I'm interested in what you say about sending them a letter before action to the small claims court. Do you think this is an option for us, if so any advice on how to proceed with that much appreciated. This is our situation (sorry it's long but it is what it is). I think I have been much too patient for much too long, I need to find a way to move forward with this.

The background is that we joined Amazon's European Fulfilment Network (EFN) because it meant that we could register for VAT in just one EU country (in our case Spain) and have access to the entire EU market by FBA from Spain.

But then we started to notice a problem with customer returns.

A "brief" review of what happened is below. You can see the full story here: https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/seller-forums/discussions/t/e63f0a7a-9122-4d11-9a62-164025109fb2.

I'm just looking to be treated fairly and be adequately recompensed, nothing more.

It is almost a year since this case was first opened. In July 2024, I was told:

"The system works by returning units to the closest fulfilment center, and once there, we automatically send units to another warehouse within your allowed countries for storage. It might happen some times, that the transshipment to the final destination is delayed so you see these units stored outside ES."

This was followed up with:

"Be informed that all details has been reviewed carefully and diligently and as a result of our exhaustive investigation we have found that our internal team has request the inventory to be moved to ES FCs. Changes will be visible in 14 days."

When they were not transhipped to ES this was followed up by:

"Please be informed we had requested transshipment for the remained units and they will be transfer to ES market. Changes will be visible in 14 days."

When they were still not transhipped to ES this was followed up by:

"I am sorry that there have been upload errors. I reviewed your account and am glad to have found that removal orders have since been successfully created."

We're now in September 2024, and I am told:

"It is understood that you are now reporting that removal orders are showing successful completion but not correctly reflecting in the Inventory Ledger which is a technical issue that requires a separate investigation."

By December 2024 still no inventory had been moved back to Spain and we were still being charged monthly storage and long term storage fees for multiple unauthorised Amazon warehouses across the EU (we had received some reimbursements for these, but they kept being charged again each month - and still are!). I received this.

"I sincerely appreciate your candor and the comprehensive overview of the challenges you've faced.

I acknowledge your points regarding:

- The ongoing delay in returning products to Spain

- The discrepancy between reimbursements and actual losses incurred

- The significant time and effort you've invested in addressing this issue

- The impact on your business operations and cash flow

I understand your frustration, especially given my previous communication about potential compensation. I apologize for any confusion this may have caused.

While I cannot promise any specific outcomes at this time, I want you to know that your case is receiving high-level attention."

Then in January 2025, this (at this time contrary to what is said below, no items had been successfully removed back to Spain):

"We're continuing to push for the transfer of your remaining inventory to the correct Spain FCs. Some items have been successfully moved, but we acknowledge that there are still units stuck in unauthorized locations."

Then later in January 2025, this:

"I hear your concerns about feeling that Amazon is working against you or is indifferent. I want to assure you that this is not the case. We take your situation very seriously, and I'm actively pushing for a more substantial resolution. While I can't promise specific outcomes, I've escalated your case to our senior management, emphasizing the need for fair compensation that reflects the prolonged nature of this issue and its impact on your business."

Then by February 2025, still no items had been moved back to ES and at this point Amazon gave up trying to do this and instead purchased them from us (which is possibly the only positive thing that has happened so far during this entire case). At that time I received this:

"Regarding the inventory that was previously in unauthorized EU warehouses:

This inventory has already been processed through our resolution.

As communicated earlier, Amazon has purchased these units and they are no longer part of your account's inventory.

Since all previous inventory has been resolved through reimbursement and purchase by Amazon, there are no remaining units in unauthorized locations under your seller account.

Therefore, you will not incur any storage fees for these items."

By March, we were still receiving long-term storage charges for items in various unauthorized warehouses. And I received this.

"We have escalated this matter to our specialized team on March 11th for a thorough review of the long-term storage fees charged to your account for the Italian marketplace. While this review is still in progress, I want to assure you that we will honor and reimburse these charges once our internal review is completed."

Then, later in March, this.

