I have used Amazon.com for many years. I am computer programmer that manages seller accounts for my clients. I have one particular issue that has really bothered me and I want people to know.
One of my clients sells an item that is restricted by Federal and State law, it cannot be legally sold in every state. Amazon has limitations on features regarding restricting listings by regions or state, so we cannot block customers from ordering from any restricted state. The product is not illicit, it's actually just citrus plants.
We have an issue because some customers do not read the listing thorougly and sometimes place orders in those restricted states. Unfortunately it's pretty common for us now, maybe one out of every ten orders needs to be cancelled due to the customer not paying attention. I should also note that when we have to cancel an order you must choose the reason from a drop down list. There are a few choices but they don't allow for special circumstances, such as "other" with a comments section. The most closely related reason is called "Stock Availability". We use this as our reason since it's the only reason that's even remotely related to the cancellation.
We recently received a notice from Amazon that our cancellation rate was too high and if it is not corrected that we may face suspension. So I called Amazon Seller Support. I spoke to a very nice gentleman, he listened to me and assured me that if I contacted Amazon Seller Performance via email at [email protected], that they would assist me with this issue.
So I sent them an email immediately after getting off the phone with the Amazon representative. The respresentive suggested that I include links to my listings, so I could show that issue in detail. I did just that, and explained the very unique situation. I was hoping that they would be reasonable and offer some support, I was wrong... This was their response:
"Hello from Amazon.
We appreciate the information you have provided. However, a review of your account indicates you may not be completing transactions due to stock-outs. As per our policies, sellers are asked to keep their listings updated to reflect real-time inventory. We realize that the availability of merchandise may change by the time a purchase is placed online; however, sellers must do whatever they can to minimize these occurrences. To avoid the blocking of your account, please ensure that you are listing only those items that you can ship within two business days, as required for Marketplace sales.
We regret we cannot correspond with you further regarding this issue. Thank you for your cooperation and interest in Amazon.com.
Best regards,
Seller Performance Team"
I don't think they even read my email or maybe they just don't care at all about their sellers.
I was also very unimpressed by the line I have in bold. "We regret we cannot correspond with you further regarding this issue"??? If I treated my customers like that, I'd be bankrupt in a month. That's seriously disturbing. I am not freaking out over this but I am very disappointed in Amazon's Seller Performance team and I felt like letting other people know the deal.
BTW, They have also done reviews on many of my clients accounts for no apparent reason and held funds for long periods of time. I have always wondered if they keep their money in an interest baring account, maybe that's the reason they don't disburse but every 14 days and have the nasty tendency of conducting reviews for no reason.
Someone should sue their pants off already:) Thanks for reading, have a nice day.
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