Amazon: Seller Beware

I've sold maybe four things on Amazon over the past five years.

Never had any trouble until I decided to sell my VX2000 camcorder.

I receive an letter from Amazon saying the item has sold and that I should ship now.

"Great!" I say to myself (probably out loud).

But then I check the amazon account... no money.

So I check the order:

"Your seller account is currently under review."

Under review and I had only sold four things.

The review process they link to says they could hold the money up to THIRTY DAYS while they complete their review into the four items I sold over the past five years, but that I should go ahead and mail the item out anyway while they decide what to do with my money.

So I appeal.

And I call.

And I appeal again.

NOW they say that they're going to hold onto "a portion" of the money while they complete their investigation and that the portion they aren't holding in reserve should be available as soon as I ship the item.

So I ship the item.

The "portion" they are holding is 100%.

Which isn't a portion at all... it's ALL of it.

"Not to worry!" they say... The full amount will be released at the end of the current cycle, which coincidentally ends the very same day I'm set to move to Spain.

THIS has never happened before. It's completely ridiculous, and every time I called amazon to speak to a real person I got some STOOGE in a foreign country who wasn't able to actually do anything because amazon outsourced their call center to people in Cambodia and parts of South America.

I believe it was literally people who got calls at their home and pretended to be Amazon reps and just typed in whatever the complaint was and read back exactly what the BS emails I was getting said.

I would be very, very, EXTREMELY wary of dealing with Amazon because right now this move and my entire life are in Jeopardy.

Best case scenario? The money is available the day I leave which means I won't be able to get it until about a week later when it arrives in my bank account.

Worse case scenario? They decide to hold onto all or some of it and I won't be able to move into my apartment and I'll be homeless in a foreign country sometime in the next two weeks.

(I would like to warn one and all that NOW is not the time to jump on the corporate bandwagon... you've been warned.)

I just wouldn't have shipped until I had the money.

Actually I wouldn't sell anything anywhere but here

ratbuddy said:

I just wouldn't have shipped until I had the money.

Actually I wouldn't sell anything anywhere but here

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Tried that. If things handn't come down to the wire then I *wouldn't* have shipped.

First I tried craigslist, then I tried, ebay, then I tried Amazon as a last resort, and still... even before shipping it, I tried here.

I just couldn't take any risk with THIS money and only a few days left before I'm out of the country.

So, we're taking up a "Keep Rainless outta the rain" fund?

Holy h3ll! That's insane! Thanks for the warning, I think I'll stick with OC and ebay, and avoid amazon (for selling). Never sold anything on there anyways, but I'll never do so now. Ugh.

Hope you get your money.

I have probably sold about 30 things on Amazon (books and software) with no issues. Always been smooth and painless. I would be more interested as to exactly WHY the account is under review. Maybe it is SOP if an account has been inactive for a certain period of time or something? I dunno.

Aktunka said:

I have probably sold about 30 things on Amazon (books and software) with no issues. Always been smooth and painless. I would be more interested as to exactly WHY the account is under review. Maybe it is SOP if an account has been inactive for a certain period of time or something? I dunno.

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Who knows? Could be because the item was expensive. But BARELY more expensive than the copies of Adobe software that I sold.

I didn't have any problems either Aktunka... UNTIL NOW.

It wasn't JUST that they placed my account under review, but it seems they've changed all their rules for sellers. I remember selling things and being able to put the money in my bank account within 24 hours. Now they hold the money for some random amount of time. Also it seems buyers have ALL the leverage and sellers have NOTHING.

In fact my BIGGEST concern was that this guy could've just bought the camcorder, I could've shipped it out, and then he could've canceled the order while I was on my way back to the post office (or amazon could've canceled the order themselves), thus keeping both the camcorder AND the money.

I'll be on the other side of the world tomorrow. If my money isn't available by midnight tonight... get ready for all HELL to be unleashed.

rainless said:

Who knows? Could be because the item was expensive. But BARELY more expensive than the copies of Adobe software that I sold.

I didn't have any problems either Aktunka... UNTIL NOW.

It wasn't JUST that they placed my account under review, but it seems they've changed all their rules for sellers. I remember selling things and being able to put the money in my bank account within 24 hours. Now they hold the money for some random amount of time. Also it seems buyers have ALL the leverage and sellers have NOTHING.

In fact my BIGGEST concern was that this guy could've just bought the camcorder, I could've shipped it out, and then he could've canceled the order while I was on my way back to the post office (or amazon could've canceled the order themselves), thus keeping both the camcorder AND the money.

I'll be on the other side of the world tomorrow. If my money isn't available by midnight tonight... get ready for all HELL to be unleashed.

