Amazon.com Withheld Funds, Blocked Account, Suspended Account, Unethical Practices Seattle Washington

Being banned on Amazon is literally like having your wife cheat on you, leave you, slap you and then divorce you while taking half of everything.

You literally need to get a prenup before selling on Amazon because it is this bad. You can be a member for god knows how many years, have good reputation, no complaints, etc. But apprently, that isn't enough for the momos at Amazon.

They will outright, beat you, steal your money, claim fraud on your behalf, kick you to the curb, beat you with clubs, imprison your child, kick your dog halfway across the highway and then spit on you when you are down.

Amazon made over 60% of my income and now I am at the mercy of the house being foreclosed and all of my assets repossessed because of it.

Does Amazon care? Why should they. They got your money, your dignitiy and possibly your wife. They will just laugh in your face and call you names.

Tried many ways to get back on, but they kept finding me and kicking me with steel-toe boots. Horrible. I was desperate to get back on which is why I had to hire Auction Essistance to help me get back on.

Auction Essistance enabled me to start selling again with no thanks to Amazon. Obviously I had to start over, but it is better than nothing when you are suspended indefinitely and have no other hope of getting back on.

Stick it to Amazon and send a petition to stop the corrupt practices and backstabbing sellers.

Amazon had suspended me this month at the first of the month. They didn't bother to give me a chance to appeal. They just outright banned me from their platform. 

Had no chargebacks, no negative feedbacks, no lost packages or complaints. Yet all of a sudden, they just give me the boot?

What gives? I have been a member with them for several years, yet that doesn't seem to be enough for them to give me a chance to appeal.

Luckliy I was able to get back on using stealth techniques with the help of Auction Essistance, but even then, stealth accounts are not the ultimate shield to getting banned.

My friend was banned from Amazon for too high of a defect rate, he tried to sue them, but when he went to his attorney they went over the EULA.  $250 later in consultation fees and he was told "You can't sue them, they have no obligation to allow you to sell on their site and you'll just have to wait the 90 days for your money because you agreed to it.  If it takes longer than 90 days, come back and we will see if there are any other options at that point"

Totally dissapointing, especially for the fee!

The same thing has happened to us: Amazon falsely accused us of selling bootleg merchandise. We would never do this and they have failed to pay us the $5 they withheld from us in June 2010. They are fraudulent and the only way they can be stopped is if we all report their actions to Oprah Winfrey, who is much bigger than them! Use her contact form on her website for a show idea at this link:
https://www.oprah.com/ownshow/plug_form.html?plug_id=220

Until now , after more than 3 month, amazon stil hold my money. I could not do anything . Amazon hurt me totally. I just listed some items in (((Redacted)))

They are very nice people and offer free listing !

You're not making any money on Amazon. Amazon is making money off of you. When you sell on Amazon, you're selling on someone's else website who already have a merchant account established with them when the started their own business as Amazon. And when you list anything and someone buys it on Amazon, the money goes to Amazon, not you. And it's their money, not your money.

If you want to make money, then you need to get your own merchant account and your own business on your own website, not Amazon. Amazon is nothing more than a ripoff scumbag. Stay away from Amazon. You should care more about your business, not Amazon.

I agree that this would not be a frivolous lawsuit due to the mere fact that this is a private company. For one thing, Amazon does not appear to have a policy like EBay where they actually INVESTIGATE the negative feedbacks. They don't seem to care about if the negative feedback is TRUE...all they care about is that someone left negative feedback. You know, when we shipped thousands of orders, but had three negative feedbacks out of 22 FIVE STAR feedbacks (two of the negative feedbacks were from the SAME customer, and we can prove they were untrue), which left us with just over 1% negative feedback rating and took us to a 4 of 5 star rating...and they suspended our account! Granted, it's not like we didn't try to appease the two negative customers. One even filed an A to Z claim, which Amazon denied since the customer clearly wanted both a refund AND to keep the product! LOL! Worst yet, Amazon asked me to submit a plan to improve our order defect rate (ODR), which we did submit in several appeals (and in fairness to Amazon, I think was a good idea)...yet to date we have received no response to our appeal and our account is still blocked. Just FYI...we have maintained an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) for over a decade, so it's not like we're even remotely an unethical business.

