Suspended account for attempting to affect a competitor by leaving negative product reviews through buyer accounts.
Hey guys,
Our account was suspended a little over two months ago and here is why Amazon has done so:
We have taken this measure because your account has attempted to affect a competitor by leaving negative product reviews through buyer accounts.
They then go on to say:
If you believe your account has been deactivated in error, please provide an explanation. Your explanation should include the following:
An explanation of why the deactivation should be reversed.
Evidence or examples that demonstrate your account complies with our Selling Policies and Seller Code of Conduct.
Supporting evidence for the explanation above, including but not limited to invoices, receipts, orders, or emails.
Long story short, about a year and a half ago, we had a supplier based in the USA who we were working with intimately go rogue. This supplier data mined us for 6 – 12 months while supplying us with product. Eventually, we became aware of what had been happening and terminated the relationship. After doing some digging we noticed that this supplier had been inflicting damage to our business in a multitude of ways. They left fake negative reviews on our listing (the product he was supplying us with), they stole our IP, launched products ahead of us that we were sampling with this supplier, mimicked all of our offerings, and a whole host of other very malicious activities.
We tried reporting the fake reviews, and submitted IP infringement claims, but nothing was accepted or acted upon by Amazon, unfortunately. Out of frustration, we left a fake negative review as a rebuttal, which was a terrible, emotion-driven mistake that we made.
I can only assume that our ex-supplier went to great lengths to submit different claims, appeals, etc... against us which seems to have triggered a full account review.
As I mentioned, our account has been deactivated for two months now, but we have also been issued a Policy Violation warning due to an improper variation issue (which seems to be happening across the board for sellers) and a Restricted Product Policy Violation. The last one doesn’t make any sense and is something we are trying to fight as they are labeling our product as a pesticide when it is in no way, shape, a pesticide –– not even in the same category. But all of this leads us to believe that Amazon is cracking down on our account.
We’ve submitted multiple appeals through the Amazon Account Health page, and have even escalated multiple times to different Execs. Zero luck so far. On a more positive note, they did accept our funds disbursement appeal, so it feels like they’re willing to give us a chance, but we’re clearly not saying the right things. I know we made a terrible mistake, and this has certainly been a hard lesson learned, but does anyone have any advice on how we might be able to get reinstated, and how we should approach this?
Please help. This is crushing us.
Suspended account for attempting to affect a competitor by leaving negative product reviews through buyer accounts.
Hey guys,
Our account was suspended a little over two months ago and here is why Amazon has done so:
We have taken this measure because your account has attempted to affect a competitor by leaving negative product reviews through buyer accounts.
They then go on to say:
If you believe your account has been deactivated in error, please provide an explanation. Your explanation should include the following:
An explanation of why the deactivation should be reversed.
Evidence or examples that demonstrate your account complies with our Selling Policies and Seller Code of Conduct.
Supporting evidence for the explanation above, including but not limited to invoices, receipts, orders, or emails.
Long story short, about a year and a half ago, we had a supplier based in the USA who we were working with intimately go rogue. This supplier data mined us for 6 – 12 months while supplying us with product. Eventually, we became aware of what had been happening and terminated the relationship. After doing some digging we noticed that this supplier had been inflicting damage to our business in a multitude of ways. They left fake negative reviews on our listing (the product he was supplying us with), they stole our IP, launched products ahead of us that we were sampling with this supplier, mimicked all of our offerings, and a whole host of other very malicious activities.
We tried reporting the fake reviews, and submitted IP infringement claims, but nothing was accepted or acted upon by Amazon, unfortunately. Out of frustration, we left a fake negative review as a rebuttal, which was a terrible, emotion-driven mistake that we made.
I can only assume that our ex-supplier went to great lengths to submit different claims, appeals, etc... against us which seems to have triggered a full account review.
As I mentioned, our account has been deactivated for two months now, but we have also been issued a Policy Violation warning due to an improper variation issue (which seems to be happening across the board for sellers) and a Restricted Product Policy Violation. The last one doesn’t make any sense and is something we are trying to fight as they are labeling our product as a pesticide when it is in no way, shape, a pesticide –– not even in the same category. But all of this leads us to believe that Amazon is cracking down on our account.
We’ve submitted multiple appeals through the Amazon Account Health page, and have even escalated multiple times to different Execs. Zero luck so far. On a more positive note, they did accept our funds disbursement appeal, so it feels like they’re willing to give us a chance, but we’re clearly not saying the right things. I know we made a terrible mistake, and this has certainly been a hard lesson learned, but does anyone have any advice on how we might be able to get reinstated, and how we should approach this?
Please help. This is crushing us.
4 replies
Emet_Amazon
Hello @j_dog,
Thank you for posting your concerns with your account deactivation.
We have taken this measure because your account has attempted to affect a competitor by leaving negative product reviews through buyer accounts.
Long story short, about a year and a half ago, we had a supplier based in the USA who we were working with intimately go rogue. This supplier data mined us for 6 – 12 months while supplying us with product. Eventually, we became aware of what had been happening and terminated the relationship. After doing some digging we noticed that this supplier had been inflicting damage to our business in a multitude of ways. They left fake negative reviews on our listing (the product he was supplying us with), they stole our IP, launched products ahead of us that we were sampling with this supplier, mimicked all of our offerings, and a whole host of other very malicious activities.
We tried reporting the fake reviews, and submitted IP infringement claims, but nothing was accepted or acted upon by Amazon, unfortunately. Out of frustration, we left a fake negative review as a rebuttal, which was a terrible, emotion-driven mistake that we made.
We’ve submitted multiple appeals through the Amazon Account Health page, and have even escalated multiple times to different Execs. Zero luck so far. On a more positive note, they did accept our funds disbursement appeal, so it feels like they’re willing to give us a chance, but we’re clearly not saying the right things. I know we made a terrible mistake, and this has certainly been a hard lesson learned, but does anyone have any advice on how we might be able to get reinstated, and how we should approach this?
The concern with this situation is that it is a dispute only scenario, if you left a negative review, I cannot guarantee the eligibility for reactivation. We will need to see how your actions were not in violation of our code of conduct policy, or that you never left this review.
As I mentioned, our account has been deactivated for two months now, but we have also been issued a Policy Violation warning due to an improper variation issue (which seems to be happening across the board for sellers) and a Restricted Product Policy Violation. The last one doesn’t make any sense and is something we are trying to fight as they are labeling our product as a pesticide when it is in no way, shape, a pesticide –– not even in the same category. But all of this leads us to believe that Amazon is cracking down on our account.
Regarding your restricted product policy concern you can see our pesticide policy page. Even if your product is not a pesticide or related product, the use of specific phrasing may cause it to be identified as such. Removing or updating your phrasing on the listing can usually help. If you need support on this, provide your ASIN so I can look further into the situation.
Similar to above, what is the ASIN associated with your variation concerns. What variation type are your using, do all of the child ASIN match this variation type exactly? Do you have a case ID where you've reached out for support on this? I would suggest primarily focusing on the account deactivation over the listing violations.
The forums community and I are here to support you. Please let us know how we can help you from this point forward.
Emet.
