1 year later: Amazon suspended our (100% legitimate) account and (stole?) our $1500
So long story short we were FBA in January 2017 and our account was in perfect standing (4.8 rating, no issues whatsoever). All of a sudden Amazon suspended our account (with over $1500 in it) for selling authentic NFL merchandise directly from an NFL-authorized supplier who authorized us to sell FBA (of course Amazon had already gotten their money from the customers our products were shipped to). We complied with every request and jumped through every hoop we were told to in order to get the account reinstated, but all of a sudden they just stopped responding to any of our correspondence.
I logged into our seller account today and the balance now says $0. Apparently they have just decided they are going to steal our $1500? Not to mention the interest it should have accrued over the past year. This is truly insane. I’m holding out hope this is just an oversight and they will make us whole. Any Amazon reps who can finally help us get this situation rectified once and for all?
42 replies
Seller_d7Z0MKOJalf7S
For some reason Amazon has come to the conclusion that you were selling counterfeit items and therefore will not disburse any monies to you.
Seller_CyKLfaLqcN9p2
Lots of questions here, but lets cut to the chase, I would just suggest seeking arbitration per the TOS you agreed on.
See Disputes
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/?nodeId=508088
Seller_3N7yVnTXPzLkL
Was that before or after the NFL and MLB banned all online sales on Ebay and Amazon of their licensed products?
If after, you may have provided invoices but could not have provided an acceptable authorization letter.
You can search this forum and should be able to find when the NFL implemented their restrictions.
Seller_X9AxWaXfNnGAl
There has to be more to this.
I have several (probably close to 20) items with NFL or MLB licenses. What Amazon did to them was to block and make the items Inactive so that they can not be sold on Amazon.
It is my guess that your supplier was not identified by the brand owner as an authorised supplier and your products were treated as counterfeit and funds held to be paid to the brand owner.
Having the account suspended would normally be associated with selling counterfeit merchandise.
You may need to get in touch with your supplier and the brand owner associated with the products to get the complaint removed and the account reinstated.
If the products WERE counterfeit, you will have no recourse and could face more significant penalties and challenges if the cages get rattled. Ensure that all of your communication is very carefully thought out and you might even need to consider consulting with a lawyer as admitting guilt to being involved in counterfeit or infringing products could result in more serious and much more expensive problems.
Dave
Seller_awYU0oH8skccg
Selling Sports Team Items has been asking for Trouble…Lately
Seller_abCSvSuYdUFM8
I’m a sports store too who buys directly from the manufacturers. It doesn’t matter anymore anyway, yesterday they put a restriction on all licensed sports league hats and some apparel. No longer able to sell on amazon. The leagues and fanatics inc are working together to take over the market. This is sad news for all small businesses. It seems like the monopoly is just starting to play out.
Seller_3N7yVnTXPzLkL
I wish you well. I hope you can find a policy which was changed that created your problem.
I have always found Amazon policy sufficiently vague to make that elusive. And an inability to adequately enforce their polices is irrelevant to whether they are prohibited from taking action against you.
You have demonstrated why we sellers are unable to obtain clarification from Amazon on many policy issues.
