Amazon, the well-known online retail giant boldly promises its sellers:

“Reach hundreds of millions of Amazon customers worldwide — fast.”

“Sell more as Amazon’s world-class fulfilment resources and expertise take care of your orders, shipments and customer service.”

Published by Amazon at https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/ on 25 October 2019.

Sounds enticing doesn’t it? For many small business start-ups, Amazon, with its claim to reach “hundreds of millions” of potential customers, seems like a savvy place to start. Sadly, there are many entrepreneurs, who, like myself, can recount quite a different experience to the “care” Amazon promises. Devastating mismanagement and neglect at the hands of Amazon has sent me, and many others, speeding down a path that has led to both personal and business failure.

My aim here is not to bombard you with another ranting complaint. I am compelled to contribute my story to the amassing pile of bad experiences already published online to:

bring to public attention the reality of being an Amazon Seller,

support the stories of those before me with my own confirmation,

seek help and/or advice for myself and every other Amazon victim and,

to provide a warning to anyone considering Amazon as a selling platform.

My Story

In early 2018 I began working for a company producing recycling bins. My job was to sell them and the first online channel we chose was the renowned Amazon Europe.

We opened an account on the 24th April 2018. We had chosen the Fulfilment by Amazon Program that promised to provide an end-to-end storage and logistics service. The process to set up the account was arduous and we spent many hours on the phone with Amazon customer service advisers, watching video tutorials and trying to navigate the extremely complicated seller interface.

Finally, on the 8th May 2018, we were ready to send our first shipment of stock to the Amazon warehouse and were given a delivery window that was reasonable, so, despite the problematic account set-up, we felt positive. It was estimated that, once the shipment of stock had been delivered to the Amazon warehouse, a day or two would be needed for processing; the products would be listed under our seller account on the Amazon website, our inventory count would be updated and we would effectively ‘go-live’ quite soon after that. So, we dispatched our stock and waited.

Goods worth €3000 disappear in an Amazon warehouse.

After a week had passed our online shop account still declared zero inventory. We began to worry and contacted Amazon again to enquire. Amazon requested a copy of the proof of delivery which we forwarded by email immediately. The document had been signed by an Amazon employee who had taken receipt of the shipment of stock on arrival at the Amazon warehouse. This slip of paper was the only documentation we had received from Amazon in relation to the shipment and receipt of these goods.

Perturbingly, Amazon informed us that the proof of delivery document was ‘incorrect’ which triggered an exchange of repetitive and ongoing messages. Most of the communications from Amazon appeared to be standard template text copied and pasted over and over again. Only the name in the signature changed.

Eventually, after messaging back and forth, we were told that the shipment had never been received at the Amazon warehouse after all and that we should refer to the shipping company…! We could not believe that, despite the signed delivery note, Amazon had actually lost 2 pallets of stock valued at €3,000 and were blatantly avoiding any ownership of responsibility for having lost them. After some 4 weeks of back and forth correspondence and many hours on the phone, magically, on the 3rd of July, the stock suddenly appeared in our Amazon shop inventory and our product was finally available to purchase.

The daily dose of ‘Amazon Seller’ fun.

Little did we know that the real ‘Amazon seller’ fun was only just getting started. On a daily basis we dealt with misplaced or damaged stock in the Amazon warehouse, deleted customer reviews (we are yet to receive an explanation for this), payments made to us in a currency we did not agree and other seller’s ‘returned’ products being sent to us in error (including a mattress…). All the while, we patiently persisted, trying to ‘be like water’, as we accepted every incoming problem and dealt with it as if it were normal everyday business activity. Needless to say, we knew the sheer volume and regularity of incoming issues was not normal at all.

This is the reality of selling on Amazon. A quick Google search and you will find the world wide web is full of posts with stories about the mess Amazon creates for sellers, a mess that often ruins their business and personal life. The worst was yet to come as I was soon to experience such a downfall for myself.

Creating and deactivating Amazon accounts.

In January 2019 the company producing the recycling bins decided that they would like me to become an independent distributor of their products. This meant I would need to open my own company and sell on Amazon under my own name and account. So, on 26th March 2019, I messaged Amazon to ask if there was a simple way to change the company information on the existing account. Or, if not, what would they advise me to do instead.

A customer service representative advised me to open a new account for my own company but keep the old account open to maintain access to historical account data such as sales reports.

On 13th May 2019 the old account completed its final transaction and would be kept open for a further 30 days in case of customer returns. Any returned products would be sent, by Amazon, back to the producer. It was agreed that once all possible customer returns had been processed the account would be considered clear with no stock.

I opened my own account, under my own name, with my own VAT number, bank account, address and so on. Then, on 16th of May 2019 I received notification of the first sale under this new account.

Amazon’s ‘magical’ stock management practises.

