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Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

Hi guys,

So Mid Jan I was suspended of Amazon. Around £12k GBP held by Amazon

After appealing, I was not allowed back on. Another appeal and told they won't reply to me anymore. No worries, I'll just wait and get my cash in 90 days.

I continue to reply to my customer emails etc as I always do, logging in twice a day to make sure they are replied to in a timely manner.

But... around 3 weeks after, all of a sudden, I cannot access my account anymore. Never happened to me before, so I am quite confused and worried because there is a hell of a lot of cash being held.
I contact Amazon live chat and am told I will get an email in 24 hours... This went on for a week and each day I was told '24 hours' Useless.
Seller performance, verification etc won't reply to me. But the payments team did eventually reply saying my money will be released on 14th April. A sigh of relief, at least I'll get my cash.

Today, 24th April... Still nothing. Payments team won't reply to me, no one at Amazon is replying. I've emailed every email address I have on file (around 9-10) and not a single reply or acknowledgment from anyone...

Has this happened to anyone on here before? Can/Will Amazon keep the cash... Forever? Can they really treat you like you don't exist?

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

I had this, after the 90 days had passed couldn't log in at all. I sent an email threatening legal action if they continued to hold my money. I didn't get any response however a week later the money showed up in my account.

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

It sounds a lot like your account has been deleted. That means the money is gone I am afraid.

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

Never ever leave anything like that much money in accounts on any of the platforms, this forum is packed full of the reasons why that should never be done.

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

Yes, amazon has kept funds of sellers whose accounts have been deleted.

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

Buddy, amazon UK you can disburse everyday, why did let the cash build up. It looks your your account is deleted by what you have said. The reasons amazon do this is multiple linked accounts or counterfeit. If this is the case you have more than certainly lost your money. e mail jeff@amazon.com with your story. This will get passed to "specialist" at amazon.co.uk.

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

thanks for this.

I've already emailed Jeff... No reply unfortunately.

I always assumed that if I go for an early disbursement, then it might raise some eyebrows at Amazon and on a stealth account, that's the last thing we wanted. First time it has happened to me. I have had an account suspended, but got the money at the end of the 90 days but in this instance it looks like I've lost out... Big time.
Will take more care in future and ensure I do at least a weekly disbursement.
It was supposedly 'copyright' on a listing which was never available for sale and never had a single sale. So not sure how someone can report that. It always had 0 stock but was on our inventory file.

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

Sorry to hear of your situation OP - you might need legal assistance...12k is a lot

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

you cannot necessarily disburse every day on Uk az, it depends but it will be at least weekly if not more, if your account is in good standing...they will always hold a certain amount back rolling- but 12k, how did that happen?

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

Not all accounts in the UK allow for daily disbursements, it's only the newer or very old ones. And op is right, it can and does trigger a review on some accounts.

Im not sure why you are emailing Jeff tho if this is for UK Amazon?

You want to email Christopher North the Amazon UK MD.

managingdirector@amazon.co.uk

Although breaching copyright is unfortunately one of the reasons that Amazon will keep your money for. Worth a try tho, that email has helped me out in the past.

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

One think I do if I was suspended. I don't appeal at all when there is still money in the account. I only appeal after I can cash all my money.

Once suspended, I just leave a account and try to log in once, twice a week to see if I still able to log in and keep my finger cross :)

I also take a lot of screenshot in case I need it

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

If you e mail jeff@amazom.com it is picked up by the same team and a specialist from amazon.co.uk writes to you. As you say its the newer accounts within the last 18 months have the daily disbursement and older ones. Raise a flag why? Its an option that amazon give you and I do it on my accounts with no problems.

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

If the account has passed a review or has been built up slowly you are normally ok. But requesting a decent amount of money on a new account can often trigger a review. I don't know why but it happens.

If you email jeff@amazon.com you 100% do not deal with the same teaM as managingdirector@amazon.co.uk.

I'm not sure why you'd say that but I've spoken to them both and they are not linked other than working for the same company. They may or may not forward the email but what's the point in guessing when you know you can email and get a response from the UK seller support and a direct line to an escalations specialist.

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

I'm not sure if this applies in the UK, but in the US, the language that allows Amazon to take your funds permanently can be found under the "How Do I Get Paid" section of their website:

If we determine that a seller account has been used to engage in fraud or other illegal activity, remittances and payments may be permanently withheld.

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

Barry, both mailboxes go to a call/e mail centre in the Philippines. They are dealt with there or escalated either to the UK or US. UK escalation handles all EU accounts.

