Account Suspended for Forged Documents
Update 14 May: Edited for clarity, to include timeline and all original e-mails.
Update 2 20 May: Added Seller Performance’s last response
I’m a very new seller. My prior experience is limited to reselling on eBay at a very small scale. Recently I dipped my toe into FBA reselling. I sold a few external HDDs and had a good experience. I got a great deal on some Microsoft product and thought I could do the same. I’ll build the timeline below to make it clearer. Caveat - I know I acted hastily and stupidly, at this point I’m just hoping to get my seller account back, I don’t care about the MS product.
~20 April 2019 - I submitted an application for Microsoft Brand Approval and included a redacted order confirmation. This was rejected with the following e-mail:
Brand Approval Request for Invoice E-Mail
Greetings from Amazon Seller Support,
Thank you for your interest in selling Microsoft products. We’ve reviewed the information you provided and determined that it does not meet our requirements. To allow us to continue processing your application, please address the following issues:
Invoice:
- You have provided an Order Confirmation. Please provide an invoice reflecting the itemized list of goods purchased and the terms of sale.
Please respond to this case and provide updated document(s) that remedy the issue(s) indicated above. You can respond to this case within the next 14 days or create a new application at a later time.
Thank you for selling with Amazon,
Alex F.
Amazon.com Seller Support
23 April 2019 - I replied with “the attached packing invoice for the items ordered” (yeah I know it doesn’t make sense). The following day they replied that they were reviewing my documents.
26 April 2019 - Received brand approval rejection e-mail, received account suspension e-mail 21 minutes later. I replied with an ‘appeal’ asking for clarification because it wasn’t clear what documents I was supposed to have altered. At this point I was still under the impression that I was dealing with a typical customer support organization, and that they would provide clarification so I could form a complete appeal.
Brand Approval Rejection E-Mail
Greetings from Amazon,
We reviewed your application and determined that you are not eligible to sell Microsoft products. We evaluated the information you provided, but it did not pass our review.
We apologize for any inconvenience our decision has caused you. We took this action to ensure the mutual success of our sellers and buyers on our site. This decision doesn’t necessarily reflect poorly on you or your seller account. We take a number of factors into consideration.
We value your participation and hope that you will continue to sell on Amazon. We appreciate your understanding.
To help us continually improve, we ask that you take a moment to complete our survey below to tell us about your experience with this specific interaction.
Selling Account Deactivated E-Mail
Dear Seller,
Your Amazon selling account has been deactivated. Your listings have been removed. We are withholding any funds available in your account. If you have FBA inventory of the items causing “inauthentic” complaints, they are currently ineligible for removal.
Why is this happening?
You have supplied documentation to Amazon which appears to be forged or manipulated. We previously requested these documents from you to address concerns about your account. All requested documents must be authentic and unaltered.How do I reactivate my account?
To reactivate your selling account, please send us one of the following:
– An explanation that justifies why you provided documentation which appears to be forged or manipulated; or
– Evidence that demonstrates that the documents you provided are not forged or manipulatedYou can only send .pdf, .jpg, .png, or .gif files.
How do I send the required information?
Please submit this information by clicking the Appeal button next to this message on the Performance Notifications page in Seller Central.What happens if I do not send the requested information?
If we do not receive the requested information within 90 days we will permanently withhold any payments to you and any remaining FBA inventory of the items that caused “inauthentic” complaints will be destroyed at your expense.We’re here to help
You can get help creating your plan in Seller Central Help.You can view your account’s performance at XX or select Account Health on the home screen of the Amazon Seller app on your iOS or Android device. The Account Health dashboard shows how well your account is performing against the performance metrics and policies required to sell on Amazon.
Sincerely,
Seller Performance Team
amazon.com
My hasty 'appeal'
Has your account been deactivated in error?
The deactivation notification does not provide enough information for me to form an appeal. Which document am I supposed to have forged? Please give me more details ASAP so I can give you a proper response. I recently submitted a receipt to be able to sell Microsoft products, was that it?
