Resurrect My Friend's Amazon Seller Account!

May 29, 2011 4:02 PM

Help my friend get his Amazon Seller's Account back!

I know this area has been dealt with previously, but it's been 4 years since that question was asked and I want to help my buddy solve his predicament.

My friend lost his seller account after Amazon apparently double-listed and otherwise fouled up the inventory numbers for items he was selling.

Attached below is a written statement I had him produce to explain exactly how things went wrong, what he's tried to do to fix it, and why the situation has become something of a crisis for him of late.

Here is his statement, with his name redacted:

I am writing to all of you seeking advice for how to get my Amazon.com seller’s account reinstated.

In 2005, I began selling things on Amazon, and then, in 2008, the following two incidents occurred:

1) On August 11, a “Ms. Erkes” bought a copy of “Silence of the Lambs” on DVD from me. On September 15, I got the following complaint from her.

“I never received my DVD that I ordered and paid for. I contacted (myusername) and he claimed that he had sent it but I never received it. He promised that he would refund me my money if I did not receive the DVD.

My response:
“You never got it? Did I not refund your money?”

I assumed at the time that I sent her the DVD. More will be explained below:

2) On July 5, I sold someone a blu-ray of “Goodfellas, On October 11, I got the following complaint from a “Ms. Hudson”, regarding a Goodfellas DVD:

“Never did receive the item (Goodfellas). When we did communicate he said he would get right on it. He never did. When I told him it appeared that I was not going to receive the item and asked for the money back - it was noted that customer cancelled. Would not have cancelled if there was a chance to receive the item. Too bad! Got the item superfast from another seller”

My response:
“Again, this was not my fault. Amazon erroneously (sic) claimed that i had the inventory when I did not. I have already complained to them about this.”

Two things:
1) Ms. Erkes has every right to be upset that I did not send her a dvd of the Silence of the Lambs. She’s right. I never did send it to her, because I already sold it to a Mr. David Newbert on July 6. This is an example of Amazon listing it twice by accident. Not my fault.
2) Never did I list Goodfellas for sale as a DVD. I listed it on as a BLU-RAY, which I sold to a Mr. Ludden. Again, not my fault. I refunded Ms. Hudson’s money immediately.

There are more examples of Amazon listing things twice, but I think you get the point by now.


With every case and complaint, I refunded everyone’s money, and by the time I realized what was happening, on October 30, 2008, Amazon suspended my seller’s account.

On November 1, 2008, I wrote the following email to Amazon:

To Whom it May Concern,

I do not understand why my account has been suspended.  On more than one occasion, I have had to refund people’s money, people who bought items they thought I had when in fact I had already sold.  That is not my fault, it is amazon’s.  I have had a good experience doing business with amazon thus far but this is unacceptable.  Also, a Ms. Hudson said the following:

“Never did receive the item. When we did communicate he said he would get right on it. He never did. When I told him it appeared that I was not going to receive the item and asked for the money back - it was noted that customer cancelled. Would not have cancelled if there was a chance to receive the item. Too bad! Got the item superfast from another seller “

1. I sent the item, for some reason she didn’t get it
2. She’s mistaken.  I got right on it, and I refunded her money.
3. I shouldn’t have my account suspended because of one person.

Please resolve this ASAP

Mr. X

I got no response from them, and to this day, my sellers account has been suspended. No doubt I could have handled this a bit better, but I was angry and bewildered as to why my items were being listed multiple times without my consent.

Fire ahead to May 21, 2011. I am planning to self-publish my book this coming November, and have created a publishing company to do so. With that company, a new credit card and address, I set up a new seller’s account, believing since I am doing this through a new legal entity and not personally, there would be no problem. Well, three hours later, Amazon emailed my company informing me that they were suspending my account because it was “linked to a suspended account.”

I was able to get one of them on the phone at the “seller’s center” or whatever that is. They told me that for “legal reasons” the “seller’s support” (the people who actually make these decisions) only communicated through email. The man on the phone kept pointing my poor seller’s performance, and basically ignored anything I said in my defense. He gave me the email for “seller’s support” and hung up the phone. Before doing that, he told me to email them and explain how I would “remedy my past faults in the future” and “have a better understanding of the online matrix.”

Never mind that none of this is my fault, but apparently, I’m supposed to act like it is.

I admire them for their perseverance. I also admire them for their high standards. However, what is troubling to me is their complete adherence to “seller-beware”, and never once considering my point of view (I never talked to a human being until two days ago, and even then, after an hour on the phone, they informed me that they couldn’t help me and that only “seller’s support” could).