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

So AZ keeps the money.

This is robbing....sick people

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

You know it's already mentioned that sellers who sign up to use amazon AGREE to their T&S.

At present these allow amazon to do what they fit with accounts they consider to be failures under their terms.

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

That's simply not true. The UK mailbox is for the office of Christopher North the UK MD and I have spoke to them on the phone.

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

I have been going through their T&C's and had a couple close friends (qualified solicitors) go through it.
We picked up on one part of their T&C's (I won't mention the clause etc publicly as I am sure Amazon keep track of this and may change it) but according to the condition which refers to them holding funds, it is quite clear that they cannot hold it for more than 90 days without providing a further explanation (according to there own terms). So they are in breach of their own T&C's here. I haven't been able to pick up anything so far which states they can keep the funds indefinitely.
After 90 days, either they release the funds or provide an explanation as to why they are retaining the funds for longer.
At this stage, we think the next course of action is emailing Chris North directly (thanks everyone for mentioning this, I wasn't sure if it would be worth a shot but it seems I might get somewhere). Failing that, I think a complaint to the PRA (similar to FSA).
In regards to copyrights (after this complaint) I set up a ⊗⊗⊗⊗ 'copyright protection agency) and reported an original item I sell on one account to Amazon as copyright. Without any investigation I got the copyright email. I then retracted my complaint (from the ⊗⊗⊗⊗ copyright agency) the next day and was back to normal selling. So it was clear from this that anyone (even competition) can set up a ⊗⊗⊗⊗ copyright business and file complaints.

In regards to why there is around 12k held, the account was doing around 30k per month in sales (our best account) before Amazon kicked us off. It had been fully verified, and trading as built up slowly as I do with any account eBay or Amazon. I also had an 'Account Manager' to ensure my velocity limits were raised and these did not cause problems. Although these guys are no help when an account gets suspended.

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

Also, the copyright complainant has not replied to any of my emails. I know myself that the item was not an infringement and the fact that the complainant has not replied to any of our emails leads us to believe that the claim was also false. Possible competition trying to get rid of us...

Just a pity Amazon does not have proper checks in place to protect it's sellers in situations like this.

But defending ourselves in court could, cost a lot of cash and time. I read of someone who lost 200k (USD I believe) in the same manner, spent 6 months fighting his case through the courts and had racked up a legal bill of 60k before throwing in the towel.

Maybe if all us small time sellers got together and hit Amazon with thousands of claims, our voices might... just might be heard.
Maybe we can all get together and slap them with loads of cases through the small claims court and see if they have the power to keep up :p

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

Best of luck zaidy88 - I know few people who have lost upwards of your amounts....few years ago and still nothing.

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

Zaidy, first you have to take Court action in Luxembourg which in itself will cost more than you have lost. To do this you need a UK lawyer and a Lux lawyer. Amazon have it covered. Easy to say, take the loss and get on making money, its the only way.

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

Barry not going to open an argument but you are wrong. I have Chris's email account and its certainly not managingdirector@amazon.co.uk, the same as jeff's is not jeff@amazon.com. These are just drop boxes. Lets just say I am now in the Philippines but I don't work for amazon, but very friendly with people who do.

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

I'm afraid whoever you have spoken to is very much wrong.

The email above goes to the office of Christopher North as I explained, have you emailed it? Why would you so confidently dismiss something when you have absolutely no idea about it? That sets off alarms strait away.

I've spoken to Mr north via email and I have spoken on the phone to his secretary all from using this address. I've also had it confirmed by our account manager that this address is accurate.

However, your telling me they leave million pound accounts to someone in the phillipines posing as the UK managing director and his secretary, because your friend told you so?

People can make their own mind up but OP should email this email this address as it will get escalated.

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

Barry, firstly I am not here to argue. As I said if an e mail if seen as important to be escalated it will be sent to the UK office. Can you imagine how many e mails a day get sent to that address and how much rubbish is mailed. Chris has his own e mail address at amazon and I have been to the Slough offices many times and chatted with the man. If you are a million pound account you have you own contacts within amazon and people look after you. Million pound accounts plus don't get suspended, people talk and discuss a problem.
You seem very patronising that someone in the Philippines cannot answer these questions, management is mainly US,UK and German staff deployed by amazon. Perhaps you assume its a little 4ft 10in Filipino who live in a wooden hut. The centre is huge and I would say bigger than Slough employing over 1000 well spoken Filipino who answer most of the calls and emails for amazon.

