Suspended from Amazon - what to do with inventory

[Taking The Micky]

All I can say thats really tough, but this is what we are up against with amazon, when its good its great and when its bad, its really ****. I assume amazon must be holding over $100k in funds looking at your figures. Just push amazon, write to jeff@amazon.com everyday with the same email till you get an answer, write you case in as much detail as possible but keep it very polite. If what you say is true you may have a chance. If it fails, wait for the disbursement and then do your removal request and it will cost you nothing.
I assume these items are not unique, so set up a ghost account and start slowly again.

[barrycruan]

Originally Posted by tmonta

Yes this has been an absolute nightmare. I was selling over 45000 units a month for over 2 years now with 100% feedback. Never an A - Z claim. Apparently any seller can take control over the items detail page at any time. Amazon determines which of the sellers take control over the details pages automatically based on an algorithm consisting of inventory levels, feedback score, seller health etc. We received two policy warnings about two asins not matching the items details page. The policy warning said to email seller support our plan of how we were going to fix these to listings. I immediately removed them from FBA inventory and stopped selling them because I saw the pages had been changed at some point. I also immediately responded to the policy warning stating we were removing them from FBA and will no longer be selling them. Then approx 2 weeks later I received a suspension notice stating we continue to list against incorrect item detail pages but the letter did not mention any new asin problems. I spoke with seller support and they told me that even though we removed them from FBA and stopped selling them, I failed to actually delete the item from our active inventory list and that triggered the suspension. Support instructed me to put that info in our appeal, which I did and was denied the appeal with the standard 'permanent action' response.

As for the two incorrect asins.....After the initial policy warning but before the suspension, we found approx 10 other listings of the same sort of item (different variations) that also had incorrect detail pages. We contacted seller support and was told that one of the sellers listed themselves as the brand owner (which was false info) and the detail page was using their detail info. In that case, seller support can not change the pages and that I would need to contact seller performance. Well I did contact seller support and they removed the brand ownership from that seller and the seller was warned that they can not list themselves as the brand owner if they are not.

So that is how I have ended up here. I have over 70000 units in the FBA warehouse valued at over $200000 in cost that will end up costing me $35000 just for FBA to return them to me. I have had a few items returned so far that I need to sell in other outlets and so far everything I have requested has come back.

I have not completely given up hope yet. I still have a few avenues to try to get through to Amazon.

You should definitely try posting to the above email.

Also worth posting on amazons actual forums. Every other example I've found of this happening the seller seems to have successfully appealed the decision and is back on amazon.

I will let you know if I have any luck.

[tmonta]

Originally Posted by Taking The Micky

All I can say thats really tough, but this is what we are up against with amazon, when its good its great and when its bad, its really ****. I assume amazon must be holding over $100k in funds looking at your figures. Just push amazon, write to jeff@amazon.com everyday with the same email till you get an answer, write you case in as much detail as possible but keep it very polite. If what you say is true you may have a chance. If it fails, wait for the disbursement and then do your removal request and it will cost you nothing.
I assume these items are not unique, so set up a ghost account and start slowly again.

They are holding approx $40000 of our money which will cover what is it is going to cost to have the inventory returned. The items are not unique so another account is an option but really not my first option. I really would like to try to get the account back. So much time and energy was put into this account. This is just not right. To be suspended for incorrect item detail pages that were not contributed by me is just wrong. Especially for this size of an account. What kills me is the feeling of helplessness because I can not even get someone to respond to me because we received the denial of reinstatement email that says they will not respond to this any further.

[tmonta]

Originally Posted by barrycruan

You should definitely try posting to the above email.

Also worth posting on amazons actual forums. Every other example I've found of this happening the seller seems to have successfully appealed the decision and is back on amazon.

I will let you know if I have any luck.

I am in the middle of trying to contact Amazon through some other avenues right now. If that does not work, I will definetly try the Amazon forums and emailing jeff@amazon.com as a last resort. If you have any luck, please let me know and I will do the same for you

[TonyAlmeida]

Amazon also respond to the BBB report.

