Account block - I am looking for a lawyer for Amazon

Hi there.
This is exactly the very same issue we have run into. We have been selling on Amazon for over 10 years. Never had any issues, then suddenly we were informed that due to policy violations our UK marketplace was closed. and our funds were frozen. This was the last week of March.

At this point there is nearly 9,000 on our payment account. We had just gotten over the worst Christmas ever due to the Royal Mail strikes. We had already had a reserve on our account since mid February, as we had outstanding advertising invoices from 4 of the EU marketplaces. We were informed that when they were paid the reserve would be lifted. Finally got them paid in the last week of March. No payout, so I got in touch, and I was then informed There were no details about what policy we had violated, so I called support and the person I spoke with could not help as she could not see any more info. She emailed the “Specialist Team” to find out what the policy violation was. The first week of April we received an email informing us that our business address on A marketplace is not the correct address. I’m frantically checking every marketplace, but can’t find any issues.

Our UK marketplace is closed again, and at this point the reserve is at nearly 12,000.-. and we finally get told that the address on the German marketplace is wrong. Could we please send proof of our UK business address. I do so around the 20th of April. From the performance notifications page, and also from the open cases page. A week later I received another email, that they are still waiting for this information, so I sent it again. THe following week, (mid may) I requested a call back from a specialist to hear how things were going. She informs me that they are still waiting for the business info. She checks email, finds the previous 2 sets, and sends one to the verification team. wait for it…another week goes by, and the same email requesting this information arrives again.

In 2021 we opened our French office which would manage the French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Belgian marketplaces. WE never opened the German marketplace again. This has remained closed since Brexit. It suddenly hits me what the big problem is when I receive VAT invoices for all orders that have been dispatched on the EU marketplaces since we reopened them, and they want to take the funds from the UK account to cover these costs.

Amazon thinks that the UK business has been running all the EU marketplaces after Brexit and can’t see any VAT being paid from the UK account. I spent a whole night downloading reports & disbursement files from all the affected marketplaces showing that Amazon has withheld all the VAT on those orders as they are supposed to do since 2021. And has been paid using the French VAT information. I ask them to please not use the UK funds to pay for VAT that has already been paid by France. I explain the business setup to seller support: All the EU marketplaces that had been reopened after Brexit were managed from France. The German marketplace had not been reopened, hence we dic not think we need to change the address there. I get no feedback, no reply, apart from the usual automated message, “please be patient while the “Specialist team” investigates the matter. They can totally understand my concern, and will work as quickly as possible to rectify the problem. We thank you for your cooperation and patience”.

In the meantime we are having problems with paying wages, rent, and various other bills. Not to mention my own bills, as I haven;t been able to take any money. The only income we have is from our own website, etsy & eBay. We lost a small fortune in sales in December, another 45 orders had to be refunded or replaced.

As we have lost our main income stream overnight, and we are being threatened with insolvency, employment tribunal and being made homeless.

In mid June emailed Amazon explaining the severity of the matter, surely they could finalise everything by the end of June latest. I added copies of the various warnings and debt collection letters. Sent it to the executive team, seller support, merchant payments team, seller performance team. Always respectful, basically pleasing. At the same time I needed to work on building up the business outside of Amazon. Not one reply with a genuine solution or a sincere sign of concern. Half replied they had passed it on to the relevant team, and the rest were that the “Specialist Team” were aware of the urgency and would try to resolve the matter asap.

The latest attempt to get hold of the funds on our UK account was an email that suddenly arrived in my inbox, asking me to update the card that was on file on the amazon.de marketplace so that they could charge the outstanding amount of 14,000 Euro. I quickly logged on to the marketplace and went to the payments page. Sure enough, it was minus 14,000 Euro. No explanation for what it was for. I requested a call back from seller support, which was accepted (they had been refusing my call back requests since mid May). Who confirmed that it was VAT for products sold on the German marketplace.

I explained that as the UK managed all EU orders prior to Brexit, and that all VAT was paid with our quarterly VAT to HMRC until Brexit. But as we sell food items, they are 0 rated in the UK, there was nothing to pay. I got my accountant to confirm this in writing and emailed his reply to Amazon, and again reminded them of the urgency of a quick investigation.

Still my funds are locked, our account is closed. It feels like Amazon don’t want to admit that they were wrong for the last 3,5 months.

I did suggest that they reopen our UK account so that we can carry on selling, and then put a reasonable reserve on the account so they still have something. tHere is a deep feeling of mistrust from Amazon, that if they let go of those funds that they have lost any kind of leverage. Does the last 10-11 years of being an above average seller count for nothing? We have always had a strong account performance, and resolved any customer issues quickly and fairly. Now it feels like we are being treated like criminals. We were accused of a policy violation that doesn’t exist. The last 3 years have been exhausting and broken many small businesses, when the odds became too much. A pandemic, snowstorms, heatwaves, floods, delivery issues & strikes, Brexit, on top of the amount of work it already takes to keep a small business afloat. You would think that a company that has made billions on small merchants, that they would be more understanding and helpful in these situations. You ask a question, and you get a reply that has no relevance to what you asked about.

will this issue be resolved within the next week, or will we keep getting emails for the next many weeks informing us that the “Specialist team” are working as quickly as they can to resolve the matter. Thank god the specialists are on the case. Wonder how long it would have taken if they hadn’t been available.?