Help with Amazon suspended account
On Apr 7 I received the following Policy Warning from Amazon....
Hello,
We have removed this listing because your item may not exactly match the one shown on the detail page or is not in accordance with our Condition Guidelines:
***********************
As stated in our policies, products offered by sellers must be listed on a product detail page that accurately describes the product in all respects. This includes, among other aspects, brand, manufacturer, UPC, edition, binding, quantity, version, color and condition. Our policies also require sellers to classify their items in accordance with our Condition Guidelines. You cannot list an item that does not match the detail page even if you describe the differences in your comments. If an appropriate detail page is not available for your item, you are welcome to create a page for it using our Create A Detail Page service if it otherwise complies with our policies.
We want to call your attention to this policy because violations may result in the removal of your Amazon.com selling privileges. To learn more about this policy, search "Prohibited Seller Activities and Actions," "Product Detail Page Rules," and "Condition Guidelines" in Seller Central Help.
Before we can consider reinstatement of your selling privileges for these listings, please provide us with a detailed account of the steps you will take to ensure your listings comply with our policies. We will then review your plan and determine whether to reinstate your privileges.
Please review all 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.amazon.com/myi...istingsSummary).
Thank you for selling on Amazon.com.
Regards,
Seller Performance Team
Amazon.com
At that point I looked at the listing to see what the problem was and realized the product detail page had some inaccuracies on it. I immediately removed the item from FBA and stopped selling the item. I emailed Seller Support to let them know that the detail page was incorrect and I was going to stop selling it anyhow. The next day I received this generic type response from them......
Hello,
We appreciate the information you have provided. However, a review of your account indicates you have listed against detail pages that do not accurately describe your items or are not in accordance with our Condition Guidelines.
As stated in our policies, products offered by sellers must be listed on a product detail page that accurately describes the product in all respects. This includes, among other aspects, brand, manufacturer, UPC, edition, binding, quantity, version, color and condition. Our policies also require sellers to classify their items in accordance with our Condition Guidelines.
For more information, please search on "Prohibited Seller Activities and Actions," "Product Detail Page Rules," and "Condition Guidelines" in Seller Help.
Before we can consider reinstatement of your selling privileges for ASIN ************, please provide us with a detailed account of the steps you will take to ensure your listings comply with our policies. We will then review your plan and determine whether to reinstate your privileges.
For information on creating and submitting your plan, search on "Appeal the Removal of Selling Privileges" in seller Help.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Regards,
Seller Performance Team
Amazon.com
Then on April 9, I received the same Policy Warning except it was for a different ASIN. (Same type of product from the same manufacturer, just a different design on the item). I immediately looked at the product detail page to see that page also had incorrect item details on it. I once again, removed it from FBA and stopped selling it while we could investigate further. I once again notified Seller Performance that the product details page was wrong and I was going to stop selling the item. On Apr 10, I received the same generic response from the previous Warning.
On Apr 10, I began investigating and found that approx. 15 of the same type of item, different designs all had incorrect product detail pages. I spoke with seller support and they confirmed that another seller did indeed make the changes on the pages. They instructed me to open cases for each of the items to have the item detail pages changed, which I did. Once the cases were opened, I was told that another seller has listed themselves as the "Registered Brand Owner" and I would need to bring this issue to Seller Performance to have them remove the incorrect brand ownership. I purchase these items directly from the manufacturer so there is no doubt who the manufacturer is. I then forwarded the case to Seller Performance, who responded by telling me that they found that another seller did wrongfully put themselves as the brand owner. They removed them as the brand owner, issued them a warning and removed the incorrect info from the product detail pages.
Then on Apr 20, we received the suspension email below.....
Hello,
We are writing to let you know we have removed your selling privileges, canceled your listings, and a temporary hold has been placed on funds from your Amazon.com sales. Any new selling accounts you open will be closed.
We took this action because it has come to our attention that despite our earlier warning(s) to you, you have continued to list against detail pages that do not accurately describe your items or are not in accordance with our Condition Guidelines.
As stated in our policies, products offered by sellers must be listed on a product detail page that accurately describes the product in all respects. This includes, among other aspects, brand, manufacturer, UPC, edition, binding, quantity, version, color and condition. Our policies also require sellers to classify their items in accordance with our Condition Guidelines. You cannot list an item that does not match the detail page even if you describe the differences in your comments.
We encourage you to take appropriate steps to resolve any pending orders. Note that any amounts paid as a result of A-to-z Guarantee claims and chargebacks may be deducted from the funds in your account.
After 90 days, the hold will be removed and any remaining funds will be available per your settlement schedule. In addition, balance and settlement information will be available in the Payments section of your seller account. If you have questions about these funds, please write to payments-funds@amazon.com.
If you would like to appeal this decision, please visit the Notifications page in the Performance section of your account, find this message in the list of notifications, and click the Appeal button (https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/...fications.html). For information on creating an appeal, search on "Appeal the Removal of Selling Privileges" in seller Help.
Regards,
Seller Performance Team
Amazon.com
Amazon.com: Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel, Computers, Books, DVDs & more
I spoke with Seller Support and they instructed us to appeal and suspension with all of the info I have already given above. We did that and within 15 minutes we received the below email
Hello,
Upon careful consideration, we have decided not to reinstate your selling privileges.
Any remaining funds may be reserved for up to 90 days from the date your selling privileges were removed. After 90 days, the funds will be disbursed, provided we do not receive charge-backs or A-to-z Guarantee claims against your sales. If you have further questions about your disbursement, please write to payments-funds@amazon.com.
Regards,
Seller Performance Team
Amazon.com
Amazon.com: Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel, Computers, Books, DVDs & more
I again spoke with Seller Support and explained the situation. They asked me for the two ASINs this time and put me on hold. They came back and told me that they did see that another seller had made changes to the pages. She said she was going to put a note on our account for Seller Performance to see and they again told me to resend the info in. This time she gave me a different email to use that would go to a supervisor of that team. And so I did. I then received the response below
Hello,
Thank you for writing. After a review of your account by an account specialist, we have decided not to reinstate your selling privileges.
We regret we are unable to provide further information on this situation. Further correspondence regarding the closure of your selling account may not be answered.
The closure of this account is a permanent action. Any subsequent accounts that are opened will be closed as well.
Regards,
Seller Performance Team
Amazon.com
Amazon.com: Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel, Computers, Books, DVDs & more
We then started doing some more investigating and went through all of the orders of the two ASINS we received the policy warnings for and low and behold, we see that the competitor that was listing themselves as the brand for this product and allegedly changing the product detail pages had placed two orders from us for the two ASINS in question. So basically it appears that they were changing the product detail pages to include incorrect information. Placing orders from us. Contacting Amazon once they received them and then making complaints with Amazon as the item being "Not as Described"
So on the advice of others and from the info I have read on the forums, I sent an email to Jeff Bezos email address on Monday explaining the whole situation and have not gotten a reply. I have heard that the replies from them usually happen fairly quickly. My worry now is that because Amazon said they "may not' respond to future inquiries about this that my email has been ignored.
As for other aspects of our account, we have never had a problem. We have been selling on Amazon for a little over 2 years and have had over 350000 orders without ever having an A-Z claim and having 100% lifetime feedback.
Any suggestions or advice at this point would be greatly appreciated.
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