Amazon Sellers Blog

Seller Performance rejects your Amazon Appeal and Plan of Action
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If your Amazon selling account has been suspended, you have written a well thought out and comprehensive Amazon Appeal Plan of Action and you get back something like this: "We have reviewed the material you sent and decided you may no longer sell on Amazon...We may not respond to this email" your first reaction may be to just give up. But you don't have to. There are several avenues of higher appeal you can pursue if you Amazon account is suspended and then your selling privileges are revoked.

Resend your appeal for a review by a senior investigator or manager
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Amazon is a huge beaureaucracy, which means that there are levels of management above the investigator who considered your case. If you get back a terse response such as the above, and too quickly, you may want to resend your appeal with a request that a manager or senior investigator review your file. Make it clear in the first paragraph of your new appeal that you responded fully to all of their questions, supplied all the materials requested and presented a comprehensive appeal plan of action, but did not receive a meaningful response.  

Many third-party sellers who have been suspended from selling on Amazon.com’s ecommerce platform come to me and ask this question, “How do I sue Amazon (AMZN)?” The second question is usually “Can I get damages for loss of profits and punitive damages?”
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The answer to both of these questions can be found in Amazon’s Business Solutions Agreement. When you fill out an application to become a third-party seller on Amazon, you adhere to the terms of this agreement, one of which limits you, in the United States at least, to arbitration as a remedy. This means you cannot sue Amazon in a court of law.

​Your remedy is to demand an arbitration before an arbitrator of the American Arbitration Association (AAA).

​AAA operates like a “private court,” where an attorney or judge is appointed as an arbitrator to decide your case. It functions much like a real court, except that, since the situs of the arbitration against Amazon is King County, Washington (also by agreement) the agreement also permits the hearing, or trial, to be conducted by telephone. ​

“Unfortunately, not all of us can play by the rules”, “Fair game is for the best of us” … or something like that will definitely come to your mind if you receive a counterfeit complaint. And the worst thing you can do to your account is to ignore it.

Statistics prove those false counterfeit complaints from brands against Amazon sellers are often groundless and created specifically to impose higher prices on consumers.

However, immediately, your account is suspended and you need to prove that the product you sell is authentic and those complaints are counterfeit. And that's where the play between the Amazon Seller Performance Team and the rights owner begins. And the time to remember your Sellers’ rights as well.

​​Due to our latest experience with such cases, complaints are processed by the Amazon office in India, but in reality, they want YOU to resolve all issues with the rights owner yourself, which of course gives too much power to the complainant. The Brand (or, the rights owner) decides on their own if they will withdraw their complaint or not.