Amazon continues to suspend third-party sellers without notice

Amazon.com (AMZN) announced in August that, as a result of its change of its Business Solutions Agreement with third-party sellers, in response to pressure from Germany’s Federal Cartel Office (FCO), it was changing the way it dealt with seller suspensions. NOT!

Sellers and Seller Consultants still report Amazon is suspending seller accounts without notice, despite the provision that future suspensions would be preceded by a thirty-day notice and an explanation of the reasons behind the seller account deactivation or a seven-day notice in serious cases of material breach. However, more than thirty days after the effective changes in the contract, Amazon is still closing accounts without notice as usual, and seems to be relying on the “escape clause” that allows it to terminate an account immediately if determines the seller conduct has exposed them to third-party liability, such as counterfeit sales.  

According to sources cited by Business Insider, Amazon claims the notice clauses only apply to account cancellations, not initial suspensions. To sellers, there is virtually no difference between the two. An initial suspension can last for days and even months and can kill your entire business.

Because most suspensions are the result of algorithmic decisions made by Amazon’s artificial intelligence, and the overburdened and underpaid human resources reacting to those robotic decisions have neither the time nor the experience to deal with them, it often results in an arbitrary and unjust result.  

Therefore, we always counsel clients they must be proactive with all policy warnings. If you sit on them and do nothing until Account Health sends you a message that you have 72 hours to file a plan of action, you are as good as suspended at that point. The best practice is to address every policy warning or policy violation notice with a plan of action immediately.  

As always, we are always here to help you with any question as you attempt to navigate the often profitable but sometimes treacherous waters of the Amazon marketplace.