How Suspension Crashed My Amazon Sales From $50K To Zero

This post is by James Fend, a veteran online marketer, web designer, and founder of Feedbackz.

I am writing this long-overdue story about my journey on Amazon FBA. I’ll try to get into some good stuff from humble beginnings to month 8.

First Trimester: From $0 To $500 – Month 1 to Month 3

James Amazio
James Fend

Ahh… yes, I’ll start here. I kind of jumped late into the Amazon game, well at least I believe it was late. Like anything in life in hindsight; I wish I had known about Amazon in around 2011 so I could be a BIG DOG before there was any comp. Wouldn’t that be lovely. Truth is: I actually didn’t start pursuing Amazon until May of 2014.

The first time I heard Amazon FBA mentioned was at a internet marketing conference in San Diego around January 2014. It was the biggest internet marketers in the world there, and I got invited out to a mastermind session. Well in this session, Amazon FBA kept coming up amongst other money making things on the internet, and I shrugged FBA off. No one mentioned any amount they were making, so I just thought:

“Oh great, another eBay, nobody is gonna make legit, long-term money more than couple hundred a month except the few fish… I don’t have time for that.”

Also, that was back when I didn’t even think about private labeling… but the pre-conceived notion in my mind was that all Amazon sellers were “re-sellers” because that’s all I saw shopping on Amazon for years.

Then I grabbed coffee from the conference with a person I just met there, they mentioned they broke $5k in sales and they just started 2 months ago. They were in the beauty skin care niche. “Oh, cool” I thought. “Still not worth it, I could be pursuing million dollar ideas, not Amazon.”

Selling on Amazon actually didn’t quite click yet in my head until I heard a podcast a few months later about this guy doing a million a month. That caught my attention.. too many mentions and for the first time, I heard millionaires could be made without having to “re-sell”. Jumping from store to store looking for clearance products wasn’t my cup of tea. I know in order to make real money, you have to disassociate a dollar amount to an hour of your life. Passive income, as much as possible.

With private labeling.. I knew this could be achieved. I jumped in head first… WITH A MEAGER $500.

Did You Start Before The Competition Grabbed Hold?

When I first started, it was already saturated (so those of you just joining, don’t side-eye me! haha). The big guys and products were already ranked 1,000+ reviews in and established. So it’s not much different than it is today, there were a bit less (what I coin) TIER 2 and TIER 3 private label products… those are probably the majority of us:

TIER 2: Ranked 1st page, 50+ reviews, steady selling 20-30 units per day, but not quite beating out the top two dogs.

TIER 3: Ranked 2nd+ page, 25+ reviews, selling 5-20 units a day, but ranking up quite quickly. Fighting to gain traction against Tier 2 guys.

So yes, the competition has gotten much stiffer, but not something to be scared of. BECAUSE DOMINATING NICHES IS A WIDE OPEN BALL PARK ON AMAZON. Get in the gold rush while there’s still gold in the rivers.

With $500 in my hands… and a few years experience on running online businesses. The name of the game is: speed to market. Launch. Get a product up. Prove it sells. See if volume and everything else on your checklist is actually viable. Perfect things later.

Tip: You can’t sit and research and research and research. You’ll never get anywhere. You’ll simply remain a want-trepreneur. One who talks a lot, does nothing. The only true way to know if something sells is to sell it and see how it goes. (Doesn’t mean completely disregard basic viability checklists.) But out of 30+ products I’ve launched, I have come across 6-7 gems aka keepers. It’s only when you get these gems that you hunker down and try to rank the sh*t out of them.

With this in mind, I wanted to get 4-5 products up. Perfect labeling and packaging? Forget that… I went to Office Depot, got some clear return address labels, printed my logo on there and slapped them right onto the product. Enough to legitimately sell as a brand and new listing.

My first product ideas came directly from stuff I found around the house. I looked around at what I used, what I bought in the last months, anything.

Some products in my initial list:

  • body fat calipers,
  • body measuring tapes,
  • jogger pants,
  • dog shock collars,
  • led dog collars,
  • and three more products (that I still sell today).

I wrote them down; I thought… how many of these sell in the world a day? Hundreds? Cool… on the list. Were they difficult to make/ship/package? No, cool… on the list. A few more filters, and off to AliExpress.com I went.

AliExpress… not Alibaba.com. Want to know how to waste a huge amount of time and money on a product you may or may not even be able to sell or sell well or (insert million other disadvantages). MOQs alone turned me off because I needed to prove these products first.

AliExpress, I can buy them individually. Would I profit? No… no I didn’t. Did I break even? Barely. But I got something much more valuable: proof and traction. I bought 4-5 of each product on my final list. Used free shipping via EMS. Got my products 2-3 weeks later. Create my listings, slapped some labels on, sent them into FBA. A couple weeks later selling with live products, I found out if:

  • They sold? At what price? How many moved? Conversion rate?
  • How much they sold compared to my rankings and what the top dogs might be doing
  • Was it a pain in the a** to package/prep/ship/etc.
  • Is it actually providing value? How was the return rate? Were folks complaining left and right? Could I fix it?
  • Guesstimate how far I could take this product if I ranked the crap out of it and with X amount of reviews and optimized the listing even better.

Enough yes’s… and then that’s when I hit Alibaba (and even AliExpress again if MOQs was still too low for any good margins) looking to make the first initial 100-300 unit bulk order. I put this purchase on my credit card. And paid it off as soon I re-made the money.

Second Trimester: From $500 to $5,000 – Month 3 to Month 5

Money Stacks

So I bought around 100 more units of jogger pants, dog shock collars, led dog collars, and three more products. I dropped the body fat calipers and body measuring tapes.

That’s when I started drilling down into the meat of ranking. Luckily, I’ve had years and years of experience with SEO and online startups, so I’ve seen and done it all; and directly applied it to Amazon and what I thought and observed things to work. (BTW: IMO Amazon’s search is a version of Google in 2008. More on this later.)

Three major improvements I attacked first:

  1. More reviews.
  2. Optimize the listings better (better pics, better keyword research and applying them into the listing anyway possible, better copy writing).
  3. Make the packaging and labeling more legit.

More on these tactics later… but a general overview:

More Reviews – Hustle, hustle, hustle. I hit up all my family and people I knew I wanted to share what I was selling (without feeling too embarrassed haha). I also started hitting up forums and started giving them away for free. I hit the major forums in each niche where people that would use the product hung out at. Many of these forums are gated, so a lot of times my post threads got deleted. The ones that stayed and flew under the radar paid off in big dividends. I would repeat this process of giving away product on forums until I reached 50+ reviews.

