Help with Amazon suspended account

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Approx 1 month ago my account was suspended and I could use some advice or would like to know if anyone else has experienced this before. The main issue here is that another seller appears to have sabotaged my account. I feel as if I have tried everything and am at a loss as to how to proceed. Below is my story and I apologize in advance for its length...

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.
#account #amazon #suspended
  • Profile picture of the author DWaters
    I have not had this issue but try checking Cynthia Stine's blog Online Sales Step By Step Start Your Online Home Based Business with Amazon.com — Helping you be successful selling on Amazon.com . I believe she has had success it helping people whose accounts have been suspended. Good luck!
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    How I really Make Money With Amazon

    Want to get rich with top rated FREE Super Affiliate Training?
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  • Profile picture of the author jtr8178
    Yikes! Have you posted on the Amazon sellers forum? They seem most knowledgable on these things.

    If you are perma banned, start setting up everything new again. New address, phone number, business name, switch. Internet providers for new ip, get a new address, etc... Lots of work but it looks like you move some volume. Of course, you do all that and amazon may catch on anyways.
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    • Profile picture of the author tball0429
      Originally Posted by jtr8178 View Post

      Yikes! Have you posted on the Amazon sellers forum? They seem most knowledgable on these things.

      If you are perma banned, start setting up everything new again. New address, phone number, business name, switch. Internet providers for new ip, get a new address, etc... Lots of work but it looks like you move some volume. Of course, you do all that and amazon may catch on anyways.
      Yes I did post on the Amazon forum as well. They really did not have any advise beyond what I had already tried
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      • Profile picture of the author browndirt3
        Did you ever get your account reinstated?
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        • Profile picture of the author tball0429
          Yes! It was a long frustrating road but we were eventually reinstated
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          • Profile picture of the author browndirt3
            Well, I have to reach out to you for some help. It seems like I have receive similar emails just as you have in the same order. I was in the process of sending Amazon another reply and when I sent it, I checked my email, and Amazon had reinstated my account about 45 minutes prior to me sending them the email (they reinstated me as I was typing the reply). Three days later, they sent me another email stating, after careful consideration... and suspended me again for no reason.


            Yesterday, I received this email from Amazon, andI am devastated... PLEASE HELP
            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.

            Sincerely,

            Seller Performance Team
            Amazon.com
            http://www.amazon.com
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  • Profile picture of the author repricerexpress
    Sorry to hear about your suspension. Amazon are pretty good about hearing you out if you want to appeal your suspension, but you have to show them you really mean business.

    You’ll need to assemble an action plan that outlines you not only understand why your account was suspended, but what steps you’ll be taking to make sure it doesn’t happen again (if required).

    Good luck.
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    Amazon repricing software that helps you win the Buy Box more often. eBay repricing also available.
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    • Profile picture of the author violet0176
      Exactly. Amazon asked you to outline what future steps you will take to avoid infraction. Even if you feel wronged you need to comply with Amazon's terms and send them a plan going forward.

      Your first sentence should start:

      As follows is a detailed account of steps that I will take to ensure that my listings comply with Amazon policies...

      Had you done that initially, you might still be in business.
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  • Profile picture of the author cooper51687
    Banned
    [DELETED]
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    • Writing a plan of action is definitely the best way to be reinstated on Amazon. I know it's frustrating, but be sure to remove all emotion from your plea and keep it matter-of-fact. Come up with some solutions to prevent a similar issue in the future - what steps can you take to ensure this never happens again? Amazon wants to know that you'll be proactive from here on out. We wrote an article a few weeks back about how to avoid getting suspended from Amazon, and how to write a good reinstatement letter. You can find it here, if you're interested.

      Good luck to you!
      Tiana with ecomdash
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  • Profile picture of the author 00892692
    I am in a very similar situation- VERY frustrating.

    How were you able to get your account reinstated? I could really use some advice.
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    • Profile picture of the author tball0429
      Originally Posted by 00892692 View Post

      I am in a very similar situation- VERY frustrating.

      How were you able to get your account reinstated? I could really use some advice.
      We actually ended up hiring an outside company to help us come up with a plan of action that Amazon eventually accepted. It took six weeks of going back and forth with them before finally being reinstated.

      The whole thing started by another seller changing detail pages incorrectly but Amazon did not care about that. They wanted to know how we would prevent it from happening again. So we implemented some new procedures to try to avoid it in the future. One being to create listings only by UPC code. Two is that we hired a person dedicated to physically checking each product against the item detail page as it is being put in the box to FBA. That way we have a chance to see if the detail pages have been changed between the time the listing was created and the times it is being sent in to FBA.

      In the end, they dont care how it happened, they just want to know exactly how it will be avoided in the future. Hope this helps
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      • Profile picture of the author 00892692
        What outside company helped you with your plan of action? And how were you able to submit your plan if amazon said the closure was permanent and that they wouldn't respond to further inquiries?
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