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Now this I'm excited for! Best of luck with this. This is a similar situation to the member who dealt with EVGA and got his account help when they screwed up.

ChanceCoats123 said:

Now this I'm excited for! Best of luck with this. This is a similar situation to the member who dealt with EVGA and got his account help when they screwed up.

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Yeah I remember that.

I believe he asked "What would Rainless do?"

Well you're about to SEEEEEEEEEEE!

Team Rainless isn't just a name... it's a REPUTATION!

Sent rainless a PM, if this is as you've told, it's not even crazy, it's absurdly crazy

Thanks for the heads up luckily I don't deal with amazon to often.

Recipe:
1. Determine what you want (call this X)
2. Call support
3. Every person you talk to, ask "do you have the authority to do X"
4. When they say "no", explain that you need the issue escalated and you'd like to speak with someone with the necessary authority or a supervisor
5. Repeat step 3 and 4 ad nauseam
6. Profit???

Point is, if monkeys answer the phone they have to have managers and real people who aren't just being exploited for the advantages of their collapsed local economies.

Your only goal is the minimum amount of time required, to get what you deserve from this transaction within a reasonable timeframe. Don't waste time berating employees who don't have the authority to do what you need. Berate the people who have the power to do something.

On a related note for avoiding amazon due to questionable policies... I filed a complaint against an amazon employee posting inappropriate messages to the forums, and a few days later I got an email from some poor guy looking to sue me for loss of wages etc. They never contacted me about the complaint or asked any questions, just terminated the guy just like that. I don't know anything else about it or what else may have been going on, but it impressed me as pretty harsh labor practices and I certainly won't make any other reports to amazon in the future.

I suppose they know best what it takes to be profitable and just how profitable they need to be, but I'm not sure they have the strongest company values.

I.M.O.G. said:

Recipe:
1. Determine what you want (call this X)
2. Call support
3. Every person you talk to, ask "do you have the authority to do X"
4. When they say "no", explain that you need the issue escalated and you'd like to speak with someone with the necessary authority or a supervisor
5. Repeat step 3 and 4 ad nauseam
6. Profit???

Point is, if monkeys answer the phone they have to have managers and real people who aren't just being exploited for the advantages of their collapsed local economies.

Your only goal is the minimum amount of time required, to get what you deserve from this transaction within a reasonable timeframe. Don't waste time berating employees who don't have the authority to do what you need. Berate the people who have the power to do something.

On a related note for avoiding amazon due to questionable policies... I filed a complaint against an amazon employee posting inappropriate messages to the forums, and a few days later I got an email from some poor guy looking to sue me for loss of wages etc. They never contacted me about the complaint or asked any questions, just terminated the guy just like that. I don't know anything else about it or what else may have been going on, but it impressed me as pretty harsh labor practices and I certainly won't make any other reports to amazon in the future.

I suppose they know best what it takes to be profitable and just how profitable they need to be, but I'm not sure they have the strongest company values.

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The thing is I'm trying to finish all this up WHILE i'm finishing the last of what I need to do to move out of my house. It seems like the list of things I have to do is neverending! And if I don't have this money at least two or three days after I get to Barcelona... well... there's a creak... I forget what the name of it is... but that's where I'll be.

thanx for the head-sup, but i would have confronted amazon HQ / CEO , but i dont get it why they made you ship the materials before payment isnt legal without a liable contract or agreement , hope you didn't agree to anything ?

i'm scoping there page to see if there are any legal variables i can assist you with but with no luck, hence there disclaimers and intent information is rather burly, mate i hate to say that time is the only thing now, time and faith + luck .

Just to be certain you haven't been scammed just go threw this information

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_navbox_phish_ident?nodeId=15835501

i feel that somewhere you got embittered , and scammed not to bring you down really mate but shipping items before payment / contractual arrangements or even correct notification isn't the best option man , i'll look into this , got a few friends that are rather handy with LAW / GOVERNANCE / Corporation rights / legal contracting and research in corrupt contractual behavior .

best of luck

I cant seem to find any email contact besides higher up in business but by sending them a email it should get forwarded to a lower class ,

http://www.amazonservices.com/content/sellers-contact-amazon.htm

give them a try

Now... I go to war.

It's not just done folks... it´s DUN-DONE.

I defeated Amazon, The ECA, and I forget who else... IN THE SAME DAY.

My kitty and I are safe in Spain... (or at least we´ll be much MUCH safer once the money clears in my account.) and now I have the means to make all the magic happen.

Bring on the night.

Glad you got it sorted.

I.M.O.G. said:

Glad you got it sorted.

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Im a baaaaad... baaaaaaaaaaaaaaad man!

details dude. inquiring minds want to know. glad its worked out