Optimize Listings – I sat for hours and went through things I bought on Amazon over the years… what made me purchase what I did and why? The subconscious stuff, the things I didn’t realize I did at the moment. It was mostly around reading reviews. And when I say “reading”… I mean more like “skimming” reviews of products. Good pictures was another trigger. Most times, I was looking for something small or specific and many times a picture just so happened to have it in there. Well, enough in the picture that I could put 2 and 2 together and assume the product would probably fit my needs. Same thing with copy text in the description: there were subtle things I was looking for. Many times, I had multiple tabs up and most of the products were the same exact… but there was something specific I was looking for. Most times, if you aren’t a user of the product yourself, you wouldn’t even know it made that big of a difference. I call this ST Factors (I’d eventually like to get big enough where I can start coining terms and people actually use them! Maybe even get credit for?)

ST Factors = Subconscious Trigger Factors

With hawk-like vision, I hunkered down on why I bought the products I was selling. What were the ST Factors? Truth be told, many of the ST Factors are actually sitting right in your face… read through reviews on your competitors and you’ll quickly realize what those things are. And you need to address those that aren’t in the listing.

Once you find them:

  • List them on the product titles (especially if it’s major ones)
  • Address them in bullet points up top.
  • Address them in the description.
  • Show them in your product images.

Oh, another tip on ST Factors:

Don’t just read the negative reviews on your competitors, read the good, positive ones. And thoroughly… Many times, the good ones are good because they are re-confirming a ST Factor that the product listing missed, and (most times get upvoted by others) because they assure the potential buyer that this product fits that specific ST Factor.

Take for example: I was buying a new basketball, a Wilson Composite ($50+ basketball). The listing had tons of reviews, etc. etc. but it didn’t list the exact size. Like any person in this century, a quick Google search brought up that they come in junior and regular size. Well, this listing didn’t say either. And with the price being way below anything you’ll find offline, one would think it’s the cheaper junior size, right?

Well… guess what one of the top reviews was? Someone saying… “hey guys, took the risk… the ball is actually the regular size and not junior FYI.” Anyone selling the same ball with the size in the product title… I guarantee you their sales would kill that one.

After optimizing, conversions were sitting at a whopping 15% to 20% on all of my products. Even ranked at 8th or 9th on the 1st page, more people were choosing to buy mine. That’s how I moved up… Amazon likes to rank those that sell best and generate them the most revenue in the shortest amount of time (go figure).

Packaging and labeling – No more Avery labels with a simple logos. I moved onto more custom size labels I bought off eBay that fit the box or packaging better and more crisp. I took the time (thank God I can graphic design as well) and designed completely new labels to make sure these things looked like a legitimate brand. I’d go through stores and look at actual products and their packaging and how they did their branding and design, then added my own remix to my products. I re-did the product pictures with the fancy new labels and updated my listings.

Also to add, it was during this phase when I was gaining epic growth. Products were moving fast… and more and more I was gaining traction and catching up.

Last Trimester: From $5,000 To $50,000 – Month 5 to Month 8

Yeah… you read that title correctly. $5 to $50k… a big damn jump huh? My growth at that point was exponential… I hit that part of the bell curve. Even with dropping most of the listed products (due to various reasons)… 80/20 rule. 20% of the products I had listed up were making 80% of the money. So I cut off the other 80% of the products, focused on ranking the 20% and finding more 20%’er products.

The only thing at that point I was messing up on was inventory issues. Keeping products in stock. Cashflow. Timing my inventory purchases so that when I ran out, I got xx,xxx units arriving from China a few days before to pack/label and ship out to FBA centers.

Through my ranking tactics and techniques; I had:

  • Three products ranking in top 3 for main volume keywords for the niche and ranking #1 for lesser volume keywords.
  • All others ranking minimum page 2 of search results.
  • My lowest revenue product was moving 30 units a day, most were hitting 50+ units a day.
  • All my products had over 50+ reviews.
  • Three of them with over 100+ reviews (they were coming in organically… big factor here).
  • One with 175+ reviews.
  • All had video reviews ranked at the top.
  • All of them super optimized with ST Factors.

During this time, I had to tap into a Kabbage loan… twice. I was on fire. I started looking to add more products and did just that. Same process… same bootstrapped process from AliExpress.

Moving that much product; I could start testing out what factors I thought Amazon was using to rank products in their search results. I learned a lot. I went after reviews and other things like a mad man.

Life was good. Life was passive. Money was rolling in. Took a few (3 to be exact) trips out to Vegas in 1 year.

As mentioned before; I was adding more products to my portfolio. Diversifying as much as possible across completely different niches.

Then… Amazon suspended one of my accounts. Held $xx,xxx’s in deposits, froze all my listings.

Which leads into my two-left-footed dance with Seller Performance.

How Suspension Crashed My Sales

No Entry Sign

My Amazon account got hit with a suspension that nearly wiped out all of my sales. I know there’s some pressing questions:

  • WTF did you do?
  • Are you back?

I’d like to first spoil the story by saying, yes, I am back selling on Amazon with my account back in good standing, but unfortunately, I was forced to delete my listings which meant I had to drop a lot of my high flying products. I am not quite back to my old numbers but closing in fast.

Second, I’d like to also address that… to this day, I still really have no clue or idea as to why I was suspended and my listings had to be deleted. There was in no way any foul play or black hat (term coined in online marketing world as illegal or shady tactics) used to get those product listings going.

Out of my many years of online business, I learned quickly: you play with fire, you get burnt. In this case, I knew selling on Amazon was (and still is) too much of a gold mine to be playing around with the BanHammer, so I kept and still keep everything 100% legit.

Besides if you sell a quality product and optimize the listings in a viable niche, the nearest competitors have a couple stock images and poor descriptions; your product is gonna eventually make it to the top anyways without gaming.

Unlike Google, where you might get ignored or worse case slapped back down in rankings for “black hat” tactics, Amazon will boot you and everything tied to your social security, slam the door, flip the CLOSED sign in the window, and you walk home… alone… to never come back… ever.

With that said, I know this may strike some fear in you:

  • WHAT THE HECK IS LEGIT?
  • WHAT IS CONSIDERED BLACK HAT?
  • WHAT IS CONSIDERED GREY HAT?

With that out of the way, let’s jump into the story!

The Gut Wrenching Suspension Email

Around noon on one of the worst Mondays ever, I read an email off my phone that I had to re-read five times. Was this for real?

