Hi everyone,
I'm writing this on behalf of my mother. Her Amazon UK seller account was closed in 10 minutes following a verification interview, on the ground of "deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity." The account had never been used — not a single product listed, not a single order, not a single payment. I'm hoping someone here has been through something similar and can offer advice.
Quick context: my mother is 54 and produces handmade decorative items at home (sculptures, figurines, ornamental trays). She is not technically minded and English is her second language. A neighbour in London helped her set up a UK Ltd company so she could sell on Amazon Handmade. The shares were transferred to her shortly after, and we updated the Amazon account transparently to reflect this. Everything is publicly verifiable on Companies House.
The verification interview took place on 28 April 2026. This is where things went badly. I want to focus on this part because, in my view, the closure decision is the direct result of how that interview was conducted, not anything actually wrong with the account.
What happened during the interview:
1. The verification specialist spent the first 5+ minutes insisting that my mother was not the owner of the company. He said he was looking at Companies House and didn't see her name. He was looking at the wrong tab — the "People" tab — instead of the "Filing History" tab where the share transfer documents are filed. My mother tried to redirect him repeatedly. He refused to listen and kept telling her she was wrong. She eventually had to plead with him to scroll to the correct section. When he finally did, he acknowledged she had been right all along. By that point her stress level was through the roof and the tone of the call never recovered.
2. He asked her if her fulfilment method would be "FBA or FBM." She doesn't know those acronyms — she had not been onboarded yet, had not listed anything, and is a domestic artisan. She explained clearly: "I will produce items at home and ship them by courier to my customers." That's a perfectly correct description of self-fulfilment. He kept insisting on hearing the abbreviations. He would not accept the substance of her answer.
3. He asked for her bank's name. The bank statement was already uploaded. She still answered. He then expressed dissatisfaction with her pronunciation of the bank's name. Pronunciation is not a verification criterion.
4. Towards the end he asked her to show her notes, implying she was being coached off-camera. She had a single piece of paper with the company address written on it (so she wouldn't mispronounce it). She held it up. The desk and surroundings were visible. Nothing else was there.
5. There is a single-digit typo in the address on the account ("79" instead of "87" on the same street, same postcode — the correct address is the one on Companies House). The interviewer never asked about this address during the call. Never gave her a chance to correct it. We only found out about the discrepancy after the interview ended.
6. The interview was conducted in Turkish but the rep was not a fluent Turkish speaker. There were several moments where her clear answers were misunderstood, and follow-up questions implied her answers had not been accepted as given.
The decision:
At the end of the call we were told to expect a decision within 5 business days. Approximately 10 minutes later we received the closure email — "deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity." That timeframe is shorter than the time needed to even retrieve and watch the recording of the interview, let alone review the documents that had been uploaded.
The account had never been used. It is logically impossible for an account that was never used to have been used for any improper activity. There is no transaction, no listing, no customer interaction — nothing for any allegation to attach to.
What we've done so far:
- Submitted a detailed appeal through Seller Central
- Emailed seller-verification-enquiry@amazon.co.uk (Account Health pointed us there)
- Emailed several executive addresses (managingdirector@amazon.co.uk, jeff@amazon.com, a.jassy@amazon.com, dharmeshm@amazon.com, etc.)
- Sent a formal notice to Amazon UK Legal requesting retraction of the "fraudulent" allegation, with a GDPR Article 15 request
My questions to the community:
- Has anyone successfully reopened an account closed after a verification interview that went badly?
- Are there specific escalation contacts within Amazon that worked for you?
- Are there reputable consultants who specialise in this kind of verification-based closure (not the scammy "guaranteed reactivation" types)?
- Is there a way to get the recording of the interview reviewed by a different person at Amazon?
- Any other channels we should be using?
The most painful part is that my mother is exactly the kind of small artisan Amazon Handmade is supposedly built for. The decision was made in 10 minutes by someone who couldn't navigate the Companies House website correctly during her interview. We're not asking for a free pass — we're asking for the recording to be reviewed by someone other than the original specialist.
Any advice or shared experiences would mean a lot. Thanks for reading this far.
@Seller_5zI0wsS66MHFL @Seller_Udi0JNbTrsmUV @Seller_l3eCP9f1PtJXC @Seller_9Kb3jdNMszN2C @Seller_GEZPMc4CeQfh6 @Seller_YeWcEeTwlVO93 @Seller_JT2cdQLa0Oueg @Seller_WIFV02H2XUFgS @Seller_4GjtS9k0cnHHv