The irony of all this is...just check the Better Business Bureau's list of complaints against Amazon from other sellers like us. Amazon has a HUGE list of negative feedback from seller slike us. So it's more a case of Amazon running its business with the philosophy, "Do as we say and not as we do." LOL!

Even though Amazon is a private business, when you get as large as they have, and are affiliating numerous small businesses (which are the very foothold of the American economy), then the government or Attorney General or some type of oversight organization or legal entity has to consider that Amazon is no longer JUST a private business. It has pretty much risen to the scope of the "too big to fail" since its actions (or inactions) can probably negatively impact the US economy. It could almost be deemed monopolistic or at the very least on the verge of unfair trade. I'm guessing with all the complaints I've seen, the legal aspect may not be working, but it's still probably worth looking into, because I bet an attorney may be more likely to take on a case if they see there are powerful numbers and relevant claims.

Even if it turns out that we can't address this legally, I think we could probably band together to address this publicly (i.e via the web and news medias like CNN, Fox News, Steven Colbert, etc.). Maybe we could even contact Anderson Cooper for the Keeping Them Honest segment. I think negative publicity about Amazon's unfair practices could at the very least affect their business (by aiming at decreasing customer sales and decreasing sellers currently operating on Amazon and even warn prospective sellers). We could even try for boycotts on the part of buyers and sellers. I bet you we are a very small representation of Amazon's disgruntled sellers.

Another option is to try to create a new Amazon type website to compete with Amazon, because I believe we could form some alliances to take on their size and scope, and compete against them purely on the merits of running our business in a more user friendly and customer-service oriented manner. If we marketed it correctly, I think we could prevail. 

So if we get organized and think strategically, I think we could either impact Amazons negative and unfair practices or we could try to form a competing business. We just have to be sure to maintain our reputation by keep our arguments fair-minded, rational, and logical. So whos in this with me? If you agree, then lets quit griping and start planning. I own a business and I work a LOT of hours. So while Id be happy to help organize and strategize, we need to get a competent team together of people who have either the time, experience; and/or expertise in things like web design, business law, marketing/PR, business management, etc.; and/or connections with any media outlets. Then once we see what type of response we get from people who are truly ready to take ACTION on this (and not just sit around blowing a lot of hot air), then well all put our heads together and set a plan of action based on the skill sets of the team. Sound like a plan? So for now, in order to get all responses in one location, just post at this link at (((Redacted))) if youre willing to join the team, and what your skill set is (i.e. web design, business law, marketing/PR, business management, organizer, worker bee, or other relevant skill set), and how youd like to help, and then well see what kind of response we get posted on this blog. If we get a lot of response, then maybe we can set up a website and email and get this all organized to take action.

Remember...there's power in NUMBERS, so show me we're getting enough response, and then we'll show you that power of numbers in the form of ACTION! Im crossing my fingers that we get enough response to make this worthwhile!

Hi,

I had a seller account with amazon.  I experienced that same experience of making amazing money then suddenly having my account suspended.  My situation was that I was selling guitars like they were going out of style.  I was told by who I bought the guitars from that amazon would handle all of my shipping from my selling of the guitars on their website since they were handling the shipping off of my website.  Amazon never shipped to the customers, and they were all emailing me and getting mad.  The end result was that it was my fault that they didn't get their purchases.  This was totally unfair.  Every time I tried to email or talk to someone about the shipping, they acted like they didn't understand what I was trying to say.  I can't believe how popular amazon is with consumers buying from their website.  I don't trust them any more.  I don't believe that I should have been blamed for their not shipping my items.  In the end, I don't believe there was any inventory to ship.

