Section 3 Online Arbitrage Acct Deactivated
My account has been deactivated due to Section 3
The Amazon account health team is asking me for Letters of Authorization from the brand owner or an authorized distributor of the brand stating that I am approved to resell their product.
The retailers that I've purchased from will not provide a Letter of Authorization.
My question: If I purchase from an online retailer (Walmart, Walgreens, Bed Bath & Beyond, ect...) and resell it on Amazon, have I violated Amazon's Terms of Service?
Section 3 Online Arbitrage Acct Deactivated
My account has been deactivated due to Section 3
The Amazon account health team is asking me for Letters of Authorization from the brand owner or an authorized distributor of the brand stating that I am approved to resell their product.
The retailers that I've purchased from will not provide a Letter of Authorization.
My question: If I purchase from an online retailer (Walmart, Walgreens, Bed Bath & Beyond, ect...) and resell it on Amazon, have I violated Amazon's Terms of Service?
13 replies
Seller_TWo4Qrx2gFY0j
Yes. And if your items are "at" Amazon, they may no longer be yours! You will have to prove authenticity to get them back.
Seller_OvL8C4BJWiuS9
Those are retailers you purchased from, so they do not have invoices or LOA's for you. You were attempting do online arbitrage which is no longer an acceptable business practice on Amazon.
Seller_kIukTwdhvntAp
"If I purchase from an online retailer (Walmart, Walgreens, Bed Bath & Beyond, ect...) and resell it on Amazon, have I violated Amazon's Terms of Service? "
Seriously? The question was asked and answered in your FIRST post from about a week ago when you asked about a WALMART LOA.
"Section 3 Online Arbitrage Acct Deactivated"
You are suspended. What do you think the answer is?
I'll try again since you missed the message the first time --
There are two important questions that you need to address these days for selling on Amazon – get it right the first time since Amazon has become even MORE unforgiving than in the past!
DO YOU have an LOA from the brand allowing you to sell on here?
DID YOU source from AUTHORIZED wholesale sources that your rep at the brand says are OK?
If you don't already have these in place you are probably going to have stranded inventory and a suspended account.
For any rookies out there reading this, please take the following information into account so you don't end up where the OP is!
HINT #1 -- VACATION MODE -- NOW!
HINT #2 -- SELLER U -- NOW!
https://sell.amazon.com/learn
There are two important questions that you need to address these days for selling on Amazon --
DO YOU have an LOA from the brand allowing you to sell on here?
DID YOU source from AUTHORIZED wholesale sources that your rep at the brand says are OK?
If you don't already have these in place you are probably going to have stranded inventory and a suspended account.
For any rookies out there reading this, please take the following information into account so you don't end suspended!
HINT #1 -- VACATION MODE -- NOW!
HINT #2 -- SELLER U – NOW!
If you don;t want to follow the advice above, go directly to this step and save some time --
https://sell.amazon.com/learn
HINT #3 -- Start writing your "please help with my Section 3 suspension' letter NOW. It will save you time when you get it.
Pay attention to this recent story in the Amazon 'news' from September 25, 2024.
Sellers were given a 5 day warning that this was being put in place. Sellers have posted that LOAs are required in Europe, so you can see the handwriting on the walls -- this is coming for EVERYTHING on Amazon eventually!
"Updates to listing products with compliance requirements, effective September 30, 2024"
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/headlines.html?id=GTF566XNEPCPXKDM&ref=nslp_at_6_GTF566XNEPCPXKDM_en-US_ttl_rf_recent_news_7
Seller_Sram36TnVt73c
It depends on the products and how you were grading them.
If you were trying to sell an item that has a warranty, and you graded it as NEW, that was a mis-grade, as the warranty would be voided since you are not an authorized reseller. These products would have to be graded as USED.
The other risk is re-selling established brands. Even if a product has no warranty, brands may have restrictions on who can sell or even IF the product can be sold on Amazon.
FYI, retailers do not issue LOA's; brands do that. If you are buying through retailers, the brand owners are not going to give you an LOA.
Seller_nRFmxiQg4EGrw
Of course they won't. They don't have that authority; you need LoA FROM THE BRAND.
And since you are buying retail, you don't even have an INVOICE, which is the first step in any authenticity complaint.
Most likely. At the very least, you have no way of showing that your items are authentic or authorized, so it takes only one single complaint for you to be done selling on Amazon.
Amazon has stated that the ONLY way to resolve a complaint such as this is to provide that Letter of Authorization that they asked for; which obviously you cannot do. No apology or Plan of Action will change the fact that you need that document.
You're done selling here. Period.
Seller_nRFmxiQg4EGrw
They might very well be able to. One prominent RA advocate (who has since suddenly disappeared) bragged that he had gotten out of 17 IP violations in the last few months. He finally told us that he pays a law firm hundreds of dollars/month to handle it; but it does appear it finally ran out.
There are a lot of people preying on desperate sellers; I would suggest that if an attorney promises to get you reinstated, that it should come with a "pay only if you win" contract, or at least find one that will charge minimally if you lose.
If you have items in FBA, a lawyer may at least be able to get that inventory returned to you so that you can sell it elsewhere. But honestly, based on the various posts over the last year+, I think that is the best you can reasonably hope for. But good luck with it! Let us know if you are somehow able to survive this.
