Rip off reports
Password: xx
Mine is a tale of woe - - - - - - I began selling DVDs on Amazon on 12/13/08 The first few days were great. My prices were good - I'm not all that greedy and I was still making some money. I thought that I had a win-win situation going here. Then after a couple more days, I logged in to my Seller Account and found a message telling me that my Payments Account was being reviewed and that my funds could be held by The Bank of Amazon for up to 45 days. When I asked why, they told me that your sales volume or inventory level is not supported by sufficient buyer feedback or an established sales history.
Now I didn't just fall off of the carrot truck (even though I live in the middle of a carrot field) Just how would they know my inventory level? Hmmmm! Are they peeping in my office window? Doesn't take a genius to realize that it isn't good to flood the market and list all of your inventory at the same time. Yikes! Max, my Newfoundland (175 lbs.) now has my permission to take a hunk out of the hinny of Jeff Bezos anytime he get within range! He better steer clear of my back yard! I can hear the cheers of all of the Sellers who have been robbed by Amazon.com now as Jeff runs through the carrot field with a piece of his hinny missing! Yipppeeee! Sorry - I get carried away with that fantasy!
Back to the real world and the nightmare that is Amazon.com - - - The folks at Amazon had these suggestions for me to follow if I ever wanted to see my money:
1. Visit my seller acct. Page and READ it - Duh!
2. Click on the search your marketplace to check for new orders and act on them - Wow! Really - I hadn't though of that one! How inspiring!
3. Hound your buyers to the GATES OF HELL begging for feedback. - Not my style! The feedback system on Amazon is a one way street going in the direction of the buyer.
Then the last paragraph of this enlightening email tells me that it is important for me to continue to fulfill orders and list only the things that I have inventory for sale and that I can actually deliver as promised during this period. Hmmmmm! Guess that would mean that the London Bridge is out! Why on earth would I do anything so stupid?
At this point I'm still like a donkey stretching my neck out there to grab that golden carrot (wait - isn't this my money that we're talking about?) So I figure that I can live with this for 45 days. After all I have done some R & D, a business plan and plan to make this a career - not just a hobby! This is my sole source of income!
Well life goes on and I'm selling like crazy. My husband is packing DVDs faster than Santa's Elves on speed. I've set up an account with Stamps.com (great company!) so that I don't have to pay the $. 75 for delivery confirmation for each package - Stamps.com does it for only $. 18 Pennies add up when you're looking at this kind of volume! Yes, I felt compelled to do this so that I could PROVE to the Amazon Gestapo that I actually DID fulfill that order - not just make believe! Like a good girl, I sent the tracking Nos. To the folks at Amazon every evening!
I placed orders with vendors with wild abandon because I was missing sales for items I didn't have in my inventory. Sure would have been great to follow that business plan that I had drawn up and reinvest those profits in lots more inventory! But nooooo - I can't do that because the Giant at the top of the bureaucratic bean stalk that is Amazon.com wants to review my sales and inventory for only two more weeks! That's exciting - after all they promised to send me an email when they finished this process - Right?
They sent me an email - on 01/16/09 to tell me that they had canceled all of my listings. They warned me that THE listing matched a set of criteria that indicates the product may be unauthorized. The email goes on to tell me that I should not sell unauthorized copies of media goods - do ya think? Next they suggest that I verify that the goods I am selling are authorized for sale by contacting the appropriate rights holder or studio. They go on to tell me: We encourage you to contact the relevant studio if you have questions about authorized releases. Wow - I guess I should have searched for an copyright attorney to head up my legal team. Wonder what it would take to get a Hollywood studio to respond to a request for the copyright contract for one of their productions? I better start on that right way!
I immediately responded to their email asking WHICH item was suspect and they won't tell me. How do they expect me to know which one of the 20 some orders they canceled offended them? If I knew it was illegal, I wouldn't have listed it in the first place! I thought that the software of the Giant would prevent me from relisting the offending item, so I relisted my Walt Disney movies that are EXACTLY the same as many, many others listed on Amazon.com After all - that is a part of their listing process - find your item and click on the sell yours here button I did that with 4 Walt Disney movies thinking that they had to be a sure bet.
I'm surprised that my laptop didn't explode! I received an email advising me that my account has been permanently blocked. They still won't tell me which item they think is illegally copied! Those 4 Walt Disney movies are this very minute for sale on Amazon.com by several other sellers. Why am I being discriminated against? I don't understand!
The worst part of this mess is that in their greed, Amazon will now hold $6300 for 90 days. I really NEED the money to continue growing my small business, make mortgage payments and pay other bills. If I were independently wealthy, I wouldn't be messing with Amazon.com!
I've been surfing the web and reading some of the horror stories that are very, very similar to mine today. I heard of one man that has $11,000 being held by Amazon. I saw another man on this site that has $7000 being held. If you add that up and multiply it by the hundreds, maybe thousands of sellers who are booted off of Amazon.com everyday - it has to be millions of our dollars earning interest for Jeff Bezos. He's probably busy building another rocket so that he can try to get to Heaven that way - He sure won't get there for being ethical, fair or compassionate in his business practices! There's a place for folks like him who hurt families and stomp on the dreams of the little people who just want to make an honest income and it isn't Heaven
PLEASE - PLEASE - PLEASE! Also take a look at what else I found while searching for class action law suits against Amazon - -
WARNING: This will make you nauseous! Unless like Jeff Bezos - you don't have a heart!
Take a look at this website and take action!
What will Jeff Bezos stoop to selling next? Kiddie Porn?
If I can prevent just one more person with a dream of actually working honestly and independently by selling on Amazon.com from being F*&^*D by the Giant as he snickers down at you at standing penniless at the base of his bean stalk - then this long, long story was worth the time and effort to write it!
Thanks for taking the time to read it!
Class action law suit? Where do I sign?
0 comments