Account Review - Should I ship items?

[chocdips]

So my Amazon account is under review.

History:
My account is 1 year+ old, sold 1 thing every 3 months or so up until a few weeks ago when I started selling about 3-5 things/day. I did send 2 refunds quite easily, I sell both high and low value items and didn't really see sending refunds as a bad thing (at the time).

I have 2 questions though, I'm hoping you can help me with:

1. My account review notice doesn't mention a timeframe. After reading all these posts, I highly doubt my account will make it through when some who have been trading for years don't. It simply states: "You will be notified by e-mail when this account review is complete" - but I've read a few others who seem to get a message saying it will take up to 30 days?

2. Should I send the remaining orders or cancel? I'm just scared I won't get my money back after they block my account with the 90 day thing? There's 10 orders and it's costing me about £400 in stock and delivery charges.

Thanks for your help!

[cherrqell]

Originally Posted by chocdips

So my Amazon account is under review.

History:
My account is 1 year+ old, sold 1 thing every 3 months or so up until a few weeks ago when I started selling about 3-5 things/day. I did send 2 refunds quite easily, I sell both high and low value items and didn't really see sending refunds as a bad thing (at the time).

I have 2 questions though, I'm hoping you can help me with:

1. My account review notice doesn't mention a timeframe. After reading all these posts, I highly doubt my account will make it through when some who have been trading for years don't. It simply states: "You will be notified by e-mail when this account review is complete" - but I've read a few others who seem to get a message saying it will take up to 30 days?

2. Should I send the remaining orders or cancel? I'm just scared I won't get my money back after they block my account with the 90 day thing? There's 10 orders and it's costing me about £400 in stock and delivery charges.

Thanks for your help!

Amazon does not look kindly to refunds, even if you have good feedback.

Send the orders. Its good business, and the right thing to do. You will get your money no matter what happens in 90 days, granted of course you have no a to z claims.

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. Start making some stealth accounts.

good luck.

[jeffweico]

Did they say WHY they were reviewing your account? It could be routine. Do you sell high-risk (DVD's, software) or low risk items?

[mphinney]

same thing happened to me. sold about 10 items within 2 weeks. was shipping with no problem. saw that my account went under review and went into panic because i had already been shut down on ebay and paypal still holds 3K of my money. so cancelled the remaining couple of orders not shipped and now on my third payout schedule with no release of funds. now amazon owes me about 1k. done with these big guy sites. selling on ebid.net, seems good and it's a site that lets everything stay between seller and buyer. using propay to accept credit cards, accepting money order and using google checkout. if you have a good standing paypal you can use that as well. with propay, i sent the customer an invoice to their email and they pay from that, ebid pretty much stays out of it.

[chocdips]

-----------------------------
Hello from Amazon.

We are writing to let you know that we are conducting a review of your selling account. During this review, your funds will be temporarily reserved in your account.

We conduct reviews when sales volumes or inventory are not supported by sufficient buyer feedback or an established history. These reviews are a routine part of our commitment to improving the customer experience.

While we review your account, please continue to fulfil orders and list only items that you are able to ship by or before the promise date.

For information on how you may be able to expedite this review, please search on “Velocity Limits and Account Reviews” in our seller Help.

You will be notified by e-mail when this account review is complete.

We appreciate your patience and cooperation.


Regards,

Seller Performance
Amazon.co.uk
--------------------

That was the message. Here's something I found interesting, on my 'Customer Metrics' page, the 'Status Summary' bit on the right DEFINITELY said poor or very poor and had a red icon, as soon as I clicked on the 'Performance Notification' message (see above), it CHANGED to 'Good' with a green icon. Weird eh?

[jeffweico]

Originally Posted by chocdips

-----------------------------
Hello from Amazon.

We are writing to let you know that we are conducting a review of your selling account. During this review, your funds will be temporarily reserved in your account.

We conduct reviews when sales volumes or inventory are not supported by sufficient buyer feedback or an established history. These reviews are a routine part of our commitment to improving the customer experience.

While we review your account, please continue to fulfil orders and list only items that you are able to ship by or before the promise date.

For information on how you may be able to expedite this review, please search on “Velocity Limits and Account Reviews” in our seller Help.

You will be notified by e-mail when this account review is complete.

We appreciate your patience and cooperation.


Regards,

Seller Performance
Amazon.co.uk
--------------------

That was the message. Here's something I found interesting, on my 'Customer Metrics' page, the 'Status Summary' bit on the right DEFINITELY said poor or very poor and had a red icon, as soon as I clicked on the 'Performance Notification' message (see above), it CHANGED to 'Good' with a green icon. Weird eh?

This is routine. Amazon buyers RARELY leave feedback. Unless they are mad, of course. Yet Amazon wants you to have good feedback for 20% of your orders. Amazon is weird this way. The fact that buyers don't leave feedback is YOUR fault!

