Lost a 5 Year Old Amazon Account... The Christmas Crackdown is On???

[jeffweico]

I just lost an Amazon account.

That is nothing unusual of course, we stealthers lose Amazon accounts all the time.

What IS unusual? A few things... As most of you who have read my posts and know my methods, I always go above and beyond to protect my accounts and I RARELY lose them.

This account was 5 years old. The last dispute on the account was over 3 years ago. Since then, I have had ZERO disputes and 4 refunds. This particular account only sold books. NO high risk items - no DVD's, electronics, jewelry, etc. Nothing shady, no counterfeits or anything like that.

I have gone over everything I had in place and nothing had changed on the account. The last thing to change was the bank account, but that was over 4 years ago. So I doubt it was that.

Tis account had its own PC, a maintained phone number that shows up as a land line, its own internet connection with a Static IP (meaning it never changed), an address where I could receive mail, 5 stars...

The PC for this was never used for anything other than maintaining the account.

While I have no idea what caused this (and probably never will) I wanted to pass it on and see if others have had similar experiences? Every year at this time, Amazon starts weeding out accounts they are suspicious of and maybe they are using new methods?

[Gamefreak]

whats the reason they claim they got you for? 5 year old account is omg I would so be crying.

[ilcarletto]

Sorry for your loss jeffweico... I know you are a very experienced stealther.

Very very odd...

Thanks for sharing.

[Phd]

Sorry for your loss Jeff.

Did they give you a reason (suspension) or is it a deletion.

Also seems to be lately AZ is monitoring pricing, and if they don't like it, say bye bye.

[eBay King]

Yes, I had a similar experience to yours recently. My account had very close similarities to yours, only that mine was a 2+ year account, not a 5 year account.

This is plain BS by Amz I believe. I am sure it has nothing to do with your methods or what you are selling, as I know you are a pro at Amz, just like a lot of us on here.

And you know what makes this even more baffling, is that there is NO reason for it. Sure, if I we did something wrong with operating the account or the items being sold, then it is something which can be explained.

BUT, when these BS take downs occur, it makes zero sense and impossible to figure out.

You have back-up accounts ?

[jeffweico]

It was a suspension, not a deletion. And although the account averages $4k per month in sales, they just paid me out and there is less than $300 sitting in the account.

Their email said that my shipping methods had raised concerns and they gave me the option to appeal, which I will do in the morning. I want to compose a good response to try to save the account. If it were not 5 years old, I wouldn't care.

They can hold the $300 for 90 days, it won't kill me.

The weird thing is, my methods combined with the fact that this account was only selling books (rare and out of print) is what has me scratching my head. Books are not usually counterfeited. Yes, they CAN counterfeit anything they want, but these obscure titles are never going to attract anyone's attention because the sales volume is so small, it wouldn't pay to counterfeit them.

Last year, I lost an account that sold toys, a niche I was giving up anyway. In years past, I had lost accounts selling DVD's, but I haven't had any accounts selling DVD's on Amazon for a couple of years now - too many problems even with legitimate titles.

So, my main feeling here is confusion, it is not like I am in a state of mourning or anything. And I have accounts in reserve waiting to go, so the loss is not huge.

My main concern is if Amazon has developed new detection methods that we are not aware of. That is why I posted this, so if anyone else has had a similar experience, maybe we could compare notes and see if maybe we both missed something, or if this is something new.

As to the allegation about shipping, I have had only one inquiry and it was not a complaint, the buyer had purchased from me on many occasions before and had never received this one book, which sold for $45 or so. I checked the tracking and it shows that it was shipped, it left my post office, hit the local sorting center, and then nothing. It has been three weeks. I asked the post office to see if they could trace it and refunded the buyer - it was the last of the 4 refunds I mentioned. The other three were all way older, nothing recent.

Again, this is not a huge deal for me, it is not like they cancelled Christmas for me or anything. I'm just trying to be proactive here and stay ahead of the game as much as possible.

[Gamefreak]

this shipping issue seems to be something new. keep in mind that amazon just changed their shipping criteria today for its 3p sellers today if I'm not mistaken.