[RosieTosie]

What is the BBB report Tony?

[TonyAlmeida]

Better Business Bureau
Better Business Bureau: Start With Trust®

[Taking The Micky]

The jeff@amazon.com will eventually in your case get to an escalations team within seller performance.

[barrycruan]

Originally Posted by tmonta

I am in the middle of trying to contact Amazon through some other avenues right now. If that does not work, I will definetly try the Amazon forums and emailing jeff@amazon.com as a last resort. If you have any luck, please let me know and I will do the same for you

Not sure if this helps but i did manage to get my account reinstated.

Only thing is my first appeal was met with a generic response saying exactly the same thing as the suspension and so were my next 3 appeals. With you getting the final notice it might be a bit more difficult but I have seen plenty of big accounts get that messages and later get reinstated.

I emailed the UK version of jeff@amazon.com and my first few emails were ignored. I'm not sure is this made a difference or it was just a coincidence but in my 3rd email I stated how much we spend a month in Amazon fees and within an hour of that we got a call from seller performance who went over our appeals and reinstated us.

We were suspended for something very similar to you although this was actually our fault. I've found quite a few others who got suspended for this and everyone of them has been reinstated so I would definitely keep trying and try that email address. Is also post your story on the seller forums at Amazon.com. The mods there seem to help a lot more than seller support do.

Good luck

[tmonta]

Originally Posted by barrycruan

Not sure if this helps but i did manage to get my account reinstated.

Only thing is my first appeal was met with a generic response saying exactly the same thing as the suspension and so were my next 3 appeals. With you getting the final notice it might be a bit more difficult but I have seen plenty of big accounts get that messages and later get reinstated.

I emailed the UK version of jeff@amazon.com and my first few emails were ignored. I'm not sure is this made a difference or it was just a coincidence but in my 3rd email I stated how much we spend a month in Amazon fees and within an hour of that we got a call from seller performance who went over our appeals and reinstated us.

We were suspended for something very similar to you although this was actually our fault. I've found quite a few others who got suspended for this and everyone of them has been reinstated so I would definitely keep trying and try that email address. Is also post your story on the seller forums at Amazon.com. The mods there seem to help a lot more than seller support do.


Feel free to PM if you want to see my appeal or anything.

Good luck

I did send you a PM but just wanted to say congratulations on being reinstated. If you could pm me your appeal letters that would be greatly appreciated because I am preparing ours for jeff now. Thanks again for any help you can offer

[barrycruan]

Originally Posted by tmonta

I did send you a PM but just wanted to say congratulations on being reinstated. If you could pm me your appeal letters that would be greatly appreciated because I am preparing ours for jeff now. Thanks again for any help you can offer

Hi I'm sure I replied so check your messages? I Can send my appeal to you but the reasons behind the suspension were slightly different (incorrect product details but it was our fault). My appeal was mainly common sense and it wasn't actually that what got us reinstated. On the phone they said it covered 99% of the problems but we were still suspended until they phoned.

The most important thing is to get in touch with the right people. So get that email @jeff. You don't need to send your appeal there. Just let them know what has happened, maybe explain how much you spend in fees and how much stock you have tied up in fba. Ask for them to get you in Touch with someone who can assist you in this. The main problem for this kind of suspension is you don't really,know what you have been suspended for. They gave us two products as the reason but on the phone they said it was a different product and that's why our appeals failed.

That's what worked for me and the other people I've read about.

[tmonta]

Originally Posted by barrycruan

Hi I'm sure I replied so check your messages? I Can send my appeal to you but the reasons behind the suspension were slightly different (incorrect product details but it was our fault). My appeal was mainly common sense and it wasn't actually that what got us reinstated. On the phone they said it covered 99% of the problems but we were still suspended until they phoned.

The most important thing is to get in touch with the right people. So get that email @jeff. You don't need to send your appeal there. Just let them know what has happened, maybe explain how much you spend in fees and how much stock you have tied up in fba. Ask for them to get you in Touch with someone who can assist you in this. The main problem for this kind of suspension is you don't really,know what you have been suspended for. They gave us two products as the reason but on the phone they said it was a different product and that's why our appeals failed.