KNOW I was playing by the rules… so how could this happen?

Every product I had/have was private labeled and completely (logos, website, packaging, Amazon brand registered, etc. etc.) created by me so no way any counterfeit, authenticity, conditions, etc. could bite me in the butt, right?

Outside of the products itself, I was totally white-hat… didn’t do any crazy Illuminati review pyramid scheme, no fake sales, no fake reviews… nothing. I was sleeping at night confident I was building a real brand and real business.

But sure enough… this was in my inbox:

We are writing to let you know we have removed your selling privileges, cancelled your listings, and a temporary hold has been placed on funds from your Amazon.com sales. Any new selling accounts you open will be closed.

We took this action because it has come to our attention that you have continued to list items which violate our Condition Guidelines and/or our policies regarding product authenticity.

A quick back-story: due to stupid, low life, unethical competitors, I’ve actually had times where I had some product listings suspended due to false counterfeit or authenticity claims. Of course, I got all that straightened out without trouble because I could easily prove I was the one and only manufacturer, distributor, and retailer of my brand(s).

But I’ve never had my total account suspended. This was a different beast. You can kind of imagine how my day went since I got that email: confused, destroyed, anger, sadness, extreme worry, etc. etc. Worse yet; on top of all this, I’m an expecting dad in the next months. I quickly thought about what my cash flow would be like when the little one arrived… if I could even get my cash flow back.

When they suspend your account; they:

  • Hold any deposits you have due back for 90 days! (totally messes up your cashflow and future inventory schedule)
  • Cancel out all your precious, self-made product listings.
  • Many things on Seller Central are restricted so you can’t make edits, check data, etc. etc.

My one glimmer of hope:

APPEAL THE SUSPENSION TO SELLER PERFORMANCE…

This must just be some big misunderstanding, right? The email clearly states that it’s related to either misinformation on the listing or authenticity issues.

I mean… I’ve done it before successfully with the false accusations on my listings.. and those were “misunderstandings” too. I was optimistic.

The Most Painful Dance/Fight Ever With Seller Performance

Cool… so before you read on. I must warn you… nothing makes sense. Which is why I’m still kind of dumbfounded as I write back on this. (I moved on… I had to.) So if you’re looking for some magic hoo-rah where James comes back like MJ in the 4th quarter type thing… it doesn’t happen. BUT… it’s nice to know how I played my cards versus if you (hopefully not!) ever find yourself in the same position.

A few facts to know about seller performance:

  • They can only be contacted via email.
  • They take their time to respond (anywhere from 3-5 business days as I’ve experienced to horror stories of them taking up to a month).
  • Get straight to the point. They do not empathize with your sob story nor have time to read through any sugar coating.

A few guesses and observations about seller performance.

  • A different person reads your appeals depending on who’s on shift. So one time you might get told one thing and then something completely different the next. There is not one person assigned to your case.
  • They are a rogue SEAL Team Six department. There is no checks or balances in this branch.
  • Email [email protected]? Good luck.

Submitting My Official Appeal

So I hit the first thing anybody would do: Google. I come across an article by Cynthia Stine which gave some tidbits on how to structure your appeal like:

  • Be short and to the point.
  • Don’t write about your personal losses and hardship.
  • Take full accountability.
  • Offer an action plan on how you plan to solve the problem.
  • Address that your problems affected Amazon’s customers.

So within a few hours of thoughtful crafting; I jump onto my seller central and submit my appeal.

My whole logic behind this appeal submission was to try to:

  • Get a bit more information on what the actual, specific violation was so I could fix it directly.
  • Reiterate that all my products are indeed fully owned and sold by my company.
  • Reiterate that I take full responsibility for any violation and any harm caused to Amazon’s customers, in addition; I am trying to build a legit, long-term business on Amazon.

Things I wish I could of done better in the appeal:

  • Make it much shorter, it was too long.
  • Added in a bunch of stuff that wasn’t needed? (Even though I didn’t even know what exactly to appeal so I was throwing darts on what I thought was the violation from previous email.)

The Following Back And Forth Responses

Seller Performance Responds To My Appeal
They ask for three things: an action plan, copies of my receipts/invoices, and my suppliers information. Cool, I thought… they just want to make sure that I am indeed the owner of my brand and that they just need to verify. Must of been too many flags on the account for false authenticity accusations on my listings; maybe I had hit the tipping point and they needed credentials. I was optimistic.

My Response
I totally comply and send them back all the information they want and need.

Seller Performance Responds:

Hello,

Thank you for writing regarding your account that was recently blocked. We have reviewed this situation, and have decided not to reinstate your account.

As we have indicated in our previous warning to you, listing generic or off-brand items against detail pages for specific brands is against our terms of service. Sellers are asked not to deviate from the format or product listed in our retail catalog. As stated in our policies, sellers may not list items against detail pages for different products.

Then I was hit with the WORST NEWS EVER… A denial on my appeal. My heart and stomach sink into the absolutely worse feeling ever. I just didn’t understand?? I just complied with everything asked of me. What made it worse was that: I had absolutely no idea what the problem was. So the first email they sent states that there was a “product authenticity” issue, and now they are saying pretty much saying my listing descriptions don’t match my products?

My Response
Confused as ever. At this point, I just went into a straight emergency mode. With zero idea of what to fix. I just decided that with the money they are holding from my deposits and importance of me having seller privileges long-term again, I would remove all listings and never sell these particular products again. I was desperate; that was the only real way to comply with it all. I couldn’t afford the time to go back and forth with seller performance (if they would even entertain or respond to any more of my emails since they denied the appeal) to try to figure out what the real direct problem was… it was all or nothing at this point. How will I get rid of all the extra inventory? I’d have to do it offline or other marketplaces like eBay… problems I will worry about later. So I prayed and prayed and sent another action plan (and prayed some more, hoping they would respond).

Seller Performance Responds
They respond! Whew… at least they are giving me a shot to continue my appeal. But now I’m more confused as ever. I send them an action plan and they send this:

We appreciate the information you have provided. However, a review of your account indicates you have listed against detail pages that do not accurately describe your items or are not in accordance with our Condition Guidelines.

My Response
Huh?
Oh… kay? So in my mind; I am thinking okay, they liked my action plan but they needed to see some action. So I go through and start executing through them, and send them an updated response.

Seller Performance Responds
Same exact response as before.

My Response
Okay? I must of not done enough of the action plans yet to satisfy them. Between doing removals and other things, I did about 9 out of 10 of the action steps and send a response.

Seller Performance Responds
Same exact response as before.

