Hi guys,

A few days ago we received a message from Amazon saying that our USA account (we don't sell there) has been suspended until we complete an ID verification video call. Our UK store was still working OK, so we did the thing where you select 3 video call time and dates and awaited confirmation. No big problem...

Fast forward a few days and no confirmation message has come through and now our UK seller account has been suspended. We chatted to support who just told us to re-book a video call and just deal with the suspension. The nearest phone call slot (assuming it happens) is next week. That's at least a full week of suspension due to Amazon failing to confirm a video call.

Surely this isn't right? We can't afford to cease trading for a full week like this, especially when it's no fault of our own.

Is there anyone from Amazon who can expedite this?

So after a lot of back and forth I have finally gotten to the bottom of the problem.

Customer wanted a straw hat. My hats are made of simulated straw (and says so in description). So their actual complaint was bogus as they had not read the description correctly and the fact they used 'inauthentic' in their complaint caused so much aggravation. The customer was just a normal customer - they had no authority on the issue, were not brand holder or anything so for Amazon to give any credence to such a complaint in the first place was a bit ridiculous.

Nevertheless, Amazon wanted last 365 days invoices from my supplier. I got my supplier to send me copies of all invoices from May 2023. I would send invoices, Amazon would come back to say they could not verify supplier (they had made no attempt at even contacting supplier as I asked the supplier) so then Amazon wanted suppliers supplier invoices. I would explain there was no suppliers supplier as I bought directly from the manufacturer who designed and produced the hat. Then Amazon would ask for last 365 days invoices, I provided and whole sequence kept repeating.

Finally an Account Health Specialist I spoke to (for the third time on the issue) said that if I went to Manage Orders, and searched last 365 days for the ASIN that the number Amazon said I had sold was greater than the number of units I had bought on the invoices.

So I checked - the trouble was

1. As Amazon kept asking for invoices from last 365 days and that is what I provided - items sold May 2023 were actually bought in April 2023 - so these invoices were missing and this stock meant my total bought was higher than Amazon calculated just from looking at last 365 days. So I provided invoices from April 2023 to May 2024 instead

2. Looking at the sales Amazon said I had made I realised they were counting orders made - not sales. There were many refunds where customer had returned the hat and it had then gone back into stock and re-sold. So the number reported by Amazon was higher than actual sales.

Taking into account units bought in April 2023 and the returned/re-sold items and it proved I had bought more units than had actually sold.

When appealing , Amazon only allows files to be uploaded and has no box for additional information. So I created a Word document containing the above information with actual figures showing my calculations and finally Amazon have agreed I can continue selling the item.

So for a month now I have been tied up on the issue. And all because Amazon gave credence to 1 complaint out of 1000 from someone who had no authority on the issue - and because Amazon could not understand basics of having to buy in stock before it can be sold (hence they needed more than last 365 days invoices) and the fact they were counting orders made and not actual sales.

Hello,

Here is my original forum post here.

It's best to read my previous post for full details, but long story short, Amazon has not resolved an issue that's been ongoing for 7 months. The moderators also seem to have abandoned my case, as it's getting no attention.

I've opened this second forum post to give Amazon another chance to resolve this before escalating further. I would appreciate it if anyone could tag any moderators to bring more attention to my case.

@Seller_TSXM2A5nxWSuH initially tried to help but went silent over a month ago. Can we please reconnect?

____

@Seller_Huz6FT08OxHAR @Seller_z3k8APxGfbQEK @Seller_DNQGSsdC7DccM @Seller_yk3kzHpjMMa4B

Attached is proof I am no longer being contacted by Amazon Forum Moderators*

Original post:

https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/seller-forums/discussions/t/fca3936c-3999-4869-8da9-d107e9742753?postId=0db43421-0c2d-4aec-98b0-167ba3bd21b5

Thanks so much,

Looking forward to connecting again.

__

Hello

Looking for some advice in relation to a customer return. Here is a breakdown of events:

-Item was purchased on 30th October 2022

-Amazon has refunded the customer on 20th March 2024 - that is nearly 17 months after the item was bought.

-The return was received on 28th March and immediately disposed of as it had batteries in it.

The headset is worth over £150 and amazon are refusing to reimburse me for it. Is there anything that can be done to get the cash back?

Thanks

Is there an office I can come to and get information about the verification delay? Does face-to-face communication speed up the process?

Seller_UVeFCZoAA4mkx

I wish we could agree as a seller community to share the Buy Box rather than trying to monopolize it

Unfortunately, that is illegal.

It is up to you what strategy you take and what margin is acceptable. You could move on to a different product, monitor the original product and come back to it later, continue to sell the product, whist trying to compete and making a negligible profit until the other seller (or you) goes bust or gives up on that product, or continue at a reasonable price, taking a small proportion of the Buy Box when the other sellers run out of stock, but making a profit on those sales.

Requesting a MOD help me get to the bottom of this. All of my listings have been made inactive in all of the European countries pending my identity verification. (We do millions a year on amazon UK+DE + rest of EU , so each day we are losing many thousands of dollars in revenue)

Amazon says you have 60 days to provide this information or your account will be disabled. Their first contact with me was May 21 2024, they disabled my account June 12, 2024. I have been dealing with this for over a week now. Each time they contact me, they ask for more documents without explanation. Why don't they just ask me for everything they need right away? Why did they go against their policy and disable my selling account before the 60 day period? Can a mod please help? I've had 7-8 calls to the account health team and they are zero help.

