Amazon have completely ruined my life
Starting as an Amazon seller was one of the most exciting steps I took in my business journey. I had spent months researching products, finding trustworthy suppliers, and carefully investing in inventory. For a while, everything went smoothly; sales were coming in, customer feedback was positive, and I was genuinely optimistic. But then, one night, everything changed.
The Unexpected Deactivation
Without any warning, Amazon suddenly deactivated my account under their Section 3 policy. Confused and desperate for answers, I combed through their guidelines, trying to understand what might have led to this decision. I’d heard of account suspensions, but to have my account deactivated entirely was a shock. After multiple reviews and reading other sellers' experiences, I knew I was in for a long wait. Amazon's policy meant that I wouldn’t have access to any funds for at least 90 days.
The 90-Day Wait and Beyond
Those 90 days were agonizing. I relied on my earnings not only to sustain my business but also to manage personal expenses. However, I trusted the process, waiting patiently, hoping that at the end of the 90 days, I’d receive my hard-earned funds.
But when 90 days came and went with no update, my heart sank. I reached out to Amazon, hoping to finally get my money and a resolution to my account status. Instead, I was informed that I needed to go through additional verification steps.
Verification Hurdles and Accusations
They asked me to provide documentation for my supply chain and undergo a video call. Although the request felt sudden and excessive, I complied immediately. I provided Amazon with everything they asked for: invoices, supplier contacts, and any paperwork that could support my business's legitimacy. I also completed the video verification call, hopeful that these steps would finally bring closure.
Just two days later, I received another email. Instead of unlocking my account or returning my funds, Amazon declared that my funds would be held indefinitely because they alleged I was involved in fraudulent activities. No specific details, no evidence — just an accusation that I couldn’t dispute. In the same email, Amazon stated they wouldn’t respond to any further communication regarding this case.
The Impact: Financial and Emotional
I was in disbelief. With one email, Amazon had taken $26,000 from me — funds I needed to pay suppliers, settle invoices with shipping companies, cover my bank loans, and, most importantly, care for my mother’s medical bills. The financial impact was devastating, but the emotional toll was even worse. This wasn’t just about money; it was about my livelihood, my family, and my life plans.
Amazon’s refusal to provide any concrete reasons left me feeling trapped, powerless, and unheard. I had followed every rule, provided all necessary documents, and jumped through every hoop. Yet here I was, labeled a “fraud” with no explanation and no recourse. I could no longer sustain my business, and my debts only grew. Each day since has felt like a struggle just to keep going.
A Plea for Change
I share my story not out of bitterness but as a call to action. How many other sellers are facing the same fate? Amazon’s system may be designed to protect customers, but at what cost to the people working hard to build businesses on their platform? The vague accusations, lack of transparency, and finality of their decisions leave sellers with no path forward, trapped in debt and despair.
To those who are still selling on Amazon, I urge you to protect yourselves, know your rights, and push for fair treatment. And for Amazon, I hope they recognize the impact of these policies and work toward a system that treats sellers as partners, not just potential risks.
Amazon have completely ruined my life
Starting as an Amazon seller was one of the most exciting steps I took in my business journey. I had spent months researching products, finding trustworthy suppliers, and carefully investing in inventory. For a while, everything went smoothly; sales were coming in, customer feedback was positive, and I was genuinely optimistic. But then, one night, everything changed.
The Unexpected Deactivation
Without any warning, Amazon suddenly deactivated my account under their Section 3 policy. Confused and desperate for answers, I combed through their guidelines, trying to understand what might have led to this decision. I’d heard of account suspensions, but to have my account deactivated entirely was a shock. After multiple reviews and reading other sellers' experiences, I knew I was in for a long wait. Amazon's policy meant that I wouldn’t have access to any funds for at least 90 days.
The 90-Day Wait and Beyond
Those 90 days were agonizing. I relied on my earnings not only to sustain my business but also to manage personal expenses. However, I trusted the process, waiting patiently, hoping that at the end of the 90 days, I’d receive my hard-earned funds.
But when 90 days came and went with no update, my heart sank. I reached out to Amazon, hoping to finally get my money and a resolution to my account status. Instead, I was informed that I needed to go through additional verification steps.
Verification Hurdles and Accusations
They asked me to provide documentation for my supply chain and undergo a video call. Although the request felt sudden and excessive, I complied immediately. I provided Amazon with everything they asked for: invoices, supplier contacts, and any paperwork that could support my business's legitimacy. I also completed the video verification call, hopeful that these steps would finally bring closure.
Just two days later, I received another email. Instead of unlocking my account or returning my funds, Amazon declared that my funds would be held indefinitely because they alleged I was involved in fraudulent activities. No specific details, no evidence — just an accusation that I couldn’t dispute. In the same email, Amazon stated they wouldn’t respond to any further communication regarding this case.
The Impact: Financial and Emotional
I was in disbelief. With one email, Amazon had taken $26,000 from me — funds I needed to pay suppliers, settle invoices with shipping companies, cover my bank loans, and, most importantly, care for my mother’s medical bills. The financial impact was devastating, but the emotional toll was even worse. This wasn’t just about money; it was about my livelihood, my family, and my life plans.
Amazon’s refusal to provide any concrete reasons left me feeling trapped, powerless, and unheard. I had followed every rule, provided all necessary documents, and jumped through every hoop. Yet here I was, labeled a “fraud” with no explanation and no recourse. I could no longer sustain my business, and my debts only grew. Each day since has felt like a struggle just to keep going.
A Plea for Change
I share my story not out of bitterness but as a call to action. How many other sellers are facing the same fate? Amazon’s system may be designed to protect customers, but at what cost to the people working hard to build businesses on their platform? The vague accusations, lack of transparency, and finality of their decisions leave sellers with no path forward, trapped in debt and despair.