Amazon.com doesn't suspend selling accounts for no reason.  A quick perusal of their Seller Help references show that there are performance standards that we all agree to when we sign up to be a seller.  Those standards include:

- A-to-z Guarantee claims filed against us,
- Negative feedback received,
- Credit Card chargebacks (disputes filed with the credit card company) on our orders,
- the rate of cancellations before shipping the products,
- the number of refunds we give as a percentage of all our orders
- the number of shipments we send late (again, as a percentage of all of our orders)

The rules are strict because Amazon relies on buyer trust to keep the doors open.  If they let sellers who can't meet that bar sell on their site, they will lose buyers.

I've sold on Amazon for 3 years now, and after my first warning for negative feedback, I made sure I learned how to never fall into that state again.

I ship my products on time.
I describe them in the condition exactly as they are - not how I wish they were so I can make an extra buck
I don't cancel my orders before they're shipped because I don't list anythig I don't have in my hand
I only refund after a return, and I so rarely get returns (because I list in the right condition and describe my products appropriately).

Amazon.com can be a fantastic place to make money if one is willing to follow the rules of their road.  It's their site, and they tell us up front what they expect of us.  I suspect that if people would understand those expectations going in, and really be willing to live up to them, they'd have as successful a history on the site as I have.

Good luck to all of you - I hope your story works out for the best!

HI,

I HAVE HAD THE SAME PROBLEM, THEY ABUSE SELLERSONEY.I WAS TOLE I WOULD HAVE MY MONEY BY 6-1-2010 AND DON'T YOU KNOW 5-29-2010 THEY SUSPENDED MY ACCOUNT.

I ASKED MANY QUESTIONS WITH REGARD TO MANY OF MY CONCERNS LIKR THERE POOR SHIPPING COSTS.

OF COURSE NO REPLY TO MY QUESTIONS.

HAVE YOU HEARD FROM A LAWYER??

YOU CAN CONTACT ME @ (((REDACTED)))

thanks

bobby

CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report.

count me in. new seller. current amount held by amazon: $7000. have only been selling for 2 weeks then got suspended because "no feedback". duh, i just started selling. please send me a message for further communication. I ran a store thats part of a corporation based in CA.

THIS LETTER IS BEING ADDRESSED TO ANYONE AND EVERYONE WHOSE MONEY AMAZON IS CURRENTLY HOLDING "IN RESERVE" OR HAS HELD FOR MANY MONTHS AT A TIME WITHOUT A REASONABLE JUSTIFICATION AND WITHOUT COMPENSATION OF ANY KIND!

Many of you have had to battle Amazon after you had received an e-mail message from Amazon which stated that your money will be held "in reserve" for a 30- or 90-day review period....   Most likely, you were told that the hold was placed due to your performance a a seller, even if you have not had any negative feedback or A-Z claims filed against your seller account.  Most likely, if you tried to resolve the matter by e-mailing Amazon more than once, then you probably received a reply from Amazon, which stated that any further correspondence from you will not be answered. 

Holding someone's money interest-free for many months at a time is NOT an acceptable business practice.  The only way to stop Amazon from continuing to engage in this practice is through judicial intervention.  In other words, file a lawsuit against Amazon as soon as you receive the "your correspondence will not be answered" e-mail from Amazon!

Such a lawsuit is presently pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.  (Docket No. 10-cv-20718)  If you wish to contact me, either because you want to be added as a Plaintiff or just to tell me about your own situation, please feel free to e-mail me (((Redacted)))

I would also like to contribute to your case. A very similar situation just happened to me (March 22, 2010). My seller account was just recently suspended because I had two seller accounts. I have been selling with them a year and have a perfect customer feedback. I had a perfect track record of  mailing product on time and the products are exactly as described. I am suspended because they "suspect" that I may be selling bootlegged software but it is not. It is official and genuine in original packaging, with product key, and certificate of authenticity. Is there a lot of bootleg software out there? Yes, but mine is not. Customers see that it is genuine and have been more than satisfied. They can at least give me a fair warning instead of suspending my account indefinitely. I acquired this software from my sister who is an accountant, her business is moving, and she gave it to me to sell. There was no prior warning on the amazon.com website that says I could not sell it.

Annoying that I can't paste my notepad letter here...