My Response
Uh… okay? At this point; it’s been over a month or so since my suspension. I am finally at a point where I just delete everything, listings, etc. and send them back my response.

Seller Performance Responds
Finally a different response. They state that my account is under review! And a few days later I get a notification that my selling privileges have been reinstated. I got my deposits unfrozen and everything else with the reinstatement.

It was the most bitter-sweet moment in a long time. On one hand, I lost a lot of my products and everything I built up for them. Completely gone. On the other hand, I am back in good standing with Amazon and can sell again.

Present Day And How I Am Doing Now

Although I haven’t completely recovered from what I was bringing in before, I am closing in fast. Luckily, during that time, I was building more brands and more products so I had a couple under the wings just about ready to launch. I was just either waiting on samples from suppliers or had already put in my first bulk order. So my recovery didn’t take that long. Thank God. But it did mess me up cash flow wise pretty badly. Most of my money was tied into inventory; I had to liquidate the rest of that inventory offline and other marketplaces. Had to juggle a bunch of things to pay off a Kabbage loan on time while waiting on the money, etc. etc.

So… there it is folks. There’s my suspension story.

What did I learn from it? Oh, man… A LOT. Mainly:

DIVERSIFY YOUR CHANNELS AND INCOME. As soon as you possibly can.

You are playing in Amazon’s play ground; they own the rules. You are riding shot gun, you are not driving. Peace of mind is a very underestimated feeling and emotion.

Hope you enjoyed the article. If you have a suspension story you want to share, I’d love to hear it in the comments!

This post was by James Fend, a veteran online marketer, web designer, and founder of Feedbackz, software which can automatically email Amazon buyers with follow-up requests for seller feedback and product reviews.

This post was first published in two parts on the Feedbackz blog: Amazon Success Story and Amazon Horror Story.

Comments

Jack Phillips
Jack Phillips

Thank you for sharing the information. However, you were very short on what happened that caused the suspension in the first place. You stated you played by all the rules, but Amazon thought you were doing something nefarious - did you ever find out what it was that caused the problem or was it just a random thing?

James Amazio
James Amazio
In reply to James Amazio

No, as stated in the article, I never found out the reason.

Dee Funked
Dee Funked
In reply to Dee Funked

Yep, It's called monopolizing the market and Americans have forgotten that there are laws protecting them from such actions. The government has not exercised the Clayton or Sherman act in decades and has let the large enterprise monopolies take over...

jonas
jonas
In reply to jonas

this is very true, amazon is all about amazon and uses dirty tricks to obtain supplier info and cut out any middle men..Faster and higher you rise more attention you bring to yourself and they will try their best to obtain the rights to sell your item directly themselves.

Katey
Katey
In reply to Katey

That's what I think it is. I have been shut down by Amazon exactly like James. Spent so much time appealing and they just left me hanging.It's very frustrating thinking what wrong have I done to get suspended and eventually shut down. I have over 5,000 products listed and it's going to take me forever to delete and relist if they ever let me have a new account.I loathe this company so much.

Perry
Perry

James, you mentioned "DIVERSIFY YOUR CHANNELS AND INCOME. As soon as you possibly can" have you been able to do that yet? If you would like to work with me on a private label project to help diversify I would gladly pay you a fair fee.

James Amazio
James Amazio
In reply to James Amazio

Hey Perry,
I mean diversify away from Amazon in general. There's levels of diversification, you can go after another niche, etc. but your eggs are still in Amazon's basket.

richard
richard
In reply to richard

What other channels would you recommend besides the obvious ebay?

sueallen
sueallen
In reply to sueallen

Hey Perry I am about to start selling private label products on amazon, I like the idea to create my own brand and products,I would like to work with you on private label projects to help diversify and grow my business,please contact me as soon as you can my email is [email protected]

I hope to hear from you soon .

Amit
Amit

Hey James,

Great write up!

I wanted to ask you about the “DIVERSIFY YOUR CHANNELS AND INCOME." statement you made also.

With this, do you mean create a website yourself selling your products, getting your own traffic etc? Meaning your not reliant on Amazon?

But wouldn't this mean when a customer goes to the shopping cart on your site, they are simply being forwarded to Amazon as it holds all your inventory at their FBA warehouses?

Cheers
Amit

James Amazio
James Amazio
In reply to James Amazio

Thanks. Yes, making sales outside. As well as pursuing other non-Amazon related businesses.

RRM
RRM

In your article you mention: "Amazon suspended one of my accounts", how many accounts do you have? Do you have permission from Amazon to have multiple accounts?

James Amazio
James Amazio

Nope, all my stuff I own the sole rights to including any TM's, etc. These are products/brands I built from scratch.

I agree completely about Amazon needing to do much better in treating 3P as a customer; hence why the survey polls on Seller Central have been very specific these past months.

linda
linda

Then you are not being clear enough in your post. If Amazon is sending you :

a review of your account indicates you have listed against detail pages that do not accurately describe your items or are not in accordance with our Condition Guidelines.

says you are listing on already established listings

James Amazio
James Amazio
In reply to James Amazio

The articles clearly stated that these listings were created from scratch with new UPCs and my products are 100% my own brand. You cannot hi-jack a product listing that is your own.

It says it's established because technically it is established after I created it and sold on it.

Michael
Michael

James,

Thanks for taking the time to outline your experience with Amazon. I am glad that you have pointed out that success on Amazon with Private Labels is not a "set it and forget it" model, as many of the gurus who are selling FBA training kits would have you believe. You experience with SEO and web-based properties helped your success here.

The story is scary for any FBA seller though, as your conclusion is always on the table....AMAZON IS IN CHARGE, NOT YOU. We would all be well to remember that.

If you ever decide to coach individuals on how to get this level of success and what things to you to sustain it and not meet the account suspension person at Amazon, please contact me, I will be your first paying client!

Gregg
Gregg

Hi James,

The solution to your problem is to have multiple Amazon accounts. When one is shut down you move all your stock to a 3rd party warehouse, then have the stock sent back to FBA under another Amazon account. For people who will ask "but how do you set up another Amazon account" - Google it, it's top secret!

Christine
Christine

It makes you wonder with all these suspensions and with holding of thousands +? Dollars for a month or more, is this a shady move on Amazons part to gain interest while funds are in their bank accounts. There just seems to be more to it.

Alycia
Alycia

HI James,

Great article, thanks for sharing. I'm in the 'research and research' stage that you are talking about. Question about your initial labels for PL - you simply whacked on a clear sticker with your logo on a generic product? Say for products that have boxes (e.g. a stapler), would you print a whole new box with your logo etc?

