Appeal after suspension due to upgrading to professional selling plan

Hi all,

I signed up as a new seller in May 2021. The account is for my UK based limited company and I signed up with a Professional Selling Plan (GBP 25+VAT). After signing up, I thought that it would take few more months for me to get ready for selling. So I downgraded my account to individual selling plan in May.

As I had finished all preparations and branding for my products, I went ahead and upgraded to Professional Selling Plan again only after changing my credit card on file which triggered suspension. In particular, I updated my credit card information at 17:09 and upgraded my selling plan at 17:13 (4 minutes after updating credit card information) on 27 July and suspended in few hours afterwards.

In short, Amazon asks for additional documents to verify my identity and payment method. I shared with Amazon all documents to be on the safe side incl. corprorate documents. In particular, I shared with them my passport and credit card statement. Although these documents sufficed to get verified when I signed up, they did not work this time and my appeal was rejected.

I have now obtained a letter from the bank which issued the credit card registered with the account. I am also planning to upload my national ID card along with the passport. But I am worried about that this won’t work either and I will run out of appeal rights and get banned. I invested considerably into this business and I feel terrible about getting suspended simply for changing credit card and upgrading to professional selling plan.

I appreciate any help at this point

AMAZON CORRESPONDENCE AND MY APPEAL WHICH WAS REJECTED

The first message:

Dear

For your security, we have suspended your Amazon seller account. During our review, you will not be able to sell on Amazon. Funds will not be transferred to you but will be held in your account while we work with you to address this issue. Please ship any open orders to avoid further impact to your account.

Why is this happening?
Your Amazon seller account has been deactivated in accordance with section 3 of Amazon’s Business Solutions Agreement. If you currently sell on Amazon, we need additional documentation to verify your payment methods and your identity.

How do I reactivate my account?
To sell on Amazon, we need to verify your identity, business information, or both. You can confirm that you would like to begin the verification process in the following way:
– Click the “Appeal” button next to this e-mail on the Notifications page in the Performance section of Seller Central (https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/gp/customer-experience/perf-notifications.html)

What happens if my account is not reactivated?
You have 90 days after receiving this notification to either provide a valid appeal or choose not to appeal. After that time, you may contact disbursement-appeals@amazon.co.uk to request your funds. We will conduct a separate investigation to evaluate your account. The policies we put in place are to protect our customers and selling partners. If we find that you have engaged in deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity; or have abused our systems or repeatedly violated our Policies, we may withhold some or all funds in your account.

We’re here to help
You can see your balance and settlement information in the Payments section of Seller Central. If you have questions about those, please send an email to payments-investigate@amazon.co.uk.

You can view your account performance at (https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/performance/dashboard?ref=ah_em_ap) or select Account Health on the home screen of the Amazon Seller app on your iOS or Android device. The Account Health dashboard shows how well your account is performing against the performance metrics and policies required to sell on Amazon.
– iOS App (https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/amazon-seller/id794141485?mt=8)
– Android App (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amazon.sellermobile.android&hl=en_GB)
Sincerely,
Seller Performance Team
Amazon.co.uk

After receiving this message, I clicked on a button called I want to appeal (this does not let me upload or write anything in particular, it only triggered a pre-prepared message to be sent to Amazon)

The second message

Hello

We received your submission but do not have enough information to reactivate your account. We may not respond to further emails about this issue.

Why is this happening?
Your Amazon seller account has been deactivated in accordance with section 3 of the Amazon Services Business Solutions Agreement. This decision was made after reviewing both your account and the information that you provided. For more information, review the Amazon Services Business Solutions Agreement:
https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/201190440

Funds will not be transferred to you at this time. However, 90 days after receiving this notification you may contact disbursement-appeals@amazon.co.uk to request a funds disbursement. We will conduct a separate investigation to evaluate your account. The policies we put in place are to protect our customers and selling partners. If we find that you have engaged in deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity; or have abused our systems or repeatedly violated our policies, we may withhold some or all funds in your account in accordance with the “Funds withholding policy”:
https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/9RA9LYBJ3QP27M6
Sincerely,
Seller Performance Team
Amazon.co.uk

After this second message, I uploaded every document I used for sign up. In particular, I sent the below message only to receive the third message below:

My appeal:

Hello Amazon,

Thank you very much for this opportunity to verify my account. I attach the required ID documents along with company documents if needed. I would really appreciate if you can take into consideration the below explanations and information. Let me know if you need anything else. Have a great day!

BACKGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT VERIFICATION

I signed up as a seller and was verified 2 times on 11 April 2021 and 17 May 2021. I also took the online interview for verification purposes. My account has been in good standing until recently. But as soon as I upgraded to Professional Selling Plan, my account is suspended pending verification. I suspect this happened because I had to update my credit card just before upgrading to professional selling plan. This was due to the previous card being terminated. Now, I also attached the current credit card statement for verification. Let me know if you need anything else.

ATTACHED:

XXX_PASSPORT

XXX_RESIDENCY ADDRESS - This is generated by XXX government online services showing my official residential address which can be verified online.

XXX_BANK ACCOUNT STATEMENT – This document shows my bank account with Wise along with my residential address.

XXX_1111 CREDIT CARD STATEMENT – This is my credit card registered with Amazon. I make seller repayments (such as Amazon professional selling plan fees) using this card. My account suspended as I updated my card information.

XXX_CERTIFICATE OF INCORPORATION DOCUMENT - This is the incorporation document of my company.

XXX_ADDRESS CHANGE - This document shows the current official address of my company.

XXX_BANK ACCOUNT STATEMENT - This document shows my company’s bank account with Wise along with its current address.

XXX_ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION

XXX_PSC DOCUMENT – This document shows me as the person with significant control over the company.

XXX_SHARE LEDGER MEMBER CERTIFICATES AND DIRECTORS INFORMATION – This document certifies me as the sole shareholder, person with significant control and the director. It also shows my residential address and my shareholder certificate. Please note that the company address in this document shows the previous address which was changed afterwards (see the document above: XXX_ADDRESS CHANGE).

The Third Message:

Hello XXX

We received your submission but do not have enough information to reactivate your account. We may not respond to further emails about this issue.

Why is this happening?
Your Amazon seller account has been deactivated in accordance with section 3 of the Amazon Services Business Solutions Agreement. This decision was made after reviewing both your account and the information that you provided. For more information, review the Amazon Services Business Solutions Agreement:
https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/201190440

Funds will not be transferred to you at this time. However, 90 days after receiving this notification you may contact disbursement-appeals@amazon.co.uk to request a funds disbursement. We will conduct a separate investigation to evaluate your account. The policies we put in place are to protect our customers and selling partners. If we find that you have engaged in deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity; or have abused our systems or repeatedly violated our policies, we may withhold some or all funds in your account in accordance with the “Funds withholding policy”:
https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/9RA9LYBJ3QP27M6
Sincerely,
Seller Performance Team
Amazon.co.uk