"We have identified 9 units still present in various EU locations and are actively working to resolve this inventory situation.

Our technical team is reviewing the ongoing storage fee charges, and we remain committed to processing all applicable reimbursements once this review is complete."

Then in April this.

"Thank you for your follow-up regarding the 9 units in unauthorized EU locations. I can confirm that we are coordinating with our internal teams to process both:

The purchase of these remaining units. The reimbursement of associated storage fees."

Then earlier this month, this.

"We are experiencing a technical difficulty with this case due to its age which is not allowing it to route to me.

Please note I have been working with the Inventory Ledger team to come to a resolution. None of the units that display in the ledger for the other countries actually exist in our inventory. They are resyncing the data.

This process should reflect by tomorrow where we will be able to see which units are "real" and which ones were delayed data.I will follow up tomorrow to check.

In regards to financial compensation, we will not be able to commit to any compensation. We do not reimburse for perceived financial losses.

The root of the problem was that the units were in fulfillment centers in other countries. In January, we fixed this problem. There are no units actually located in other countries anymore. There is a data lag causing them to appear on the inventory ledger report even though they are not there. This is the issue I am working to fix right now.

If there are fees that need to be reimbursed, we can certainly do that. As I stated in my previous email, you will need to provide the fee reports so that we can calculate the value."

And this.

"I need to clarify an important point: EFN (European Fulfilment Network) requires exports to be enabled for all EU marketplaces (DE, ES, FR, IT). Without exports enabled, you cannot participate in EFN meaning your inventory in Spain can only be fulfilled to customers in Spain. If you enable exports and enroll in EFN, your customers will return their products to German fulfillment centers and become stranded there."

In relation to that, we had previously been told to disable international exports for the UK and Spain otherwise the problems of this case will continue indefinitely.

At the time, I assumed that international exports meant exports outside of the particular economic zone. For Spain, that would be for exports outside the EU.

Otherwise, it didn't make sense because the EFN system would not work without being able to send from Spain to Germany, etc.

But now, I'm told that it really does mean that FBA orders can only be sent within the UK and Spain, not to any other countries in the EU. So essentially, there is no EFN system.

The resolution suggested by Amazon is for us to use a 3rd party courier or shipping service to have items removed from the unauthorized warehouses within the EU. However, we know that for many months, Amazon tried many times themselves to remove those items from those unauthorized warehouses and were unable to, and in the end, purchased them from us instead.

So if Amazon themselves cannot remove the items, and we do not have even have access in our seller central account to the unauthorized warehouses because they're unauthorized, obviously, we cannot remove them. Amazon must know this.

Of course, the reality is that the EFN system just does not work, but they don't want to come out and say that. There is no EFN system. And for the past 11 months, we have just been totally wasting our time.

We wasted our time setting up the VAT there. Everything we've done has been pointless. And we're told there is no recompense because this is just a perceived loss!

And because we still believed there was an EFN system and sent products to Spain, these products will now themselves be attracting long-term storage fees soon because the amount of products sent was based on selling to all of the EU, yet now only customers in Spain can purchase them. In relation to this, we received this.

"For your current inventory in Spain, if you wish to avoid long-term storage fees while maintaining your no-exports policy, we recommend working with a freight forwarder to remove or redistribute the units."

And this:

"In regards to financial compensation, we will not be able to commit to any compensation. We do not reimburse for perceived financial losses."

Talk about kicking you when you're down!

While I agree that this is a perceived financial loss, the reason that it is a perceived financial loss is because it is also a very real financial loss.

If anyone, either at Amazon or other sellers, who look through this case, can come up with a scenario where this could happen and result in no real financial loss, I'll be very interested to hear what they've got to say.

Now, today, there's been yet more long term storage charges from Italy. It is now a week since I was told that Amazon will be contacting me the next day about the data resyncing. I've still not been updated me about that.

We just want to be treated fairly - for the storage fees and long term storage fees for unauthorised warehouses to be fully refunded, future charges to be stopped, and for fair compensation for the loss this issue has caused, so we can all move on.