You offer 2 day shipping or any type of expedite shipping? or ship too slow for that matter, like USPS media mail which takes what seems to be years to deliver anything.

[Kelly441]

Well what were your shipping metrics?

[jeffweico]

My metrics were fine. I always ship the same day or the next day and use first class mail. These books are not low-end, so the extra shipping cost doesn't bother me. Everything has tracking on it. I COULD save money by shipping media mail, but the potential headaches are just not worth it.

I have another account for lower end books that I picked up as a part of larger deals and I use media mail on that account and have had no problems. The volume on that account is approximately $1,000 per month and my profit margin is 25%. So, on that account shipping costs WOULD be an issue.

I would rather not deal with $2 books at all, but I can't get the pricing I want on the higher end stuff unless I buy collections and inventories. You can't cherry pick in this niche, because if they wanted to sell individual books, they would just open their own Amazon accounts.

[MICKY H]

Sorry for the loss of account Jeff, but as we all know this trading environment is one day at a time. Here today gone tomorrow.
If amazon say its your shipping methods then this can be the only reason as amazon have no reason to make up excuses for suspending accounts. Maybe they have now some new software especially now we are well into Q4 tracking your shipments and everybody's else shipments. Possibly the tracking may look backwards looking at dispatch address etc. Just my thoughts. This is why I never add tracking to any shipments within seller central.

[a311hanna]

@ micky h how do you do that? Not upload tracking to seller central amazon doesn't know you shipped it? Isn't that bad?

[MICKY H]

Originally Posted by a311hanna

@ micky h how do you do that? Not upload tracking to seller central amazon doesn't know you shipped it? Isn't that bad?

You mark it as shipped and its not a condition to enter tracking info in SC. Why would it be bad.

[a311hanna]

Oh. Sc is service center?

[MICKY H]

Originally Posted by a311hanna

Oh. Sc is service center?

sellercentral

[sax4]

For sure crackdown is on.... created an Amazon account 8 days ago, normal way i have been doing for years. Made a UK, USA, DE, and FR as usual. I logged in yesterday, couldn't log into UK, then tried to log into all to no avail. Worst thing was I added a bank.

On the ID part of application I put drivers license and ticket to say I wouls provide if they needed. Maybe they are clamping down on this option for Xmas. Amazon I hate you

[mad555]

Originally Posted by sax4

For sure crackdown is on.... created an Amazon account 8 days ago, normal way i have been doing for years. Made a UK, USA, DE, and FR as usual. I logged in yesterday, couldn't log into UK, then tried to log into all to no avail. Worst thing was I added a bank.

On the ID part of application I put drivers license and ticket to say I wouls provide if they needed. Maybe they are clamping down on this option for Xmas. Amazon I hate you

Same here,
I have had 5 accounts suspended and deleted in the past 10 days. I literally had 1 item on each account. I know how to build amazon accounts safely so it is definitely a epidemic.

[beatingebay]

Okay the mailing metrics are bad now. I have a real account for 5 years, even media first class mail is being tracked, if it goes 1 day after the expect delivery date you metrics takes a hit. Out of 100 packages 3 missed the date, I wake up to you aint shipping fast enough. I live in the post office, go there every day sometiomes 2-3-4 day as soon as they buy. How much faster can a seller move. I called them and said this is so not fair, they said aint changing ever! They are forcing us to do FBA, period, they want amazon selling and all of little people ship your stuff FBA. Simple as that, but a book cost $3.50 in fees with FBA to ship are they kidding!!!!!!!!

[ovidiu]

USPS recently did a update on their system. Now the tracking info shows what city the label was supposed to originate from (your registered ship from address), as well as where it actually originated.

[a311hanna]

That's not good for any of us...

[ovidiu]

It's showing up on eBay too, that's how I first learned about it.

[imboxsy]

will amazon check this manually? very doubtful..

negative change for sure, but unlikely they will ever check or make sense of it. You are allowed to drop mail off in other cities

[MICKY H]

Originally Posted by imboxsy

will amazon check this manually? very doubtful..

negative change for sure, but unlikely they will ever check or make sense of it. You are allowed to drop mail off in other cities

If data is there to crunch amazon will use it and they will certainly make sense of it.