We created a new Amazon Seller account (appled Fiends) on 12/21 and got approved. Immediately - we started populating the required data - credit card/tax id etc. On 12/21 - there was a noted missed call from an Amazon number. On 12/22 - access to the account was blocked. There was no email or other correspondence from Amazon notifying us of any issue. Called up Seller Support @ amazon and were told an "Account Specialist" would get back in touch with us. Long & short of it is - we are presently in February (almost 3months later) and there has been no correspondence from Amazon. From speaking to customer & seller support reps @ amazon - we gleaned there had been an issue with the credit card. We got new cards from our bank and getting this new information over to Amazon proved to be a lesson in patience and resolve. Then the cusomter/seller support reps suggested we open another account and with misgivings - we attempted this and got shot down. We forwarded over our business documentation showing our registration in our given state/tax id information/credit card information and got nothing back. Then, we got an email 3 weeks ago - stating our seller account failed the "review" process. We are a verfied small business and provided all information upfront and we failed the review process and can't even begin to fathom the why. Now - we are back to radio silence as no-one at Amazon will respond to us. Regardless, of the fact that the Account Specialist never got in contact with us. So - we can't use our business account and are in limbo with no explanation of what exactly went wrong. What kind of Fraud detection system is in use at Amazon? And by looking online -it seems that Amazon is not particularly sympathatic to the sellers whose accounts get mistakenly flagged. With Amazon - simply put, there is no-one to talk to. You keep hearing about the seller performance group and the account specalists but no means of getting in contact with them. You send an email and it is ignored. When you attempt to escalate it after you have tried to be patient considering the fact Amazon is a multi-billion dollar company and you get nowhere. Yes - we are small business sellers but, Amazon makes tons of money from us and yet - treat us with such disdain and disregard. We give our legal business name / address / tax information/registration information/contact information and can't pass an account review? Then, what did we miss or what was the reason and why are we blocked with no channel to appeal or clarify? Pulled from a fellow seller who ran into similar issues with Amazon - (http://aaron. Kavlie.net/12/web/amazon-com-just-closed-my-seller-account-no-warning-no-details/) I hope this will be helpful to two groups of people: 1. Sellers look for other alternatives. If you sell on Amazon.com, dont put all of your eggs in that basket. For me, this just meant a harder time clearing out the closet. But for someone doing a lot of sales on Amazon.com, this could cause a serious loss of business. 2. Amazon.com staff seriously, just look at this from the customers point of view, and try to tell me this is a customer friendly process. More transparency is in order. Your secret fraud detection system is fallible, and it should be treated as such. If nothing else, this has left me seriously second-guessing my loyalty to Amazon.com. Theyve been far and away my favorite Internet retailer for years, but Im not going to be quite as eager to shop there any more, especially in categories with strong competition.
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