James Amazio
James Amazio

Thanks Jack! Yeah; I wish I could of done that. At that point, after all that back and forth.. cash flow is king here. It would of been months before and IF things even resolved. In months; I could create and sell more products, better value of time imo.

James Amazio
James Amazio
In reply to James Amazio

Forgot to answer your other questions.. if I knew what I did wrong then I could help show how to avoid lol but I don't. None of the listings ever referenced any other product.

James Amazio
James Amazio

Thank you Gary! Very informative, I will definitely keep this in mind for sure.

sueallen
sueallen
In reply to sueallen

that is why the owner of the e commerce wbeiste lfet amazon, because of all the false complain of sellers who weir jelous of her success and look at her now she is the proud owner of a 100 million dollar company do you really thin kshe could have becoem so big if she had stayed with amazon ? I think amazon need to really check if the flase complain against that seller is true before they take actions against that seller.

JJ
JJ

It was probably bad kharma as you were selling shock collars for dogs... and how do you private label something that has been around for years? Make collars that shock HARDER or LONGER than previous ones? Did you ever try one of those out on yourself? Just wondering.

Also, you are far too young to have "years and years" of experience in SEO and online startups. This seems like marketing for coaching to me.

Amit
Amit

Haters gunna Hate...

Randi
Randi

James thanks so much for sharing your story. It is a great help, and I know I speak for a lot of FBA sellers, when I say that hearing other peoples stories, good and bad, are a great help. Thanks again!

Chaz Tramayne
Chaz Tramayne

Great article, I really enjoyed reading this. One question tho, creating these new listings, how did you initially test launch these products with no product reviews, professional pictures or past sales? Is it 100% based on SEO ?

James Amazio
James Amazio
In reply to James Amazio

You buy a small sample set, and create the listings from scratch. Make the pictures via iPhone or whatever you have. It's not 100% SEO based imo; it's just making a better listing than anything else out in that niche to start.

James Amazio
James Amazio

That's a great question. I initially thought the same; I was like 'whattt?? are private labels banned now?" which I think is not the case as 3P make up a huge revenue for Amazon in general and they invested too much into FBA warehouses, etc. I would probably say it has something to do with my listings not matching the product in some way than a policy on the "type" of product.

James Amazio
James Amazio

Very good explanation. Thank you!

Dave
Dave

Excellent excellent write up, James. Thanks for the time... as well as follow up attention, that you put into this article.

Warm regards, DY

James Amazio
James Amazio
In reply to James Amazio

Thanks Dave..

Charles
Charles

Still no reply from Amazon, nothing at all! I am at least hoping to get a reply this week but I have never had anyone contact me back in freelance to my suspension. It has been 12 days

ronald mitchell
ronald mitchell

I'm in the same boat- I think I'm just going to take the kids on a mini beach vacation as Amazon is giving us so much free time- hopefully I'll hear from them while I'm there.

Anything to get my mind of Amazon sounds like a good idea to me as this is torture

:(

Mike
Mike

Hi James,

Sorry to hear about your problems with your accounts.

I was wondering if you were able to look at the listings regularly and they were not getting remapped to some other ASIN?

If they all were on the pages you started was anyone selling their items on your pages even if they were not getting the buy box?

Any new competition selling your exact items maybe with a similar item?

Charles
Charles

Finally received my first reply from Amazon after 13 days. Emailed stated I need a better plan of action to fix my problems. I only wish I understood what I did wrong.

I was told my items are " Not as advertised product/Wrong item" My high volume sellers are FBA so it isn't the wrong item part and not as advertised is because it is wallpaper and people don't like it when they see it in person. They use the not as advertised to get shipping refunded.

Ugh, stressful and frustrated

James Amazio
James Amazio

haha.. =) no worries.. it's still great advice, any of the softwares are good (I just prefer Feedbackz cause of our focus on conversions.. !)

Vicky
Vicky

We have been waiting now for almost a week for a response to our appeal. So completely frustrating. Thankfully we have only been selling for 2 months, so we don't have hundreds of thousands in inventory, but we've been selling over 10k/mo. Do you know anyone who is teaching how to read the metrics on our site and where to look to make sure we are staying compliant? We have great customer ratings and no major complaints. For some reason, Amazon notes that we do have complaints, although we can see them on our dashboard. It's hard to respond to a complaint that you haven't been made aware of. Very frustrating time...

James Amazio
James Amazio
In reply to James Amazio

Yes it sure is! Hang in there.. !

harry
harry

Hi James
Thank you for all the nuggets of information you lay out. I have been suspended for nearly a month now and I have received only one email from Amazon asking me to appeal in greater detail which I did same day. That was two weeks ago. No reply yet. Reason was POLICY VIOLATIONS and one of them was that I am selling a counterfeit product. I have been in business for 30 years and buy only from manufacturers. And I have sold hundreds of the product in question on Amazon. Surely Amazon can see that there have never been complaints before this by other buyers. however, I admit I did ignore earlier notifications but I honestly thought that no response was required because they did not ask for one.
How long does Amazon usually take before they make a decision ? How are other sellers able to build inventory with confidence after suspension ?

James Amazio
James Amazio
In reply to James Amazio

They respond anywhere in like 5 to 10 business days which equals 2-3 weeks sometimes!

kendrick huddock
kendrick huddock

Hi there James. I really learned alot from your story many thanks.

James Amazio
James Amazio
In reply to James Amazio

Awesome.. thanks Kendrick!

avi
avi

Hi,
Thanks for sharing this story.

what I am missing is that if you didn't know what is the reason for that suspension then how could you know how to start all over again? you could repeat the same error after all. I'll be happy to know what you've done differently on your second round.

Thanks,

James Amazio
James Amazio
In reply to James Amazio

You're right.. I "could" but that's just the risk you take as an entrepreneur. I didn't do anything different.. I believe I did nothing wrong in the first place and was a technical-ily issue.

Charles
Charles
In reply to Charles

Cynthia you are your team saved me and my business. The only issue was that I didn't hire you sooner. I wasted two weeks with no replies from Amazon. After I sent in the appeal your team prepared for me I was back on Amazon in two days!
What my question is now is that I would like your hard copy book. I see an Oct 1 date but I dont see where I can purchase the hard cover book. Is it out yet?
Thanks for all your help and Lesley was amazing to work with.