To those who are still selling on Amazon, I urge you to protect yourselves, know your rights, and push for fair treatment. And for Amazon, I hope they recognize the impact of these policies and work toward a system that treats sellers as partners, not just potential risks.
80 Antworten
Seller_uWpIMnnSDPPfK
I feel your pain--I have gone through the exact same devastation. It's absolutely criminal what Amazon is getting away with. I guess Amazon will have to answer to the FTC when they have to face them in court over their abuse of power but unfortunately that does not help these small businesses that Amazon is taking to slaughter every day.
Seller_MeNjiBPtSZPht
Amazon does alot of stuff and puts up alot of hurtles and makes you work more than you have to
HOWEVER
If Amazon flags your account, Goes through your paperwork, does a video call with you AND THEN says you are doing something fraudulent or your products are fraudulent, then I tend to believe Amazon... Otherwise you would open a lawsuit, $26k is surely enough for you to get an attorney so why havn't you done that?
Listen everyone, 99% of Amazon's woes to you are done through bots and people clicking buttons on pages for your account. If you get to real people and do a thourough investigation with them, they have all the tools at their disposal to find your fraud and they did it here.
Sorry to see you go, but I want to sell with only rule followers
Im not saying I agree with the process or anything else, but there is something more going on here than is written. I know this forum likes to amplify the Amazon hate on the sellers, but you guys should rejoice to not have to sell your products against counterfeits and the like
Seller_kH6MqJDQpziKj
Unfortunately, I am going through the same process.
But I didn't wait. I have had countless meetings for 20 days. Then I had a video call. I also received a performance notification that my virtual identity was verified. I then sent all the documents requested from me. My account is still not fixed.
Since we don't fully understand the problem, I don't know what to do.
While this process was going on, I also talked to the Amazon account health team. They said my account would probably be opened. But my account is still disabled.
Can anyone help me with this issue?
Seller_MJcpDbkY4FceM
i think you have 2 options left one there's a company called seller Basics that is like pre paid legal e commerce service they should be able to advocate on your behalf for a couple hundred. option 2 is to take amazon to arbitration which will be 4-5k.
Seller_zMIsdYn0t314h
Im Sorry to hear that you're going through this, ive had my issues with amazon in the past as well, and one thing i learned with them is you have to fight every step of the way without relenting, i legit mean harass them, my last big encounter with them they attempted to fine my account 44k for an item they accidently measured wrong, a tiny little 4 inch 2 ounce bottle somehow got labeled as a massive oversized object, which is a simple fix in my eyes but not to them, anyway my account got disabled because i refused to pay the fine, even after proving to them the fault was on their end they simply apologized, acknowledged they were at fault and decided they where going to fine me and deactivate my account anyway, i had to get lawyers involved, i found the emails and twitter of the higher ups and bombed them with messages, i legit emailed and called them every single day non stop, im pretty sure ive spoken to nearly everyone over at seller support and account health haha. But the point is it worked, i got my account back, i still lost money due to lawyer fees and loss of sales etc, but atleast i had my account back. I would advice you to join a few amazon social media groups, they can help when things like this happen, they can give you the names of some of the higher ups over at amazon to contact as well. That being said after this i realized keeping all my eggs in once basked is a bad idea so i started moving my asins over to other platforms.
Seller_TJJKxbukR6lCY
same issue here. almost 2 years of selling and 3x my seller account just to be taken down for who knows what reason. i source my products from entertainment earth but i guess they are not longer a verifiable distributor somehow. i was sad but decided its best to diversify then to depend on a giant that doesnt care bout u having food on the table or not
Seller_bEpehKABXmZnP
I'm pretty lucky compared to you, my god, although my store is still there, all my product sales were deducted by Amazon as store rent and storage fees, so I now owe Amazon over $500, and I've invested quite a bit of money in advertising, which has made it financially difficult for me, because after the products were on the shelves, Amazon brought me only single digit visits, and I could only rely on ad spending to bring in a little bit of visitors, yet the only way to bring in more visitors is to spend more money on advertising
Seller_nRFmxiQg4EGrw
No, it's perfectly reasonable. If there is any doubt, they want to find out for sure.
Suppose that you were buying products from a source. Then one day, someone who had also bought stuff there told you that he found out that they were selling fake. Would you insist that the other person provide you proof that the items were fake? Or would you ask the business to show you that they are getting authorized legit stuff?
As a business owner, you should be sourcing from reliable sources, and be able to show that. Then once you show the required documents, everything should be resolved. Granted, that doesn't always work right (for example, the 365 day limit is absurd; especially when the complaint is on something sold 10 months ago). But the basic model of asking for proof once there is reason to doubt is not where the problem is.
Seller_Sram36TnVt73c
Actually, yes they will. They conjured up a suspension for me in 2015. It was because I was selling a TV series on DVD that they had exclusive streaming rights to...
Seller_Sram36TnVt73c
the problem is they don't find out for sure. They just suspend based on .....what, I don't even know...in my case, it was because I was competing with them for an item they were also selling.
If someone does RA and buys merch in a store, sends it in then gets accused, Amazon gets to keep the money and merch because they only have a receipt? Because of a suspicion?
That ain't right. Amzon should have to PROVE inauthenticity if they are keeping your merch and funds.
Seller_R2dP7Hunjcdj0
Don't you understand that your very statement proves my point?
I said that:
In your case, the reason was:
To me, the word "Exclusive" carries a specific meaning, and potential legal protections and consequences.
So, by your own admission Amazon HAD a Reason.
Finally, just because I state that Amazon will NOT act without a Reason, does NOT mean that I said that the Reason was always correct. Amazon makes more and more errors as they place more and more Operations in the control of Software instead of Humans.
But an erroneous Reason is STILL a Reason.