This account is over a year old and is still good. I recommend that you ship your items ASAP. Put tracking on all of them and enter it into Amazon's system when you mark the order shipped. Leave positive feedback for all of your buyers.

Once you pass the review, you should be OK unless you start getting a lot of negative feedback or if Amazon receives buyer complaints.

Amazon does not - at this time - think that you are a bad seller. You just have little feedback, issued 2 refunds and suddenly this account has started selling. So, they are doing their checks.

Worst case scenario is you get your money in 90 days. But I don't think they will close your account, so this probably won't happen. It is worthwhile to at least TRY this - especially if the account has your real information attached. Amazon can be a VERY profitable venue.

And the 90 day thing... I have NEVER heard of Amazon refusing to disburse funds after 90 days. So you WILL get your $$$. But again, I don't think this will happen.

I would also put tracking on all future orders. Amazon and the buyers REALLY LIKE THIS! And it gives an Amazon rep reviewing your account confidence, as they have evidence that you are shipping the items.

THIS IS STILL A GOOD ACCOUNT, DON'T WASTE IT!

[sax4]

My account is under review, and i've been concentrating on getting feedback from my buyers, send 10 emails, didn't get one feedback from it.

I didn't even realise sellers can leave feedback lol, I will leave some now and hopefully get something in return

[fireboy101]

I have this happening as well. If I had found this earlier, things would have changed drastically. Anyhow, my Seller account was made in March, and every month I sold 1 or 2 items. Then finally this last month and before I sold some bigger ticket electronic items (around $120 ea. and $220 ea.), totals around 3K or so, and so I am under review now. Under this account, my one and only, I have about 26 total orders (from when I made it to now) and 3 positive feedback all 5/5. How does it look for me?

[jeffweico]

Originally Posted by fireboy101

I have this happening as well. If I had found this earlier, things would have changed drastically. Anyhow, my Seller account was made in March, and every month I sold 1 or 2 items. Then finally this last month and before I sold some bigger ticket electronic items (around $120 ea. and $220 ea.), totals around 3K or so, and so I am under review now. Under this account, my one and only, I have about 26 total orders (from when I made it to now) and 3 positive feedback all 5/5. How does it look for me?

If this is the same email, then you are probably OK. Do you have any customer complaints? If not, don't sweat it. Worst case scenario is that you get your money after 90 days.

You know that Amazon is looking at your account, so be on your best behavior while they are doing their review. Anwser inquiries promptly and professionally. ship quickly, provide tracking information and most likely you will be fine.

[fireboy101]

Originally Posted by jeffweico

If this is the same email, then you are probably OK. Do you have any customer complaints? If not, don't sweat it. Worst case scenario is that you get your money after 90 days.

You know that Amazon is looking at your account, so be on your best behavior while they are doing their review. Anwser inquiries promptly and professionally. ship quickly, provide tracking information and most likely you will be fine.

Same Email:

Hello from Amazon.

We are writing to let you know that we are conducting a review of your selling account. During this review, your funds will be temporarily reserved in your Marketplace Payments account.

We conduct reviews when sales volumes or inventory are not supported by sufficient buyer feedback or an established history. These reviews are a routine part of our commitment to improving the customer experience.

While we review your account, please continue to fulfill orders and list only items that you are able to ship by or before the promise date.

For information on how you may be able to expedite this review, please search on “Velocity Limits and Account Reviews” in our seller Help.

You will be notified via e-mail when this account review is complete.

We appreciate your patience and cooperation.


Regards,

Merchant Approval Team
Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com

I have emailed all my buyers asking for feedback, and the ones who have posted feedback are very happy with the product. And with the 90 days money back, I wanna ask about that, do they just automatically put that into your bank account after that time? Or do you have to contact them in anyway?

[fireboy101]

Also, since I got this email, there is an appeal button on the bottom to respond. Since the email did not specifically ask any questions or anything (just a notice form what I can see), do I need to respond?

[fireboy101]

I think I messed up today, I posted an item for sale yesterday and I found out I did not have the item in stock, so I had to refund that order. And I did this during, while I am under review, how do you think it'll affect me?

[rsot]

With Amazon - no one can ever tell for 100% since they never disclose info.

That being said, I think with a good account, a refund will not cause problems being out of stock and such.

[sax4]

That's the thing with Amazon, on Ebay the worst you can get is bad feedback for refunds.

One of my accounts is also under review, I was dropshipping and cancelled loads of orders!, so I think my account is almost certainly down the pan.

They wanted tracking numbers but I sent most stuff normal post

[newtools]

the best thing you can do in this situation and sit back, and send them all the verifiable tracking numbers for the items sold. Usually you will get your acct back and they may even raise you limits if you ask them in the email. Just tell them that you are committed to customer excellence.

It will take 30 days and in the mean time make new accts.

if you do not get reinstated you will get paid in 90 days.

Just make sure you ship everything!