Cynthia Stine
Cynthia Stine
In reply to Cynthia Stine

Charles,

Thank you for your testimonial! I'm lucky to have Lesley on my team. She's awesome. My book is available on Amazon in softcover and Kindle version from me at www.suspensionprevention.com. You don't have to buy it, I'll send one to you for being our client. Give me two weeks and you should have it.

Cheers,
Cynthia

Charles
Charles
In reply to Charles

Thanks Cynthia,

I look forward to getting the book. I am not worried about the new Return Dissatisfaction Rate and the Customer Service Dissatisfaction Rate metrics. Do you have a plan set up for helping small Amazon accounts like mine say "clean" ? I am always worried about being suspended again.

Charles
Charles
In reply to Charles

That should read that I am NOW worried

Jacy Rolland
Jacy Rolland

I have been in a similar position where I had all of my listings suspended and my account shut down. Really destroyed most of our income. However, we were able to find a company called Auction Essistance that helped us get back on within a week or so.

So far so good. Right now, we are more cautious in how we operate on Amazon since the suspension happened.

Simon Grey
Simon Grey

James,

thanks for sharing your story, I too was suspended - and i've still got no idea why.

Recieved a cryptic bullsh*t email from Amazon talking about 'item does not match description'.

I have come to the conclusion it was from buyers calling Amazon to complain, becuase I wouldn't roll over and die when it came to cancellations (things i had already sent) or returns.

These customer issues somehow got turned into item issues.

As you said develop those other channels ASAP.

Anyway good luck.

S

Simon
Simon

I think Dave got it right back on August 3 when he referred to “disreputable sellers who cheat and talk smack to Amazon about competitors” and one could say the same about customers who are happy to trash a legitimate business just because they’ve changed their mind about what they bought and want their $20 back.
Managing customers’ expectations, treating them overly fairly, pandering to them and giving them stuff for nothing is far cheaper and easier than trying to deal with Seller Performance (and a customer’s positive response is good for the soul). On all levels Customer Over-satisfaction is crucial. As for Seller Performance, Dave got it right again, Amazon “DESPERATELY need a new time selling/seller performance algorithm, that gives more consideration to folks who have proven they are trying to do right by the customers. The idea that you are unable to make sensible contact with Amazon’s secret police is Bizarre and is a matter that Jeff Bezos should put above his desire for 3M more third party sellers.
Finally, it should be compulsory for all those “Gurus” out there making money, off innocents trying to start their Amazon businesses, to put Seller Performance (and avoiding Patent infringement for that matter) at the top of their agenda; and they should distribute Cynthia Stine’s book Suspension Prevention for free as part of the deal.

Cynthia Stine
Cynthia Stine

Simon,
Thank you for your kind endorsement of my book. I welcome all gurus who want to buy my book for their audiences. I'll offer a bulk discount. :) In seriousness, you are right about the need to think proactively about returns and customer satisfaction right from the beginning. It wasn't like that when I started selling five years ago. I made mistakes then that would get me suspended today. They are much more punitive today. You would think it would be in their best interest to help sellers be better rather than punish them when they inadvertently make a mistake - which is what is happening to a lot of my clients.
Cynthia

ronald mitchell
ronald mitchell

James,

Now that you went into other channels

what percent of your revenue are you getting from
1) Amazon
2) Ebay
3) Your own online store
4) or any other ave. you have gone down.

So curious as Amazon is 80% for me and I know I have to be smart and diversify

Also are you 100% back with your revenue now on Amazon?

James Amazio
James Amazio
In reply to James Amazio

Ronald,
About 90% back. I only sell on Amazon channel.

My diversity path is a bit different as I am more focused on Feedbackz than Amazon. I wanted more diversity than a portfolio of physical products, so software was the way to go for me.

- James

Charles
Charles

To Ronald,

I was suspended from Amazon four months ago and we are back at about 75% of sales from before the suspension. I am not sure if this has anything to do with the suspension or just the slow down in my industry in the fall. I am selling at about 5% down from last fall but Amazon had being growing every month for me until the suspension.

Amazon is about 25% of my business. You need to diversify ASAP. No way should you let a third party control your business. It would hurt to lose 25% of my sales if Amazon shut me down but I would not be out of business.

What I see as the issues that directly effects Amazon sellers is that I am seeing a higher percentage of growth in sales on Amazon than what I am seeing in my other sales channels. In two years Amazon will be 40% of my sales if the growth continues. But, my profit margin on Amazon sales is the lowest of all my other sales outlets.

I am going to do my best to play by Amazons rules. I know nothing lasts forever. But until then I will do my best to keep selling on Amazon

ronald mitchell
ronald mitchell
In reply to ronald mitchell

Charles! Glad you got back on!

Can you impart some wisdom to where to sell other things so I can do a better job diversifying as well?

My amazon sales are up drastically - are you using FBA? FBA increases sales so much though it does depress the profit margin

Charles
Charles

Yes we use both FBA and does help but also takes a huge inventory load as I have to stock the product at Amazon and at my own warehouse for other sales channels

We have Amazon, ebay, own site, and a brick and mortar store. Amazon has the lowest margins of all. But the volume is there so we are happy. It works for Wal Mart lol Volume over margin.

James Amazio
James Amazio
In reply to James Amazio

Great advice Charles.. absolutely right about nothing lasts forever, especially online marketplaces.

Vlad
Vlad

Hey James, great article, can you explain little more specifically how you got rid off the inventory.

Amazon blocked three of my FBA listings ( several hundred items ),one of them became more popular than amazon's own.There are others but not popular as were mine.

Seller-performance was ignoring me for 25 days, today got email saying to take it all out of their warehouses or it would be disposed.

On Ebay has zero sales so far.

Thanks

ronald
ronald

James Amazio-

When you got back on with your private label products did you make a new asin for them and rebrand them with a new product picture and description or did you literally never sell those items again?

James Amazio
James Amazio

Hey Ronald,
I moved onto other new products.

- James

Jack Phillips
Jack Phillips

Two negative feedbacks will not get you permanently suspended. Late shipments, and failure to respond to customers and A to Z claims will get you revoked, regardless of 99% positive reviews. Also, encouraging people to open multiple accounts is a major no-no, you will eventually get caught and get your accounts revoked.

Cynthia Stine
Cynthia Stine

You were shut down for product quality issues most likely, not performance metrics. For other folks reading this post, please know that getting banned is not always the last word. We have been able to get a lot of sellers reinstated who lost their accounts. It sounds like this person did not know exactly why he got suspended and - I'm guessing - his appeal was insufficient. We see this every day at my firm. Some sellers have been successful setting up new accounts - usually with a lot of trial and error - but it is against Amazon policy. That's why I focus on reinstatement. I'd rather my clients not lose all their positive reviews and have to start over again. Also, if you don't know what went wrong the first time, you'll probably repeat it in the second business. We've seen that before, too. All this is to say, also, is that there are a lot of folks out there selling books and services who promise to make it easy to fool Amazon and re-start. It is NOT easy to fool Amazon and it is MORE than a technology solution. Getting a new IP address isn't enough.

