Amazon Withholding £52,000 for 8 Months – No Clear Resolution Despite Multiple Explanations
I’m sharing my experience here to see if others have faced something similar and to seek advice on how to resolve this ongoing issue.
For the past 8 months, Amazon has been holding approximately £52,000 in my seller account. Despite repeated follow-ups and providing all requested documentation, the issue remains unresolved.
The most frustrating part is the inconsistency in their responses. Each time I contact Seller Support, I receive a different reason for the payment hold:
At times, they claim it’s due to a KYC (Know Your Customer) verification issue, even though all required documents have been submitted multiple times.
Other times, they say there is an address verification problem, which again has already been clarified with valid proof.
Recently, they mentioned an HMRC-related issue, and even provided a case number.
However, when I contacted HMRC directly, they confirmed that the case number provided by Amazon is not linked to my company at all. This raises serious concerns about the accuracy of the information Amazon is using to justify holding my funds.
We have:
Submitted all requested documents multiple times
Responded promptly to every communication
Tried escalating through Seller Support
Yet, there has been no clear explanation or resolution.
This situation is severely impacting our business cash flow and operations. Holding such a significant amount without a consistent or valid reason is not only frustrating but also concerning from a compliance and transparency standpoint.
Has anyone else experienced something similar with Amazon?
How did you resolve it?
Is there a way to escalate this beyond standard Seller Support?
Would legal action or involving a regulatory body be effective in such cases?
Any advice or shared experiences would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Amazon Withholding £52,000 for 8 Months – No Clear Resolution Despite Multiple Explanations
I’m sharing my experience here to see if others have faced something similar and to seek advice on how to resolve this ongoing issue.
For the past 8 months, Amazon has been holding approximately £52,000 in my seller account. Despite repeated follow-ups and providing all requested documentation, the issue remains unresolved.
The most frustrating part is the inconsistency in their responses. Each time I contact Seller Support, I receive a different reason for the payment hold:
At times, they claim it’s due to a KYC (Know Your Customer) verification issue, even though all required documents have been submitted multiple times.
Other times, they say there is an address verification problem, which again has already been clarified with valid proof.
Recently, they mentioned an HMRC-related issue, and even provided a case number.
However, when I contacted HMRC directly, they confirmed that the case number provided by Amazon is not linked to my company at all. This raises serious concerns about the accuracy of the information Amazon is using to justify holding my funds.
We have:
Submitted all requested documents multiple times
Responded promptly to every communication
Tried escalating through Seller Support
Yet, there has been no clear explanation or resolution.
This situation is severely impacting our business cash flow and operations. Holding such a significant amount without a consistent or valid reason is not only frustrating but also concerning from a compliance and transparency standpoint.
Has anyone else experienced something similar with Amazon?
How did you resolve it?
Is there a way to escalate this beyond standard Seller Support?
Would legal action or involving a regulatory body be effective in such cases?
Any advice or shared experiences would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
12 replies
Yujiro_Amazon
Hello @Seller_KCK3oNNXoZ9Fr,
Thank you for sharing the details of your situation here.
When there's a payment hold on an account, it's typically tied to a verification or compliance review, and sometimes multiple reviews can run in parallel, which may explain why you've received different updates at different times. Each review has its own requirements and timeline, so it can feel like the responses aren't aligned, but they may actually be separate processes running simultaneously.
Regarding the HMRC reference you mentioned, I'd recommend raising that specific detail in a new Seller Support case so the team handling your compliance review can look into it directly. When you open that case, include all your previous case IDs in one place and specifically mention the discrepancy so it's clearly documented for the reviewing team.
It would also be worth checking your Account Health Dashboard and Performance Notifications in Seller Central, sometimes there are outstanding actions or document requests that appear there rather than through email or case updates.
If you can share your most recent case ID on this thread, I'd be happy to take a closer look and help move things forward.
Best regards,
Yujiro
Seller_KCK3oNNXoZ9Fr
hl,
this is our most recent case idCASE 12468943622] [CASE 11903125602] 12518417522 /CASE 11737006152] CaseID: 1190312560/CaseID: 12465574492/CaseID: 12468528702/Case: 12465574492 please follow up these case id thanks
Seller_2BSBgE3FJzlK4
surely you would get a lawyer involved if you are in the right? not write something on here.
52 grand is alot of money!
Seller_oJaABY0ScDyik
Amazon’s actions raise serious concerns regarding fairness, legality, and business ethics. Our company has had more than £25,000 withheld for over 8 months with no satisfactory resolution. We urge UK authorities to investigate whether such practices comply with the law, because no company should be above it.
Seller_9e6Wow3rDWkkc
I had a similar problem about two years ago. About a hundred emails and no one wanted to take responsibility to resolve it. I wrote to the CEO and everyone I could think of - they were all useless/no response.
Make an appointment to see your local MP, get them to write to Amazon, you will have your money back within two weeks. They don't like the authorities looking at them.
They gave me my £104K and no explanation as to why they had taken it.
When pressed for a reason by my MP they said my business is registered in Italy!. I had not been to Italy but had checked my Amazon account whilst in the Alps skiing near to Italy several weeks before they withheld my money - that's the only connection to Italy. Anyway - Get your MP to write and that should resolve it. Good luck.
Seller_tWqMxu2buwiOo
@Seller_KCK3oNNXoZ9FrNot sure if this will help, but we had a very similar situation where around £10,000 was stuck in a verification loop since 2023.
We tried everything, including mediation, emailing the MD multiple times, and providing all the documents we had originally used to open the account years ago. Despite this, every attempt was met with the same robotic response, and nothing seemed to move forward.
In 2025, we finally decided we had had enough and contacted a few solicitors. Unfortunately, they said they could not take on the case because it did not meet their criteria.
We then opened a complaint with the Financial Ombudsman. Few Exchanges, and as soon as they asked Amazon to respond, we unexpectedly received an email from the escalation team. They still claimed they could not verify our account, but they confirmed that they could release our funds. A couple of days later, the money was in our account.
If stuck in a bot loop, the only way out is some sort of external intervention. It not only breaks the loop but also solves your problem.
Seller_0AG9i8qKfX9Eu
i would be taking them to court to be honest with a good solicitor or financial ombudsman
Seller_WoH97YjnczAHg
Yes, this has happened to me as well. Amazon asked me to provide valid proof, and I have provided every document they requested. Each time they asked for something different, I supplied it accordingly.
However, in the end, I received the same response stating that they could not verify the supplier directly with the publisher. They also acknowledged that the documents I provided meet Amazon's requirements and standards, but they were unable to complete the verification because the publisher did not respond to their inquiries.
This situation is beyond my control. I have fully cooperated and provided all the requested documentation. If the publisher is not responding to verification requests, I do not believe I should be penalized for circumstances that are outside of my responsibility.
