8 Figure Amazon seller and Seller Support is still useless......

I wanted to share our story regarding a recent case with Seller Support. Yes, we are an 8 figure Amazon seller, and if you thought that would improve your experience, it doesn't. We have been selling on Amazon since 2016 and have never needed to put maximum order quantity on our listings. This was a big mistake we found out the hard way recently.

CASE 1: 13400437871

• We informed Amazon of a competitor purchasing our inventory for a specific ASIN and leaving the inventory in reserve status to ultimately be canceled and returned to inventory 7-10 days later. That order was $42,000.
• Amazon replied, stating how to report a violation, and sent a link for us to fill out.
• THE ISSUE: Amazon does not allow you to report the order using that tool when an order is pending. The error message states, "Order not found."
• I notified the CSR working the case about it not working, and they replied with the exact same response, "We would like to let you know that there is a designated team that investigates such violations from suspected competitors, and sellers can reach out directly to that team by using the below form: (https://sellercentral.amazon.com/abuse-submission/index.html?ref=ahd_asf).

I knew I would get nowhere with this CSR, and I let the case close.

Yesterday 8-15-2023, the competitor who got away with hijacking inventory the first time decided it worked so well that they will hold $150k worth of more inventory. And thats exactly what happened.

CASE 2: 13554260121

• Using four different orders, someone wiped our inventory of 3 ASINs totaling over $130K in one day! You would think, If we supply the four order numbers showing this and send a screenshot of the tool not working, we would get help, WRONG.

• Amazon CSR response: "Amazon has been unable to obtain authorization for buyer's credit card yet. Why is an order pending? Here are some of the most common reasons for orders being in Pending status: Amazon has been unable to obtain authorization for the buyer's credit card. The buyer selected convenience store payment but hasn't completed the payment. For an FBA order, the buyer has qualified for free shipping and the order is waiting for all of the order items to be gathered. For an FBA order, if the order is for multiple items but one item is out of stock. Even if Amazon chooses to divide the order and send the in-stock FBA Units, the order will still show Pending status."

• My response: "The issue is not that their credit card isn’t working. The issue is that they purposely purchased all of our inventory to hold it, so we couldn’t get sales. The fact you responded with this message tells me you did not read the case. Please escalate to a management team member."

• Amazon CSR response: "We realize your frustration and know that this is something very important to you. As our valued seller, your satisfaction is our top most priority and we certainly do not intend to cause inconvenience to you. Upon careful review we have identified that the order has not shipped because we haven’t received payment authorization from the buyer. We were unable to authorize the buyer's payment method. We have notified the buyer and are trying to secure payment authorization. The buyer has been notified that the order can’t be completed until their payment information has been updated. Note: If we cannot verify the payment method within 7 days of the sale date, we will cancel the order and the item will be 'Fulfillable' in your Inventory Amazon Fulfills page. In some cases, our payment and order detail verification processes can potentially extend order processing times for as long as 21 days. While an order is pending, the ordered item is listed as Reserved on your Inventory Amazon Fulfills page."

As you can imagine, I'm getting mad now. Not only is someone hijacking our inventory, but Amazon Seller Support is absolutely useless.

• My response: "What part of my case are you guys not understanding? Someone is placing orders for all my inventory purposely to hold in pending status. You’ve asked for a screenshot of the error when reporting, yet that screenshot is already attached to the case. It is very discouraging Amazon partner support can not solve problems but only send template responses. Whoever is placing these orders is violating Amazon policies and yet you keep telling me why the order is pending. Like a said in response to the last email, escalate this to a USA manager."

• Amazon CSR response: "We have reviewed your mail and understand that you are facing an issue related to the Order pending issues. We need additional information from you. Please provide ASIN(s) of the orders you are facing issue with. We request you to take this extra step and provide us the valuable information, so as to find the root cause and resolve it. We appreciate your patience and cooperation with us in this regard and shall proceed further once we receive update from you. Have a nice day."

Yet again, the rep asks for information already provided. I sent a screenshot of all orders with the ASIN clearly visible.

I attempted to resolve this via phone call for the next two hours and got put on hold for 45 mins, and they never came back to the phone. Then called back, was put on hold for 10 minutes and the phone call dropped. (Probably on purpose)

If you made it to the end of this post, congrats! I wish Seller Support read the entire case log before replying with auto-templates and never solving actual problems. In closing, Our inventory is still on hold, awaiting Amazon to automatically cancel the orders in 7 days. We have reduced the max purchase quantity to 5 on every ASIN in that category.