Of course, seller’s support is only reachable by email. Can’t imagine why that would be.

I realize that this, like many things in life, is not personal, it’s business, but Amazon sure is making it difficult to believe that.

Thanks
Mr. X

posted by Doctor Suarez to Computers & Internet (7 answers total)

“You never got it? Did I not refund your money?” I assumed...

When we did communicate he said he would get right on it. He never did.


It sounds like he didn't handle the fallout from the duplicated listings very well -- I may be misreading, but does he have no inventory control to speak of? This sounds pretty sloppy. People ordered things, he didn't even notice he was unable to fulfill the orders until they complained?

It doesn't sound like Amazon is being very helpful but that part, his not noticing he was getting orders and not fulfilling them, is a pretty big red flag and makes "The man on the phone kept pointing [to] my poor seller’s performance" seem reasonable.
posted by kmennie at 4:24 PM on May 29, 2011

You have actual customer names in your question? Not a good idea.
posted by mlis at 8:39 PM on May 29, 2011

Mr X here :)

Kmennie, you make an excellent point. It simply never dawned on my that they would list my items more than once. Once I realized what was happening, it was too late. Assuming I get my account back, I will certainly be more diligent and aware of this problem. I did not pay attention to my inventory control because I assumed that once I posted something, Amazon would take care of the rest, and all I had to do once something sold, was ship it.

And MLIS, those are all pseudonyms, but thank you for saying something anyway.

thanks

J
posted by jrockwell at 11:24 AM on May 30, 2011

Mr. X, my experience is more than 5 years old but since you haven't received many answers I figured I'd pass along what I know, even if it's not current. If they told you that seller's support only communicates by email, then you need to email them. My advice would be, be patient and be persistent. It may take time before you get a response, so don't give up. When I was selling, I had a problem with my account that I needed to get resolved. I sent many emails. I would always get a reply within 24 hours, but they always seemed like a standard "form letter" type of reply. Sometimes it seemed like they were barely skimming my email and just sending back some canned response. And I would always get a reply from a different person each time. It was very, very frustrating because I knew Amazon was making a mistake with my account, and finding someone who would take the time to look into the problem was not easy.

Finally, after a few weeks of emailing, someone looked into it and eventually the problem was fixed. So, keep emailing. I would begin by saying something like, I realize my account was suspended in 2008. I tried to reinstate it and didn't receive a response. And then ask, what do I need to do now, to reinstate my account. I would keep the email on the short side, and simple. Come up with a few key points and keep emailing. No need to go into great detail until you know you've reached someone who is going to try and help you.

I don't know how often they reinstate accounts, but in my opinion your first goal should be to get someone to email you the process for being reinstated: what do you need to do?

You said the person on the phone suggested you tell seller support how you will “remedy my past faults in the future”. Show them that you understand what went wrong in 2008 and that it won't happen again. I'm a little confused about how you didn't realize right away there were duplicate listings. When you get a sale, doesn't Amazon send you an email right away? So if you'd already sold that item, I would think you would know right away there was a duplicate listing. Every time this happened, you should have notified Amazon right away. I assume it was negative feedback from multiple customers that got your account suspended. If you refund money immediately and explain the situation, this can often prevent negative feedback.

Learn as much as you can about how selling works at Amazon and let seller support know that you now have a better understanding of their system. Check out the seller support page. Among other things, there's seller discussions which I used to find very helpful.
posted by daikon at 6:46 PM on May 30, 2011

Thank you so much, Daikon, I very much appreciate your words. I think you have the right idea; in life, it's always better to extend an olive branch, no matter what.

My challenge now is that even though it was not my fault that Amazon listed my items more than once, it is my fault that I did not notice it. However, the problem is that Amazon refuses to admit that they screwed up.
posted by jrockwell at 7:00 PM on May 30, 2011

This situation happened 3 years ago. You are right, Amazon will never admit they screwed up. The people (seller support) you will receive emails from aren't in a position to be allowed to admit anything like that. Just focus on asking them how to go about getting reinstated. And if they do reinstate you, keep a very close eye on your account.
posted by daikon at 7:07 PM on May 30, 2011

Well, they responded:

Hello from Amazon.com.

Thank you for writing. We have considered your request for reinstatement. Upon careful consideration, we have decided your account will remain blocked.

While we appreciate your interest, please understand that the closure of an account is a permanent action. Any subsequent accounts that are opened will be closed as well. Thank you for your understanding with our decision.

Best regards,

Seller Performance Team
http://www.amazon.com
posted by jrockwell at 4:24 AM on July 3, 2011