That's what worked for me and the other people I've read about.

Ok I did not get the pm but thats ok. Thanks for the advise. I have a feeling I have the same problem you did. I feel like there is another product or issue there is a problem with beyond the 2 I received warnings for. I feel that if I could just talk to someone, I would be able to get resolved so simply. I will be sure to mention the amount of fees I have paid them. I added them up this morning and in 2014 I spent of $1,000,000 in fees. I will keep you posted as to what happens

[tmonta]

And perhaps the appeals will not help but could you post or pm me a copy of the email you sent that eventually got them to call you? That may be helpful

[Taking The Micky]

tmonta, you are giving amazon that much in fees and you don't have account manager within amazon, very strange, as your sales would be $5m+. One of my accounts has a turnover of around $1m and I have an account manager.

[tmonta]

Originally Posted by Taking The Micky

tmonta, you are giving amazon that much in fees and you don't have account manager within amazon, very strange, as your sales would be $5m+. One of my accounts has a turnover of around $1m and I have an account manager.

No actually I do not have an account manager. I have asked for one and have been told they do not offer that. Last year I did 1.8m in sales. I sell very low ticket items. My average sale is approx $9.50.

[drazzk]

Hello,

I also have the same exact issue. I am selling generic items and gotten message from Amazon Seller Support about the product details is inaccurate. What should I do with this issue?

[tmonta]

Originally Posted by drazzk

Hello,

I also have the same exact issue. I am selling generic items and gotten message from Amazon Seller Support about the product details is inaccurate. What should I do with this issue?

I really do not have an answer yet as I am still in the middle of all this. We are in the process of investigating the whole thing so we can send an email to Jeff. During the investigation some things have changed. We found out that the two policy warnings we got were caused by another seller sabotaging us. Apparently they changed the product detail pages, purchased two items from us, complained to Amazon that they were not as described, and then changed the detail pages back after the fact.

[Henny XO]

This is what happens when you put your inventory in the hands of another entity.

[agray34]

Originally Posted by Taking The Micky

FIND THAT SO HARD TO BELIEVE, the standard e mail is below, not suspension, more must have been going on.
Hello from Amazon.

We wanted to let you know that we have received a potential customer complaint regarding
the item you are offering below. It is possible that the item you are selling does not match the
product description shown on the detail page or may not have been listed in accordance with
our Condition Guidelines:

ASIN:
Title:

Please note that at this time, no action has been taken to remove your offer on this item and
you do not need to contact us regarding this notice. However, we ask that you review your
listings and make any changes necessary to comply with our policies. You can modify your
listings in the Inventory section of Seller Central
(https://sellercentral.

Customers may complain when they receive an item different from what they were expecting
based on the product detail page - and our policies require that items offered for sale on
Amazon.com match the detail page in every respect and be listed in accordance with the
Condition Guidelines. Problems may include inaccurately listing the brand, manufacturer, UPC,
edition, binding, quantity, version, color, and condition.

Finally, please note that you cannot list an item that does not match the product detail page
even if you describe the differences in the comments. If an appropriate detail page is not
available for your product, you are welcome to create a product detail page by using our
"Create A Detail Page" service.

We want to call your attention to these policies because violations may result in the removal of
your Amazon.com selling privileges. To learn more about these policies, search "Prohibited
Seller Activities and Actions", "Product Detail Page Rules", and "Condition Guidelines" in Seller
Central Help.

BELIEVE IT. Literally just happened to me last week. My ghost account was running strong for 1 year, amazing feedback, great health and had TWO different customers leave bad reviews on TWO DIFFERENT items and bam, shut the account off. I thought a 500k+ a year account means something to them, but I guess their theory is someone else will easily replace you.

[bettahman]

Originally Posted by rsot

Amazon is very strict - worrisome at times

i really hate Amazons policies but they are a gold mine to those who kiss their boots