Milivoj
Milivoj

2013 my account was permanently suspended without any explanation.
Account had good ratings. 2015 My wife tried to open his account, but without success. The appeal was sent several times, but without success.

Sally B
Sally B

My account was permanently restricted just recently. I done everything I could to get it reinstated, but they wouldn't budge.

Does anyone know if Auction Essistance is a reputable company for Amazon seller accounts?

Been looking for a solution to get back on.

charles herberg
charles herberg

Contact Cynthia Stine, she had me back on after all my tries failed.

J Goldberg
J Goldberg

It was your self admitted aversion to "research" that led to your suspension. Had you invested the time to read and fully understand the complex rules and terms involved in selling on Amazon, you could've avoided all of this.

Amazon purges thousands of newbie sellers every month whose only research appears to be watching YouTube videos selling them ideas on how to get rich today selling on Amazon. As you found out (the hard way) they will not tolerate sellers who fail to understand and abide by their rules. The fact that you still cannot understand why you were suspended says a lot, and tells us you're destined to repeat it.

J Goldberg
J Goldberg

You have a limited number of replies when appealing, so it is paramount that you get it right the FIRST time. They are notorious for rejecting appeals from sellers who fail to identify, acknowledge and describe in concise detail WHAT the problems were and HOW they happened.

You need to understand they are testing you here. They have to be certain the seller FIRST understands how they've violated their policies. It's the trademark of an amateur to try and tell them how great you think you are as a seller, or try to sell them on your metrics; that is irrelevant to their decision making.

If you don't understand why you were suspended, it's really a sign that you're just not at the point where you can sell on their platform. Amazon takes it's reputation very seriously and has zero tolerance to anyone who poses a risk of tarnishing it.

Steve
Steve

It's not Amazon or the local businessman who is paying the sales tax, it is the buyer of the item. The seller merely collects the sales tax paid by the buyer and remits it to the state. Amazon collects sales tax in the states in which they are required to do so. I sell on Amazon and have been collecting sales tax and remitting to my state for years now. It has nothing to do with Amazon at all.

jerry
jerry

Some big sellers on Amazon been warning for quite some time to diversify. By taking your customers away from Amazon to your own ecommerce store. Amazon is sending letters to many manufacturers in the US asking to buy their products directly. I know a manufacture who was sent one of these letters. A friend of mine has increased his sales by 18% over the last 2 years to his ecommerce store. His sales really increased when he started using a opt in form on his website. He stated he knew Amazon would become problematic for any business. As Amazon does not like competition nor any large business. He then stated what Rockefeller said, competition is a sin.

Daniel
Daniel

Hey Guys,

thanks for this article and discussion it is very informative :) I have one question, Amazon doesnt see that this merging ASINS is a big problem? How they can ruin this whole concept by doing this? I dont understand it... Didnt they fixed it somehow from that time? :)
And how can somebody just force Amazon to merge your ASIN with another ones just to sell against your?

Cynthia Stine
Cynthia Stine
In reply to Cynthia Stine

Another seller can't force Amazon to merge ASINs unless they prove that the products are the same. Usually ASIN merges are initiated by Amazon not by sellers. Their algorithm tells them this is the same product and they merge it. Other sellers are given a chance to dispute ASIN merges which is why it is so important to keep on top of those ASIN changes messages we get from Amazon. That may be your best chance to dispute a suggested change. Otherwise you have to go talk to the catalog people and convince them that the ASIN should be un-merged.

Judy
Judy

About every 6 months Amazon tries to take me down and after a month of wrangling put me back up. Not once did the reason they cited have anything to do with the truth. My product is doing very well and cannot be purchased from anybody but me. At first I thought it was an overzealous spider of some sort but after a few episodes,each with a different random excuse, I am concluding that Amazon thinks it is going to get my product directly and sell it themselves...problem is, they can't unless they get it from me. Each time they have done this, not only did I lose a lot of money, but so did they, as customers came directly to my site instead of Amazon. Problem was, Amazon had a LOT of my inventory and would not allow me to ship orders through the amazon fulfillment center. I was loathe to have them send it all back as I figured I would then need to send it back to them when they reinstated me....and I think they have a policy that when we remove our inventory, we have to wait some months for them to sell it again...unless that was just to do with the recent "free" inventory removal offer--not sure. And another problem was that I was not equipped to do the massive amount of shipping it required of me. Agreed that we need alternatives to Amazon...any suggestions? I spend a lot of the money I earn shopping on Amazon but my feelings toward them are quickly souring. And I feel an urge to find not only another place to sell, but another place to shop. They feel like bullies to me. And as mild mannered as I am, I don't respond well to bullies.

Cynthia Stine
Cynthia Stine
In reply to Cynthia Stine

Judy,

"Truth" is in the eye of Amazon as beholder. My experience with hundreds of reinstatements has shown me that there usually is a reason why a seller is suspended, they just don't realize what it is. Then they write plans/appeals that Amazon rejects because they've not answered the fundamental question Amazon is asking them. Amazon bases its reasons on buyer feedback. You may not be happy with that and think your buyer is wrong...but you still need to address it properly with Amazon. Normally Amazon lets you fulfill other channels through FBA while you are suspended and many of my clients sell on eBay, Craig's List, etc., while they are suspended. If they didn't let you fulfill outside sales then they suspect fraud, counterfeit or stolen goods...or perhaps you misunderstood the situation. If you sell your own product, then building up your outside website is wise and will help you continue selling if Amazon does this again. Online marketing and ad campaigns can be remarkably effective for this purpose. Good luck!

Judy
Judy
In reply to Judy

Thanks Cynthia,

I understand what you are saying. In my case, not once have they asked for a change of any sort. They just apologized and (eventually) put me (as a seller) or the product back up. One challenge with selling in on Ebay or even my own website is that I have to do my own shipping and that is too much for me. I wonder if there is a company that specializes in handling storing and shipping for a reasonable price.

Cynthia Stine
Cynthia Stine
In reply to Cynthia Stine

Judy,

There are several prep and pack companies that also offer fulfillment for MF products. I work with Tony Patti of Texas Prep Pack & Ship. [email protected] I've been to his facility and I'm pleased with his service. He MF my eBay and MF products. He gets notified when I have an order and takes care of it that day. It's great.