3 May 2019 - Received response from Seller Performance that my submission didn’t have enough information. My appeal in Account Health still appears to be open with the message, “We’ve received your submission. We will review your submission and you should expect a reply within the next 24 hours.”
Not enough information to reactivate account e-mail
Dear Seller,
We received your submission but do not have enough information to reactivate your account.
Why did I receive this message?
You have not sent us sufficient information that we previously requested from you to address our concerns with your account. For privacy reasons, we do not provide details about our investigation methods.What happens now?
Your account will remain deactivated and we may not respond to further emails about this issue.You can see your balance and settlement information in the Payments section of Seller Central. If you have questions about those, please write to payments-funds@amazon.com.
Sincerely,
Seller Performance Team
amazon.com
I’m now operating under the assumption (come to with help from others in this thread) that my suspension was because I didn’t provide the documents they asked for. That disconnect caused the lion’s share of confusion on my part. POA in progress in the thread.
14 May 2019 - Sent the following email appeal.
Appeal
Seller Performance,
I am the principle of Bantam Studio. In my original suspension appeal, I did not provide the requested information (i.e., “an explanation that justifies why you provided documentation which appears to be forged or manipulated” or “evidence that demonstrates that the documents you provided are not forged or manipulated”); instead, I requested clarification of certain details about my suspension.
My response was a mistake. I would like to supply the requested information now as the following Plan of Action:
Plan of Action
A. What went wrong:
In my application for Brand Approval, I was asked to provide “an invoice reflecting the itemized list of goods purchased and the terms of sale”. I do not have an invoice and was unable to supply the requested documentation; instead, I supplied an order confirmation and packing slips. I accept full responsibility for failing to provide the requested documentation.
B. What I’ve done to fix it:
(1) Because I cannot supply the requested information, I have withdrawn my application to sell Microsoft products at this time.
(2) I have reviewed Amazon policies in order to avoid a recurrence of the root cause, principally:
- Category, product, and listing restrictions
- Product Authenticity and Quality
– Amazon Anti-Counterfeiting Policy
– Policies and agreements
C. What I will do to prevent this from happening again:
(1) The steps taken in B will prevent a repeat of the problem.
(2) I will only list or request Brand Approval for products sourced directly from manufactures or authorized distributors with express permission to sell on Amazon.
(3) When corresponding with Amazon support representatives, I will provide the information they request. If I am unable to, I will tell them.
Thank you for considering my appeal. I made many mistakes in my Brand Approval application and suspension appeal. Please allow me to resolve them. Thank you.
Respectfully,
NAME
Bantam Studio
(m) PHONE
20 May 2019 - Received the following response from Seller Performance
Seller Performance Response
Hello,
Your Amazon selling account remains deactivated. Your listings have been removed. Funds will not be transferred to you and may be held for 90 days or longer. Please ship any open orders to avoid further impact to your account.
Why is this happening?
This decision was made after reviewing both your account and the information provided.
We may not respond to further emails about this issue.
Sincerely,
Seller Performance Team
amazon.com
//
Original post
I’m a very new FBA seller. A week ago I got the message below saying my account has been suspended for forging or manipulating documents. I can’t imagine what this is for. I recently submitted an invoice for Microsoft products in my application to sell a Microsoft product, but in my repeated attempts to get them to tell me that documents they are accusing me of forging they have ignored me. My appeal was just a request for more details but it had been ignored until now, with the message:
We’ve received your submission.
We will review your submission and you should expect a reply within the next 24 hours.
How am I supposed to appeal when I don’t even know that they’re accusing me of? The verbiage from the original alert “We previously requested these documents from you to address concerns about your account” makes me think it’s the invoice for Microsoft products but I can’t be sure. I’d love a phone number, but until now they have around $1k hostage.