I've been an Amazon seller for 7 years and am an author, so I know their tricks. Any buyer can claim anything, give you one star, ruin your rating and business, at any time, and Amazon will never do ANYTHING to help the seller.

But the worst thing this week is that now they are keeping all emails private between buyer and seller, and Amazon will be reading these!!! Do they tell the buyer that the email will be made public like this?! Who knows! Total invasion of privacy - they become more like a mail order company of 20 years ago every day.

I really want to complain to a privacy group about this.

I was able to sell 2 or 3 things, yet had trouble selling the VCR/DVD Player/Recorder it was new and rarely used, it worked the last time it was used therefore wrote it was good condition.

I created alot of detail about the VCR/DVD Player/Recorder, yet someone needed to know if it had what I already wrote it contained, being that I received one email from amazon.com, I never thought possible they could send. (I was planing to put everything in the box it came in, just like it was received, if possible) I looked at the VCR/DVD Player/Recorder again and found it did not work right, I therefore unlisted it, Amazon.com sent me a email telling me I can not do that, I try to list it again as not working, really not wanting to sell it, they would not let me list it, just imagine what would of happened if I sold it, they would of complained I cheated them.

Months came and went and decided to look at my account, I found a message about selling outside Amazon.com and therefore suspended, I still have the VCR/DVD Player/Recorder to prove I did not sell it.

Amazon the puke dot com did it all to me the BBB did nothing and are a joke. The Attorney General of the United States, They take it serious. Also went on the White house website and wrote a letter a week. Wrote a letter to my senitors and govenor these things work. Obama does work for people, he's my new favorite President. The senior voting block nation wide vote and politations know that, use them they have rallied for my cause my grand mother was alot of help.

they are doing to me too... I have reported on this website and I need attorney. If I knew they were going to hold my funds for 4 month (14 days for new member + 30 days review + 90 days A-Z claim?) I did not wanted to sell there!! I've sold my items in Jan. and fund will be release may 15th??) What in the h**l kind of business are they running? a bank? Bank does not even hold my funds without interest! Please help!! I have docs to proof!!

I have a similar problem.  they are holding almost $2,000.00 of my money.  I have a rating of 4.7 out of 5 and NO A-Z claims.  This can become a class action case because there are too many people out there with the same issue(s).

I will be filing a lawsuit against them within days.

For more info,

contact me (((REDACTED)))

I too have been suspended by Amazon. They withheld almost $1000.00 of my Christmas money for 3 months. I have a credit card on file to cover any claims or refunds. I listed 3 items "sell yours here".It was the Beatles "live" "Ultra Rare Traxx"cd.There are hundreds of them listed.Bowie,Duran Duran,Cure.I was informed by a friend and seller I could list it. I listed them.Three months later I noticed Amazon took one of them down. I went in and took the others off that morning.I should have withdrew my funds then. Later in the day I was suspended. I am a 5 five star seller. I knew the items were unauthorized recordings. ??Why did Amazon have a "sell yours here". It they should have never allowed this item or items with pictures avaliable to be sold. I am stupid to have listed these items.Amazon should have Never allowed this queue to be avaliable. I was enjoying to be self employed and earning about $400.00-500.00 per week.This was my main income.I am now unemployed.I have realized how cold Amazon is and with their computer generated "I hope you understand" letters.No I do not understand. 

Don't buy Amazon stealth. The crook who is selling it is just another rip off artist.

If you are suspended from Amazon re-entering into selling on Amazon is illegal and they can confiscate all your money from sales and you won't have any legal basis to get your money back.

Plus Amazon trace all your ip, bank account, mac address,home address, inventory match, driving license, bank accounts. So you may get banned later.

 Also why you want to sell on Amazon if there are free options available like blu-jay, ecrater, vendio etc.

Ioffer is full of fakes and drugs from china. Don't sell there.

The Amazon stealth spammer should be reported for his crooked illegal business.

