Time for Amazon to fix suspension glitch on third-party sellers

Thompson and Holt managing partner Craig Gedey has urged Amazon to move quickly and amend the reported glitch in its appeal process that has left some third-party Amazon Sellers unable to get reinstated. Many of the Sellers impacted by this were suspended in October with the majority of the trying to submit an Amazon intellectual property rights infringement appeal.

With the crucial holiday period rapidly approaching, Sellers trying to contact Amazon about a suspended account or product listing say they are experiencing severe difficulties when trying to get reinstated. Sellers have reported that they’re being redirected to resubmit their appeal through Amazon’s Account Health website, but that method also fails, resulting in Sellers being sent the exact same emailed response.

This is the email some Amazon Sellers have been receiving:

“Hello - This is not the correct channel to submit your appeal. Please resubmit your appeal and relevant information for reactivating your account by clicking the Appeal button on the Account Health Dashboard. For reactivation of listings, please visit the Account Health Dashboard and click on the Appeal button next to specific violations and complaints in the Product Policy Compliance section.”

In a report on CNBC, an unnamed source claimed to have spoken to a member of Amazon’s Account Health support team that told them it was a bug, something that has since been denied by Amazon themselves.

An Amazon statement read: “There is no technical error. Some sellers whose accounts have been deactivated due to policy violations have tried to appeal their suspension by sending information to an Amazon email address rather than following instructions that we have communicated that they should submit their appeal through Seller Central, our web portal for selling on Amazon. If sellers send appeals via email, we are providing an email response redirecting sellers to make these appeals via Seller Central.”

This does not address, however, why Sellers who submitted their appeal through Seller Central are still receiving a technical error.

Thompson and Holt’s managing partner Craig Gedey says the issue is an urgent one for Amazon Sellers who are trying to submit and intellectual property complaints plan of action. .

Gedey said: “At what is an absolutely crucial period of the year for Sellers, it is hugely unfair that they are encountering technical difficulties when trying to get reinstated.

“Cyber Thursday is just around the corner and Sellers will be hoping to maximise their income during that.

“Amazon may have claimed that there is no technical error but it’s clear that Sellers are still encountering problems so the issue needs rectifying as quickly as possible.

“As always, we would advise any Amazon Sellers that have been suspended and want to get back online selling as quickly as possible to contact Thompson and Holt.”

Amazon Sellers should familiarize themselves with brands which need ungating or are high risk, here is a list of high risk brands to sell on Amazon.

While this issue is unfolding, an online petition has been set up pushing for Amazon to change their policy and suspend only the ASIN (the specific product), not the Seller.

At the time of writing, over 4,000 people had signed the petition at change.org.

Its creator Ed Rosenberg of ASGTG.com writes: “Amazon has a rights owner complaint system that accepts complaints when any brand or person asserts that an item is counterfeit. There is little or no vetting of the actual complaint but this is not what the petition is about. When a brand asserts that an item is "counterfeit", Amazon will take down the ASIN regardless of fact which is fine. We are ok being taken advantage like that and do not critique Amazon for this.

“Here is the issue. If a seller receives one or two more of these ‘complaints’, Amazon will eventually destroy the entire business regardless of the size or how long they have been on Amazon. We think this is an overreach and ridiculous.

“Not only do we think that, ALL Amazon account managers have told us they agree with us. Yes, It's OK to suspend the ASIN (item) even if the complaint is bogus, but why suspend and destroy the entire business? How does this affect the other 50,000 items. Currently dozens of the TOP 500 accounts on Amazon are suspended for this insane reason.

“We are asking Amazon.com to bulk reinstate all these accounts and then change its policy to only suspend the ASIN not the seller.

“There are currently thousands of businesses across the world that equals hundreds of thousands of employees that are being affected by these seller suspensions. This one change will affect the lives of perhaps hundreds of thousands of people.”

The petition is available to view here: https://www.change.org/p/jeff-bezos-amazon-com-should-only-suspend-the-asin-not-the-seller.

If you have found yourself suspended while selling on Amazon, contact Thompson and Holt for a free LiveChat to get your Amazon Seller business back online as quickly as possible.