Amazon setting listing as inactive without notice
I listed an item and obviously was approved to sell it... after making sure that the listing was live I purchased the goods (for $45k) and sent them straight into Amazon FBA,
Still before arriving at Amazon! my listing was set to inactive without any violation or proper email alert! the only way I saw it was by random checking on the listing...
I contacted Amazon and was told that they are not accepting applications to sell this product... (which is btw false as there are still multiple sellers on it as well I asked a friend to check at his account and he was approved to sell it) when asking them what happened as I was approved just one day earlier and now after sending in my stock it became inactive there was no one to talk to (sadly) and my only option is to remove the goods which will obviously cost me a fortune, mess up my warehouse and after all I won't have what to do with it as I bought it to sell on amazon, not to put them nicely in my warehouse to collect dust..
Finally amazon please save my business and money and reactivate that listing for me as soon as possible!
Writing (without emotions) a thankful seller partner who is waiting for your helpful assistance here.
7 replies
Seller_kIukTwdhvntAp
"I listed an item and obviously was approved to sell it.."
The first problem is believing that allowing you to list an item means that you are "approved" to sell anything.
You are confusing AMAZON allowing you to list (or even possibly "ungate") an item or category and actually being APPROVED to sell a product. AMAZON is only interested in FEES. They will allow a chimpanzee to list if it means they collect $$$$$.
Now they are collecting $40 month PLUS storage fees from you so they are making some cash.
The first question is -- Are you authorized IN WRITING by the BRAND to sell their items on Amazon? That means from the BRAND, not some random wholesale source that can NOT authorize anything – they only SELL.
More and more brands have provided a "whitelist" of their approved sellers and if YOU are NOT on the list you will be stopped in your tracks and probably hit with an IP violation.
The second (and probably more important) question is -- Where are you sourcing your products? Are you buying direct from the brand or through an AUTHORIZED wholesale source?
Have you verified with the BRAND that your distributor IS an authorized wholesale distributor for ALL of their products. Some wholesalers are only allowed to distribute portions of a product line.
Seller_rI7BZIczK8iAC
We see that you are a very new seller. So, don't wait us to believe that you sent goods for $ 45k to FBA. I really hope for you that this is not true.
If this is a brand and you don't have a "Letter of Authorization" from the brand Amazon will confiscate and destroy your products.
As soon as you see the goods arrive, immediately try to create a removal order to - at least - save your goods. But, most probably your seller account is lost forever.
Btw. seeing your friend be approved doesn't mean anything. YOU also, you were approved beforehand.
Seller_E8mL3eW2WFX39
You have to have a LOA from the manufacturer or master distributor. I know everyone assumes since someone told you it was okay, it's okay. They say anything to sell something. Amazon will let you list anything and had you of sold this from home, it may of not been set to inactive as a generic for a while.
Here's our example that happened here on Amazon. We are the manufacturer and the master distributor. We had a client who purchases bulk and we private label for. Our pricing system is on tiers , tier 1-3, this client was lower than the lowest tier because of their size and what they buy in massive volume.
Well someone decided some how to buy extra and sell it themselves. They sold it at a very cheap price to someone selling , on Amazon.
Long story short we shut them down, our customer had to investigate fired and have arrested an employee who started his own "distributor business" and the guy who bought the inventory from him lost all his inventory he sent to FBA.
Now our customer wrote it off as theft, so we got the inventory back after 6 months from Amazon. That's where it goes, Amazon doesn't keep and sell it their selves they send it back if a complaint is filed not sure what they do if one isn't though.
LOA is important because it protects customers and it protects us. Our business model is only we can sell on Amazon, resellers have to stay in a certain range on products unless they contact us to clearance them (most not all customers). Our end users cannot resale (we can't stop them on ebay though but their pricing is so high they can't go below our pricing model).
We do this because one company can buy 5 million and the other may buy 50k. We don't want the 5 million company significantly under pricing the 50k one. That's why the range exist and the pricing is set. This is all contractual which if you didn't get an LOA you could sell at any price without the contract. Most manufacturers do not allow that but some small ones in china that make junk anyhow.
Seller_p5Dbz5RBsOSzf
[Moderator Edit: removed inappropriate commentary]. Amazon has enforced a new verification this year. Noticing that even with a previous approved invoice where Amazon releases the ability for you to sell those goods. They have been closing or making sellers reverify AGAIN. It's never happened before, this year, they have enforced a lot of new methods they are using. At the ends, yes, you need an LOA. That's the ONLY real way behind anything. But you know Amazon... they will gladly take the commission all day long and then shoot later when an issue arises.
I swear. Amazon sellers in the forum are no different than any other forums out there. [Moderator Edit: removed inappropriate commentary]
Rose_Amazon
Hi @top_queen
Thanks for the post. Can you share the case id that you opened with Seller Support.
Thanks in advance.
Rose_Amazon