They [Amazon] done me the same way.. Froze my account for no reason, I answered all their emails, [which they say they never recieved]  now they will not pay me.. Amazon keeps deducting money from my account for every reason they can think of... Soon all my money will be gone!! There has got to be something we all can do to stop this scam!!! [Lets all stick together] We can make a difference....bi4lesshere.com

Hi,

I too was suspended off from Amazon, and I went ahead and bougth the ebook at amazonstealth.com. First, I was pretty skeptic at it, but did they prove me wrong!

First, the ebook had more than enough information on all stealth measures, and how to easily create your new account.

Also, any questions I had they were answered in less than a couple of hours from emailing them directly to the Amazonstealth team. They also guarantee a new stealth account or all of your money back.

If you plan on selling on amazon, and plan on making a normal amount of income a month, then you need THE AmazonStealth.com eBook, not some other "knock off" or scams that try to formulate some similar tactics and call them their own.

The bottom line is this, the ebook at amazonstealth.com is the best, with the most information, and the fastest support response team. Not only that, you can GET IT FOR FREE!

Just complete one offer that they have made available, and you get it for free. If not, they also have an option to just pay with credit card. But free can't be beat, EVER! So, I suggest if you really need an account, and an account that will be guaranteed to be safe and ANONYMOUS, get the real deal, at amazonstealth.com.


Also, to the comments above, is the price of an ebook that guarantees a new account not worth spending a couple of dollars as a good investment in your business?

Whats the point of trying to get back on and getting f'ked up and having to make a new account over and over again? If you have been suspended or blocked, YOU NEED THE EBOOK. Thats the bottom line and it truly helped me out.....


Also, to the guy who posted the picture of the kid with mental disabilites, that is just cruel, and your comment should definitely be deleted. Shame on you.


Thanks and good luck everyone!!

Remember,

http://www(.)AmazonStealth(.)com!

What?  Why would anyone buy the book to get back on Amazon.  Because Amazon brings in a lot of f*****g money.  That's the only reason everyone here is b******g.  If you lost your ecrater or ioffer account and had an amazon account, you wouldn't give a s**t because you make NO MONEY there.  The other guy referring people to ebay didn't do so prior to his account being closed because he sold the same items for more money on amazon than on ebay.

Hey John, I'd like to know how your joke of a class action law suite went? Did your compelling information that you keep secret do any good?  No?  Of course not!

My experiences are the same.

I have had the exact same experince with Amazon. My account is supended with no contact available to Amazon and they reported that any attempt to contact them will not receive ant reply!

 They are currently holding $6500.00 of my money since October 5th.

 I no longer encourage anyone to buy from Amazon I will not under any circumstances purchase anything from that site. I had sent many customers to Amazon in the past but now refer them all to Ebay since most items are actually less expensive on Ebay anyway.

 I never thought I would be turning people away from Amazon and directing them to Ebay but that is what it has come down to.

 The number of people suspended with no warning and dropped cold by Amazon simply continues to pile up. Amazon is rude and arrogant beyond all possible measure and soon this will lead them to a great down fall.

 I gave my customers better attention and sevice than Amazon.com themselves ever provided.

 May this truly be the beginning of the end for these tyrants of the internet!

I am just about 2 months into my Amazon account and already had to battle 2 scam A to Z Guarantee Claims.. One was a minor item, in which the seller became threatening and incoherent in his responses. The 2nd one, I am currently battling is for a high dollar item. I am afraid that I am going to be "punished" by Amazon for this item. I have yet to receive my money back from the first A to Z Claim that they put in their "reserve". I have gotten nowhere with Amazon, and they keep pushing me off, or not even responding to my emails. If someone does sign on to do a class action suit, I would like to become part of it. I have also reported Amazon to my local News station to do an investigative report. I think if they get more emails about Amazon they will do it.. www.kptv.com is their website. We should have them called out and investigated

Their A-Z claim is another scam. If any buyer claim non-receipt of item Amazon require signature confirmation as proof of delivery and even wont accept delivery confirmation or you will loose the claim and Amazon will remove the money from your account. Same with item not as described claims. They just refund buyer without any investigation. Same rule apply for any site using checkout by Amazon. So if you are a seller dont accept this payment method or you will loose the item plus money as A-Z claim terms state that buyer dont have to return the items.