Original email (links removed):
Dear Seller,
Your Amazon selling account has been deactivated. Your listings have been removed. We are withholding any funds available in your account. If you have FBA inventory of the items causing “inauthentic” complaints, they are currently ineligible for removal.
Why is this happening?
You have supplied documentation to Amazon which appears to be forged or manipulated. We previously requested these documents from you to address concerns about your account. All requested documents must be authentic and unaltered.How do I reactivate my account?
To reactivate your selling account, please send us one of the following:
– An explanation that justifies why you provided documentation which appears to be forged or manipulated; or
– Evidence that demonstrates that the documents you provided are not forged or manipulatedYou can only send .pdf, .jpg, .png, or .gif files.
How do I send the required information?
Please submit this information by clicking the Appeal button next to this message on the Performance Notifications page in Seller Central.What happens if I do not send the requested information?
If we do not receive the requested information within 90 days we will permanently withhold any payments to you and any remaining FBA inventory of the items that caused “inauthentic” complaints will be destroyed at your expense.We’re here to help
You can get help creating your plan in Seller Central Help.You can view your account’s performance at or select Account Health on the home screen of the Amazon Seller app on your iOS or Android device. The Account Health dashboard shows how well your account is performing against the performance metrics and policies required to sell on Amazon.
Sincerely,
Seller Performance Team
amazon.com
Seller_atnk8fSvVuoeY
There have been cases in the past where Amazon said invoices were forged if the issuer of the invoice did not verify that it was valid. Did Amazon contact your supplier?
Seller_VPTojhikJPGtl
As a Microsoft reseller… Where did this invoice say it was from?
Seller_tGfMnoKCaqTnA
If the microsoft is in fact a good deal, I’ll buy them from you. That way you aren’t up a creek per-say.
Seller_8WSgAJ9fwZz5u
On 3 May I got a message from Amazon, but my appeal status still says they’ll get back to me within 24 hours. Is the email below the response to my appeal? Or should I keep waiting for a real response? This is so incredibly frustrating.
Dear Seller,
We received your submission but do not have enough information to reactivate your account.
Why did I receive this message?
You have not sent us sufficient information that we previously requested from you to address our concerns with your account. For privacy reasons, we do not provide details about our investigation methods.What happens now?
Your account will remain deactivated and we may not respond to further emails about this issue.You can see your balance and settlement information in the Payments section of Seller Central. If you have questions about those, please write to payments-funds@amazon.com.
Sincerely,
Seller Performance Team
Seller_8WSgAJ9fwZz5u
I’ve done a little more reading, and I’m going to attempt another appeal with the following e-mail. Before I send it off, I’d love some feedback. Thanks.
Sir/Ma’am,
In my original suspension appeal, I did not provide the requested information (an explanation that justifies why you provided documentation which appears to be forged or manipulated or
evidence that demonstrates that the documents you provided are not forged or manipulated) because the reason for the suspension was not clear. The reason was given as:You have supplied documentation to Amazon which appears to be forged or manipulated. We previously requested these documents from you to address concerns about your account. All requested documents must be authentic and unaltered.
I understand now that this response was a mistake, although I still am uncertain how I could have followed-up for clarification. I must assume that I was suspended for providing receipts/packing slips instead of an invoice for the Microsoft goods I was applying for Brand Approval to sell. I was denied Brand Approval on 26 April 2019 (attachment: Amazon Brand Rejection.pdf) and suspended 21 minutes later (attachment: Amazon Suspension.pdf). The Brand Approval rejection e-mail didn’t signal an imminent suspension, neither did the suspension e-mail say that the documents I am supposed to have “forged or manipulated” was from my Brand Approval application, however the timing seems to connect the two messages. If I was suspended for another reason, please provide details about what documents I am suspected of manipulating.
I would like to submit a Plan of Action (POA) as an appeal to reinstate my Amazon seller account.
