Amazon are thieves and there is nothing we can do about it because they are all powerful.
I sold on there for over 2 years with no issues, good performance and good reviews. Yet on the busiest weekend of the year (11thDecember) they decide to deactivate my account due to an IP complaint, which they call 'counterfeit goods'. Because 9 prints I sold had the same pattern, I was flagged for 9 policy violations. I appealed and thought that it was sorted, removed the listings, and anything remotely similar. They let me continue selling, and then suddenly deactivated my account. Because I sell framed prints, most of the £1,800 they tied up was not profit, but postage and frames that I had paid for and that people had received. The frames were not counterfeit which are the most expensive part of the orders. The prints cost pennies in comparison.
They recently did the same to my fathers business, and he never got his money back either. It seems to be a trend, crush small businesses and replace them with Chinese sellers or Amazon listings - in fact I later saw a similar poster to mine that seemingly was fine? The fact they can literally break a whole thriving business with the click of their finger, and no proper recourse is criminal and surely if not illegal then highly immoral. They should be held to account. Our laws were not made to factor in these e-commerce giants.
Add in the fact that they themselves are the biggest tax dodgers and treat their staff like rubbish shows the character of their company.
2 years with them and they take the word of someone else without even giving us the proper respect to even communicate or investigate. It is just computer says no, appeal is wrong, needs more information (that you inevitably cannot provide.)
Shame on you Amazon. I have a severely disabled son who used to love making posters and putting them into frames and packing them with me. I am just a Dad trying to make ends meet by selling my art online, and you rip that away right before Christmas.
Shame.