Cheers,
Cynthia

Josesh Basha
Josesh Basha

Really cool Story man!

Cynthia Stine
Cynthia Stine

Michelle,

This could be your US account OR you may be linked to a completely different account. When you are suspended on one of the marketplaces, Amazon puts the "trace" on you (my term) and will shut down what it perceives to be new accounts you attempt to open. With the information you've provided it is hard to tell what is going on here. If you are suspended in Germany or the UK, for example, they may suspend your other EU accounts BUT they won't close them. If you can get reinstated, the others come back online as well. So to close an account means Amazon perceives you've been banned from the platform before. In practice, this is normally marketplace by marketplace which is why you were still selling after being banned from the US. This leads me to think you may be linked to another seller's account. If you are unable to resolve this issue yourself, we may be able to help.

James
James

Wow. Crazy man. Hope everything went well!

kenneth
kenneth

what happens to all of your stuff in fba after you deleted all of you item?

did u have everything sent back or did u re-attach the listings to the product via stranded inventory to get your stuff back active for sale?

Mark Hetherington
Mark Hetherington
In reply to Mark Hetherington

They stung me. I eventually got around 70% of them back and they repeatedly ignored my messages telling them there were many items missing - about £3,500 worth.

The other thing was these were all small items, batteries and chargers mostly, and they charged me PER ITEM to send them back. It cost me over £1,000 for them to return just 6 boxes of stuff to me, so with that plus the missing stock they conned me out of well over £4,000.

How many people have they done this to over the years? I've heard of people who got nothing back and no money either. I was told by Amazon that I was "lucky" to get my money. They're as bad if not worse than any scammer I've ever had to deal with.

Shauna Kutru
Shauna Kutru

Great information in the article. Amazon suspended me 2 days ago and it is becoming frustrating trying to get through them to reinstate my account. Now today, I just find out they won't appeal my suspension.

I came across Auction Essistance and their article on how to create a new stealth Amazon account. But am wondering, do you think it is safe to do?

Would it be good to create a new account or buy one?

Cynthia Stine
Cynthia Stine
In reply to Cynthia Stine

Setting up another account is against Amazon policy and they are very good at finding sellers who do this and shutting them down within a few weeks if not a few days. Are you sure your account is banned for life? We are often able to help sellers get their accounts back even when they've been previously banned. Obviously it depends on the reason for the suspension in the first place. If you are adamant about setting up another account, make sure you do it right. The cheap guys give you what you pay for. At least that's been my clients' experience. If you'd like to talk over your options, you can find me and my website online. Cheers, Cynthia

Anthony
Anthony

Hi James, Thanks for sharing your story.Lots of good lessons. I got suspended about 4 months ago and it was a really weird thing to have to go through, as mainly I wasn't really sure what they wanted or why I got suspended. Thankfully I got things solved and back on Amazon.co.uk again. It took me about 2 months partly because I had to travel but what I realized is that suspension doesn't mean you can't get back on Amazon ever again. What they wanted is that I took the humble seat and confess I was wrong even though to be honest I wasn't really sure what, and do what ever they asked and it's no use trying to convince them they are wrong and I was right. Like you said it's their playground and they make the rules. Take it or leave it..

cam
cam

I have the same story . stay away from amazon . they close my business and life.

Deniz
Deniz

It's a great article. Unfortunately we are also getting a lot of request from the suspended sellers currently. I definitely suggest not take any risk and short cuts.

frank
frank

ronald mitchell, Did you have to delete all of your listings to get reinstated?

Katey
Katey

This is what winds me up so much, I spent so much time and effort listing my thousands of products and other lazy sellers just jump on to my listing.

Louis
Louis

Hmmmmmm. Here's what I got from all of this. Recently retired was "going" to sell on Amazon. Now?

Bye bye everyone, but HEY, it was nice while it lasted..

Andy
Andy

Thank you for sharing your turbulent experience, James. I went through a similar process with no positive outcome. My sales rose $0 to $104,000/month within eight months and average $60,000/month until suspension for bogus authenticity claims. My account still shows ZERO authenticity and safety complaints. I provided proof of purchase and wrote half a dozen action plans. All to no avail. Within a month of suspension, Amazon restricted four out six product brands I sold. New sellers are required to pay $1,500 in order to list these brands.

Again, I agree with you about diversification (eBay, Wal-Mart, own website, etc). Tying all capital into one revenue stream is a risky undertaking. Please diversity and continuously look for growth opportunities.

Ken
Ken
In reply to Ken

What were you selling to generate those monthly numbers?

Mark Hetherington
Mark Hetherington

Seems to me reading from the top that the author was trying to sell his own brand in a category for a specific known brand or brands...

"you have continued to list items which violate our Condition Guidelines and/or our policies regarding product authenticity..."

listing generic or off-brand items against detail pages for SPECIFIC brands is against our terms of service..."

In other words, listing something like your own brand baked beans against detail pages intended for Heinz baked beans - not that there was anything wrong with your own brand or that you were the owner of it, but you were listing that brand in a section reserved for (for example) Heinz.

That's how I read it and that's probably why they wouldn't reopen the account.

I lost my amazon account the same way, but in my case it was a sustained and repeated attack by competitors claiming my items were fake. Nothing I did - even offering to scrap the lot and sell different items, which because of the aggravation is something I had already started to do, would get them to reverse their decision. That was 3 years ago now and I still find it odd that I was suspended rather than the account actually closed, given their insistence that I was never coming back.

I did eventually get through to a manager who admitted to me that my, and many other, suspensions were simply because they were having to spend too much staff time going through the constant negatives and A-z claims I was getting from competitors. I pointed out that for the first 2 years, until all that started happening, that I had only ever had 1 neg feedback and never had a single A-z claim (at that time I was getting 5 of each a day), and even proved that the A-z claims for item not received were fake as the items were being returned to me time after time with "Not at this address" or address not known" on them, proving beyond any doubt that these were fake addresses.

Amazon had supported me at first but in the end admitted that it was just easier to shut me down. My point is don't rely on getting back on Amazon even if you haven't done anything wrong. If your presence is costing them money, you're out.

S French
S French

Interesting article, but sorry, I don't get it. You said you didn't know why you were suspended yet when you appealed they told you that you were suspended for listing non-branded goods in a category reserved for specific brands (or words to that effect).

So why exactly don't you understand why you were suspended? Seems clear enough to me.

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