Timeline went as follows:

1. May 21, received first email requesting identity verification docs.
2. May 27, second email second email requesting identity verification docs.
3. May 28 I received a call and email. I said that I was on vacation from May 20-30 and would get to it as soon as possible. I noted in the emails it said I had 60 days.
4. June 12, account deactivated with (Action Required) Information needed for selling account. One of the following documents issued within the last 180 days:

-- A fictitious business name statement

-- A "doing business as" (DBA) document

-- A valid (not expired) business license

-- A document confirming payment of income tax or self-employment tax

I provided them with A EIN business license from the IRS, and a scanned copy of my passport. They asked for more.

5. June 12, Hours after I sent the EIN, they sent another email asking for more documents. Account is still deactivated. (Action Required) Information needed for selling account.

One of the following documents issued within the last 180 days:

-- A fictitious business name statement

-- A "doing business as" (DBA) document

-- A valid (not expired) business license

-- A document confirming payment of income tax or self-employment tax

I provided my DBA and a Bank account statement with my DBA in the title and my address and full name clearly stated on the PDF. The next day, they asked for more.

6. June 13th. They asked for a "Certified bank letter" with the following requirements.

-- The document must be dated within the last 180 days.

-- The document must show the bank name and the bank logo.

-- The document must be signed or stamped by the bank.

-- The document must include the account holder's name, residential address, and bank account number.

I went to my bank and they created a certified letter, stating my full name, my DBA, the full account name, and everything they provided on their certified letterhead. I even took a photo, holding up the letter, and my passport, inside the bank, and sent that as well.

7. June 17th. They asked for MORE documents. Address verification documents:

Here is what they are requesting. Keep in mind, I have already submitted my bank statement. So they are requesting the same document twice here.

For the primary contact person, provide a copy of a proof of address document. We can accept any of the following documents:

-- Council tax bill

-- Utility bill (gas, water, electricity, TV, internet, mobile phone, or landline)

-- Bank statement (Documents issued by a financial services provider, such as third-party providers or online digital banks, are not acceptable as a proof of address.)

-- Credit union or building society statement

-- Credit card statement or bill

-- Mortgage statement

-- Rent receipt from a local council or letting agent

-- Benefits agency letter (such as from the Department for Works & Pensions, Job Centre Plus, or Veterans Agency) confirming your rights to benefits

Ensure that the document meets the following criteria:

-- The document must show the individual’s name and residential address, as well as the provider’s logo.

-- The document must be dated within 180 days.

-- For a council tax bill only, the document must be valid for the current tax year.

-- The document must not be a screenshot.

-- The information in the document must match the information in your Seller Central account.

So I sent them a SCANNED copy, of my mortgage statement. Since they didn't accept the PDF download of my bank statement.

Based on amazon's own policy, it would appear my account was disabled before it should have. Not to mention the ridiculous amount of documents they are asking for. Every email, I give them what they want. Why are they asking for more? Why not just ask for it all at once? What else do they need from me? What will they ask for next? DNA sample? At this point, I don't care what I have to do, I just need my account active so I can continue selling. It's not just the money lost, that I can never get back, its the ranking we lost, which will take weeks if not months to get back. The losses are staggering, and for an account of our size, to be going 4 days in-between contact, is blowing my mind.

I did not want to post, but I just don't know what more I can do, im losing my mind over this.

We've just noticed that all our returns after June the 1st are going to our registered office address and not the default return address we have set.

When I check the manage returns section all the return addresses on return orders changed after the 1st June but we haven't changed anything. When I check our default return address through settings it's the correct address. FBA returns still come back to the correct address, just our customer returns going to the wrong address.

Anyone know where else I can check or is anyone aware if this is a site wide issue?

These are most likely debits and credits where they say the parcel weight is over / under what you declared. The difference is that between what you declared and the tier that Evri say you should have been charged for.

The debits / credits can take a few months to come through i.e. we got ours for November / December 23 in February 24 - we had been shipping an item at 950g but it was actually 1100g

Getting help from amazon seller central agents is the WOST I have ever come across. Today for example, I have attempted to speak to an agent to help resolve an issue. Phone call one, the staff member keeps telling me they are looking into it, after 5 mins puts me on hold and then disappears.

2nd phone call, the agent picks up the phone but does not answer.

This is just one example of a long list of phone calls. In almost every time I have reached out on the phone, the following happens:

1. They answer and attempt to look into the issue, placing me on hold and never to return.

2. The answer and after having a conversation, they cut the line. They then send a template message with an apology the line got disconnected.

3. I have to ring back several times and many times with no success.

4. None of the staff actually understand or are in most cases unable to solve the issues.

@Ezra_Amazon @Julia_Amazon @Sakura_Amazon_ @Sarah_Amzn @Simon_Amazon @Spencer_Amazon @Seller_TSXM2A5nxWSuH - This is a huge inconvenience to running our business because simple issues get dragged out. Why is it that this is allowed to happen and there is no route to having issues like this handled by staff who maybe on senior level with no language barriers and make them aware of problems like this? I know this is an issue that is felt by a many many sellers. Please, we want to be able to resolve issues so we can run our business efficiently.

There are no avenues to escalating issues, because we are only able to converse with the above agents who actually do not seem to care about the support they are being paid to give.

Amazon expects sellers to be using the marketplace and following all policies, we get hit with so many issues but then we do not have the necessary communication line that works with us to resolve issues.

Please everyone, if you have experienced this, leave your comments in the hope there is some action taken to address this.