result in us permanently withholding any payments to you and any FBA inventory of the items that caused “inauthentic” complaints may be destroyed at your expense.

We’re here to help
The Account Health Support team is available 7 days a week to address your concerns in detail. To request a call from the Account Health Support team between 7:00 am to 6:00 pm Pacific Standard Time use this link: (https://sellercentral.amazon.com/cu/...us/cmn/QUALITY) or between 9:00 to 5:00 China Standard Time use this link: (https://sellercentral.amazon.com/cu/...mn/MARKETPLACE).

You can view your account performance at (https://sellercentral.amazon.com/per...d?ref=ah_em_op) or select Account Health on the home screen of the Amazon Seller app on your iOS or Android device. Your Account Health shows how well your account is performing against the performance metrics and policies required to sell on Amazon.
-- Download iOS App at (https://itunes.apple.com/na/app/amaz...er/id794141485)
-- Download Android App at (https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ile.android&hl)

Title:
ASIN: B07M6ZV***
------------------------------------
Title:
ASIN: B07BGD8***
--------------------------------
Title:
ASIN: B07JBMT***
----------------------------------
Title:
ASIN: B07QCQJ***

Sincerely,
Seller Performance Team
amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com

Prior to that we had another email of similar nature that we responded to, providing receipts (Email receipts that were sent to us directly from the Brand Name manufacturers, however we slightly changed quantities to avoid dealing with many receipts). For some reason they did not accept them. The receipts were manipulated very easy since they were emails that were simply forwarded one more time to another email and changes made to some of the numbers, after which they were printed to a .pdf file and emailed to Amazon. The did not fly. Not sure why, amazon either called the stores to verify the receipts from the receipt numbers, and got a different total amount or something, or more likely they just didn't like something or decided that it should've been an invoice instead of an email receipt that we sent them. Who knows...

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. I have tons of regular store bought receipts that I may just try sending instead. I just thought the few email format receipts looked much cleaner and better and included our shipping address and company name and etc vs. the regular store bought receipts in person that are wrinkled and don't show any of our information on them.

The account has about $18k of money they are holding, and about $400K worth of inventory in it.

I've been successful at appealing about 3-4 accounts in the past, but it took many back and forths. I've been unsuccessful appealing about another 10 accounts that I lost and had to recall everything back and re-ship to new stealth accounts...

Hey. I saw a message that your accounts have been suspended. I sell in Canada and Mexico. Sometimes Amazon pauses all markets at once, and sometimes only one. Do you have accounts where you can't sell in the US market, but can you sell in Canada or Mexico? If you have such accounts, I’m ready to buy it) thanks!