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

RIP 12k and I feel for you.

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

we have an amazon account running for about 8 months selling iv had the account for years just buying a few items of it at xmass we got verification to say we had passed a review and our account was verified since then we have had about 100 sales a day and are able to take the money out any day we like
it realy surprices mre that any1 would leave £12000 in an amazon account if you had read the amazon ghost or ebay stelth it clearly warns you not to leave big amounts in any of these sites due to the power these people have to hold your money
it will be very surprising if you ever get your money back
i realy hope you do

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

I agree with rickyg, only leave enough in your account to cover any fees, refunds, etc. Any excess funds should be moved to your bank account as soon as possible.

ALSO - since it IS possible for them to attempt to take money out of your bank account, once you move the money into your bank account, you should transfer it out of that account. For example, I have 5 accounts at ONE BANK. 4 are attached to eBay/Amazon accounts and 1 is not. I move all of the money from the 4 attached accounts into the 1 that is not. That way, if anyone tries to "claw back" the money, they are out of luck. Just make sure that you OPT OUT of "overdraft protection".

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

With a UK bank account, the customer must instruct the bank to not allow a nominated party to action the direct debit mandate.

Should it happen ( after being instructed) the bank is responsible.

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

Ahh... The UK equivalent of opting out. Thanks GB!

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

Thanks everyone for the comments.

Still have my fingers crossed that this hits my bank any day... We all live in hope :p

For now, I guess i'll just have to write this off my books, open up a few more accounts and work a bit harder to recoup the losses :)

Thanks. Everyone's comments are much appreciated.

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

Just to give everyone here an update. I emailed Chris North as recommended and FINALLY got a reply back from one of the members of his team.

Been told the money is still on hold, but there may still be some light at the end of tunnel. At least I got a reply. Fingers crossed it gets released soon.

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

Hope for positive update zaidy88

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

Thats good news zaidy, was the reply from "Annie" In time they will ask you for all your supplier invoices etc. Be pro-active, contact them again and ask if they want your supplier invoices. E mail everyday. Good luck

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

Im patronising because even in the face of evidence you won't accept you are Wong.

So surprisingly Op uses the email I suggested and it works. Why did the Initial email not get forwarded as you said it would? Sorry but enough a enough you're talking complete crap.

Wrong again on the multi million pound accounts. I know several who have been suspended and not come back including One of the biggest sellers on Amazon.co.uk.

And no I'm not suggesting someone in the phillipines can't answer these questions. I'm telling you they don't as I know where the UK advanced escalations team are bases and it's not outside of the EU.

I've given you slack on the things you've said as I thought you might be A previous member who knew what they were talking about. But just about everything you've said is completely wrong with some of if being absurd. Like your suggestion Amazon send UK/ German staff to the Philippines to answer questions for the UK/de. That's so counter productive it's untrue.

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

Barry, firstly how do you know this is not a reply from the first e-mail.

You must be big time knowing several big time accounts being suspended, please name one. The only one I know is is caimanusa for bad metrics, he was actually a customer of mine. He was given so many chances.

Amazon moves senior staff to various parts of the world, Singapore is actually one of the biggest data centres for amazon.

Barry I don't need slack of you, I travel the world, run many amazon accounts and made many millions of dollars. Currently I am in the Philippines, will soon travel back to LA and then onto the UK where I will have a coffee with in Slough.

Barry I have been involved with amazon for over 10 years, most probably you were still in nappies then.... Take care

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

How do I know that when someone says they sent an email to Chris North and got a reply back from his team that it's because they emailed his team? really?

If you knew anything about this you'd know they reply within 48 hours and they tell you who it's from and what it's in response to. Kind of gives the game away. Kind of strange the expert knows absolutely nothing about it.

I'm sure Amazon do send people all over the world. The point was you said amazons senior management team are based in the Philippines which as per usual for you is complete BS. I know for a fact they are not and if you had half as many contacts as you claim to so would you.

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

Good night, must be a late night for you. You have your opinions and I have mine. I know who I talk to, do business with, sell my products to and who I have vendor accounts with. Have you ever been to amazon's head office in Slough, do you have a relationship manager for your amazons accounts,do you people on the inside who can help you?

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

Got the disbursement emails this morning. Whoop Whoop :)

Re: Suspended - Blocked - Will I get my cash?
 

Find this very hard to believe from a deleted account, but well done. You sure you were not just suspended. Lets hope the money arrives as did the e mail. ADVICE, move the money from your account as soon as it arrives.