Plan of Action
A. Root Cause
I purchased Microsoft products from a retailer. I applied for Brand Approval in order to sell them on Amazon. When asked for an invoice, I supplied an order confirmation and three packing slips. The materials I provided appear to be viewed as inauthentic or manipulated by Amazon.B. Steps I Have Already Taken
I have included the original order confirmation e-mail from the retailer (attachment: order confirmation.pdf), as well as the packing slips already provided (attachment: packing slips.pdf). They both correlate each other in terms of item number, number of items, and cost. Furthermore, in order to avoid this in the future, I have completely abandoned plans to conduct retail arbitrage and I have removed all other products from my inventory.
I have also reviewed the following Amazon training and policies, among others:
– Amazon Anti-Counterfeiting Policy
– Condition guidelines
– Policies and agreementsC. Steps I Will Take
I will only list items on Amazon where I can confirm the authenticity of the product through an invoice or other approved means.Thank you for reading this far and considering my Plan of Action. I respectfully request that Amazon reinstate my selling privileges.
NAME
Bantam Studio
PHONE
Seller_8WSgAJ9fwZz5u
I updated the OP to make the timeline clearer with all the communication I’ve had with Amazon support reps.
I’ve read more guides on writing a good POA. The closest I see the guides getting to my scenario are for charges of listing and selling inauthentic products. Since I haven’t sold or even listed products without verifiable origin, fleshing out B and C is less straightforward.
Here’s my latest draft. Am I getting warmer?
Seller Performance,
I am the principle of Bantam Studio. In my original suspension appeal, I did not provide the requested information (i.e., “an explanation that justifies why you provided documentation which appears to be forged or manipulated” or “evidence that demonstrates that the documents you provided are not forged or manipulated”); instead, I requested clarification of certain details about my suspension.
My response was a mistake. I would like to supply the requested information now as the following Plan of Action:
Plan of Action
A. What went wrong:
In my application for Brand Approval, I was asked to provide “an invoice reflecting the itemized list of goods purchased and the terms of sale”. I do not have an invoice and was unable to supply the requested documentation; instead, I supplied an order confirmation and packing slips. I accept full responsibility for failing to provide the requested documentation.B. What I’ve done to fix it:
(1) Because I cannot supply the requested information, I have withdrawn my application to sell Microsoft products at this time.
(2) I have reviewed Amazon policies in order to avoid a recurrence of the root cause, principally:
- Category, product, and listing restrictions
- Product Authenticity and Quality
- Amazon Anti-Counterfeiting Policy
- Policies and agreements
C. What I will do to prevent this from happening again:
(1) The steps taken in B will prevent a repeat of the problem.
(2) I will only list or request Brand Approval for products sourced directly from manufactures or authorized distributors with express permission to sell on Amazon.
(3) When corresponding with Amazon support representatives, I will provide the information they request. If I am unable to, I will tell them.Thank you for considering my appeal. I made many mistakes in my Brand Approval application and suspension appeal. Please allow me to resolve them. Thank you.
Respectfully,
NAME
Bantam Studio
(m) PHONE
Seller_8WSgAJ9fwZz5u
Since I didn’t receive any feedback on the above e-mail I sent it off. I got this response today:
Hello,
Your Amazon selling account remains deactivated. Your listings have been removed. Funds will not be transferred to you and may be held for 90 days or longer. Please ship any open orders to avoid further impact to your account.
Why is this happening?
This decision was made after reviewing both your account and the information provided.
Overall, a heavy-handed response. I guess it’s time for the hail Mary.
Seller_JHuWP2RtZvJjv
you sent them the email yet?
Seller_tvUnTMOounkGW
This sounds like the “kiss of death” message.
Seller_QiDTQjDKfnFzJ
Sorry to hear about your issue.
Any response other than you no longer wanting to apply to sell Microsoft (The proper response) is seen as a BS answer and a waste of their time.
If we continue to give them answers like that it isn extremely dangerous.
In try to feel things out and decide what the best thing is to do by cutting out the ego and working hard to solve the problem to the best I can and hope for the best.
When I have done this Amazon has recognized my work and honesty.
