Taking Amazon to Small claims court for not paying seller their funds?

[kirkland]

Damn, I don't sell on Amazon, but can I really use that email to hit up Jeff Bezos?

[datguywelbs]

Has this happened to you?

[datguywelbs]

Has this happened to you

[AK81]

Personally, I would locate any payments I had sent from my bank account to Amazon and start initiating chargebacks to the sum of what they owe you.

[datguywelbs]

Today, I finally got my funds disbursed. I constantly emailed jeff@amazon.com with a letter detailing my case. I saved a letter and copied and pasted it to him daily. I kept persistenting and it eventually paid off

[rsot]

Originally Posted by datguywelbs

Today, I finally got my funds disbursed. I constantly emailed jeff@amazon.com with a letter detailing my case. I saved a letter and copied and pasted it to him daily. I kept persistenting and it eventually paid off

Very nice persistance

[datguywelbs]

Thank you everyone for your help, it was greatly appreciated

[frogster]

Hi
I am in the same position you was
funds now held for 14 months, last stock resonce from jeff was november, so i was looking to take them to the small claims court and was searching to see if they had kept any other sellers money.
I was selling happily for 3 years, i then tried to change address because i had moved, i was allowed to sell while they verified, they didn't verify me for 3 months and still have 2k.

What sort of letter did you send jeff, ive warned them that i would take them to court but i no nothing about court, i was selling as a private selller and purchased the goods from amazon add ons so they were all good

please help me if you would be so kind

[munkron]

Originally Posted by The Demon

Not sure you can take them to small claims court. Their TOS explicitly mentions the only way to settle with Amazon is arbitration. I could be mistaken. Why did you wait 14 months? If I don't get a payout within 90 days of a suspended account, I either send a legal demand letter or go to arbitration.

How often does the legal demand letter work?

[rsot]

Originally Posted by tinsoldier

plenty of sellers taking them to the Small Claims Court in the UK nowadays. Letter before action to their Holborn address. Then if they don't reply its the online claims service.

Check out the main Amazon UK forums, sellers beginning to report success, most time Amazon fold beforehand so their shady robbing tactics aren't laid bare in a court.

The problem with small claims is even if you win, you will have to enforce the claim no? And that's tough to do without heavy costs

[newjerseymax]

Amazon will be changing its TOS and no longer do arbitration. Apparently they have been more successful in courts

[RustyShackelford]

Originally Posted by The Demon

It is my understanding that amazon loses most of its cases because their idiotic rules are unenforceable in the real world. It doesnt matter if they change their tos.

Very true, first thing you learn in law school is the contract is only as good as the judge says it is. You can write whatever you want in an agreement, if its against the laws, it cannot be upheld. Amazon will lose most of not all cases for holding your money. Its a numbers game, for every 1000 peoples money they hold, and 5 take them to court, they are still way ahead. The company is being run like the mob lately.

[agent006140]

Originally Posted by rsot

The problem with small claims is even if you win, you will have to enforce the claim no? And that's tough to do without heavy costs

it sounds like UK is different .
But yes,in US,small claims court usually ask you to use a mediator,then you face the judge.
if you win,you have to find a way to collect that money,hiring a sherriff to seize his merchandise if he has a store and auction them off,all these will cost you more than what you are trying to get back .

[agent006140]

OH,ALSO before going to court ,you have to send by certified mail twice to show you have made an effort to collect,then go to the city and pay a fee to file a claim.

[nickopedia]

The ToS means little to nothing, and the arbitration clause is unenforceable unless a judge says otherwise, at least in my State & County.

Before filing any action, however you definitely need to do your homework and read up on case way as it applies to you. Also sending a Demand/Claim letter to the company in question by Certified Mail is an absolute requirement. The judge in my last two cases asked for that from the get go.

[9030d60f]

Originally Posted by Etycoon

Yes, I often find this situation and with-holding of funds way longer than 90 days is related to the reason your seller account was suspended.

If the account is totally legit , real info and products etc then contact the financial Ombudsman


http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/

I hate Amazon!

[9030d60f]

Originally Posted by The Demon

It is my understanding that amazon loses most of its cases because their idiotic rules are unenforceable in the real world. It doesnt matter if they change their tos.

There is no "lose" unless a Jury is there to decide

[meloncoly]

What were the products you were selling?

[rsot]

Originally Posted by 9030d60f

I hate Amazon!

Then stay off of it

[9030d60f]

Originally Posted by munkron

How often does the legal demand letter work?

I bet never

[degsey69]

The system in the UK is geared towards the buyers when large companies like Amazon are involved and in fact towards the small business owners, there they like to champion the underdog.

They have a great free service called Citizens Advice Bureau in every town and they will give free advice on how to proceed. The claims systems through the courts are online, arbitration would be done there if Amazon turns up to defend the claim. If they have a default judgement against then I would always advise to use the Sheriff through the high court as they have much better powers of collecting debts than court or private bailiff.

There was a case once in the UK where a customer took his bank to small claims court and the bank did not defend, the customer got a default judgement and got a high court sheriff who went to the bank and sealed one of the tellers trays with money in it until the court order was paid or removable of the tellers tray after 7 days, the bank immediately paid up straight away.

I have had business's in both sides of the pond and UK sellers definitely have more rights with eBay, PayPal and Amazon than USA sellers. Over there PayPal has to pay you immediately on demand, Amazon can not hold money for 14 days on a working account, they have to pay daily on demand (although it takes a few days to go into your account where PayPal is immediate)

If i was the in the thread starters position I would would proceed to small claims court after letter of demand served on Amazon.

[warriors]

I am here in US, they have withheld my money for more than 2 years now. Any suggestion. The reason I did not go to through court is because it's going to cost me few thousand dollars. They owe me over $9k.

Any suggestion, I would really appreciate it.