This is for John who has money being held by Amazon.  Please include me in any class action suite which may be going on.  I know three sellers, all of whom are legitimate California corporations who have money being held by amazon.  I am a bookseller and them holding money has caused me a lot of problems as I cannot access the cash to use towards my business despite the fact that  followed all the rules had good feedback proved I had a bricks and mortar store, etc.  The stress of this alone is worth compensation.  Please contact me.  Not sure why thye can seize assets-they are running amuck and unmonitored.chris   By the way ebay does this too and they told me to go get an attorney-can you believe it!!!!id this too!

John:

Here is my contact information. E-mail me at (((ROR REDACTED)))
Let's get the ball rolling!!

CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report.

John:

Here is my contact information. E-mail me at (((ROR REDACTED)))
Let's get the ball rolling!!

CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report.

My Amazon seller account was also suspended after it was under review for 30 days. Amazon suspended payments during the review period and will now hold all my remaining funds for 90 days. I was never trying to rip people off. I have usually sent my orders in a timely fashion except when I realized there was an issue, like a DVD was loose in the case and I had to get a replacement. I was really scared of ever refunding money if I realized a product may be defective and rather bought a new one because I did not want to get bad feedback. Since they use refunds as a measure of seller quality, you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't refund if a buyer contacts you and claims that they 'did not intend to make' an order or 'ordered the wrong thing'.

The A-Z claim are a whole different thing. Though a good idea, I got a few too many people claiming the brand-new, shrink-wrapped stuff I sent to them did not work.

So now I am not only unable to sell the merchandise I have bought to be sold on Amazon, stuff I had to pay for, but I also had to pay for postage for the orders I already fulfilled. This money was taking out of my credit card. I will have to pay interest. Amazon is keeping my money for four months and is collecting interest on it. Since my A-Z claims over the three years I have been selling on Amazon were less than $500, how can they withhold $3000 for possible future claims.

To me, this is a serious matter, and I am not amused at all! I have sent a few emails to Amazon but to no avail. If I do get a response, it's a form letter that does not really answer the question. They suspend accounts because of 'poor customer service' and their customer service is either a cookie cutter reply or a friendly "we will not answer any further emails". An individual has no chance getting through to them!

They have done the same thing. If you have any information on a lawsuit and you need more people please let me know. I plan on talking to some on monday becuase everything that has been said above my post has happened exactly the same way. They must have a mass email system for this. I have the same emails from amazon that everyone else has. Includeing the, " we will no longer reply to your emails" that is a great way to solve things. They are costing me alot of sales too. I was making about 2500.00 a day before they shut me down. And my sales were just picking up

Same here. Amazon terminated my seller account without explanation or recourse. No amount of phone calls or emails can get me an audience from them to plead my case. You can google any of these terms to find a significant number of sellers like myself who were shafted by Amazon, experiencing a great amount of financial loss, and angry enough at Amazon to participate in a class action suit against Amazon. I say wronged sellers unite and sue Amazon!

I had same issue with amazon.com , even issuing refund to customer lowers your seller performance rating. I did not know that before so if customer emailed me and asked me to return our items i issue rma number and refunded their money, Sounds right? yes but not for amazon.com , They believe issuing refunds is bad . So they decide lowering your seller performance point, once you refunded 5% of your sales you are automatically out of business. I had wonderful record on amazon.com i was seller for 2 years and now i'm about to lose my house. I need someone (legal adviser or lawyer) to help me out. Thanks

Seller Performance Department at Amazon.com sends email stating that they will no longer answer my emails! Hows that for customer service? Be aware if you are a seller on Amazon.com or thinking of listing your items there you are better of looking elsewhere otherwise you may be in for a good screwing from the good ole boy Jeff Benoz and Amazon.com! I have escalated the facts of my issues to U.S. Government Officials and other agencys. Amazon.com should be we aware that they are under investigation for fraud and illegal business practices! If you are an attorney and are interested in handling this case for me and others who will come on board with evidence about Amazon.com breaking their policy agreements let me know. I plan to give them a Giant Screwing like they did me only legally through the court system!