This time I was prepared for the previously mentioned “Amazon seller’ fun”. In the weeks and months to follow there wasn’t a single day that I didn’t have to follow up on an issue. The Amazon warehouse maintained its ‘magical’ stock management practises. One day, much to my surprise, the inventory report following a 2nd shipment of stock declared there were more products than I had sent! Even worse, the account inventory report counted more of one product variant (of the two variants I sell) and less of the other, while neither count reflected what I had shipped. I asked Amazon again and again to check the shipment, count the items and explain where the discrepancies had occurred. I never received an answer to this enquiry.

I began receiving many returns from customers who had received the wrong product. It’s not hard to guess why… Amazon had been neglectfully ignoring the barcode printed on the box and had assigned the products incorrectly.

I sell two kinds of recycling bins. One with a lid and one without. If you order a bin without a lid and you get one with a lid you probably don’t mind. But if you order a bin with a lid and receive one without a lid you will likely wish to return it.

The unavoidable consequence of Amazon’s mismanagement of my stock is that I accumulated too many negative customer reviews and, therein, lost sales. Amazon has never acknowledged this mismanagement and it remains, to this day, one of the unsolved cases dangling on my account. One customer service adviser ventured to assure me not to worry, that Amazon sometimes finds missing items after a year or so and corrects their errors! As you can imagine this did not make me feel any better.

An account with no stock sells ghost products.

Meanwhile, in June and July of 2019, two transactions occurred on the old account, an account, might I add, that has no stock… I reported this to Amazon, pointing out that perhaps they linked the sale/stock to the wrong seller as I was the only seller that had these particular items in stock at the time. I know this because I have an exclusivity agreement with the producer for selling this unique product on Amazon. Amazon replied that they are sorry and that, since it had already happened, nothing could be done about it. Later, even more stock ‘magically’ appeared on the old account’s inventory that was obviously missing on my new account.

The case of the disappearing returns.

During this time, I was working with Amazon on yet another case: The request to return 10 damaged and unsellable bins was created on 1st and 14th Aug. When this happens, the bins should be returned, by Amazon, to me. After a month I started investigating the whereabouts of these items. I repeatedly received the same copy-and-paste answers with the advice that it was peak season and I should allow 30 days from the order date. I received two items out of the ten sent. Two months later and I still not received an update from Amazon or the bins. In due course, I was told that reopening my case would not speed things up. This case is still unresolved. Curiously, another return shipment created in September had already arrived, just a week from the request date.

Computer says ‘no’…

As this case was taking so long I started pressing the matter saying that it is not acceptable given all the above. I asked for the items to be sent immediately or reimbursed. That same day, 2nd October 2019, I received an email saying that my…

“…account is related to an account that may not be used to sell on our site. As a result, you may no longer sell on Amazon.”

I immediately asked for an explanation. Was this decision related to the old, deactivated account that we were told to keep open? After all, we still had unresolved issues on that account awaiting Amazon’s response. I tried calling, emailing, asking for a reason and advice on what to do to correct the situation. I even tweeted Amazon… No answer.

The payment of £800+ Amazon owes to me from recent sales is blocked. At the same time, I was charged a fee of €300 for the storage of stock. The frozen, but sellable, stock still sitting in the Amazon warehouse is worth €11,470. I cannot retrieve this stock or sell it and I am losing money with every passing day.

In addition, the few reimbursements Amazon had already made to me for bins that had been damaged or lost by their employees in their warehouse, were reversed and the amount withdrawn from my bank account without my consent. Another case that is still unexplained.

A week passed without any communication from Amazon. The case relating to my account reactivation was closed without explanation during this week of silence and ALL the messages I had sent, except the initial enquiry, had also been removed. Luckily, this time, I have a personal copy in PDF of these messages.

On the 11th October 2019 I received an email from Amazon that states:

“We reviewed your account and the information you provided and decided that you should not sell on Amazon.com. Your account is related to another account that is not allowed to sell merchandise on Amazon.com. Due to the nature of our company, we provide no information about our audit methods.”

With the hope of reactivating my own account, we requested to permanently close the old company account, despite the fact that we were told to keep it open and, despite the outstanding enquiries. Some three weeks later, Amazon refuses to close this old account or resolve any of the outstanding cases.

Where to from here?

My account shows outstanding seller performance, all messages answered promptly, all fees paid on time. Now I am left with no answer, ignored, in debt and with nobody to speak to about how to proceed. This Amazon account is my only source of income. I am not able to pay the Amazon charges if I don’t receive money from sales via Amazon in the first place. I do not know how I can pay my bills and buy food. Currently, I am surviving on a high-interest credit card.

I realise I am just one of many small businesses who have been smashed by this giant for no apparent reason. If there is anybody out there who can help please speak up. I am reaching out to all citizens of the world in complete desperation and in fear of the dreadful possibility of ending up in a cardboard box under the bridge…

Your advice and/or support, not just for me, but for all Amazon sellers would be hugely appreciated.