My £1M / year store has been deactivated for the last 3 months because Amazon is not responding to my verification document submissions
I have had zero violations on my account. I built this business by myself over 4-5 years and it has become my main source of income - so this is quite depressing.
Amazon requested me to send them documents proving I'm a UK established business that pays VAT. They never formally rejected my documents - they just kept spamming the same performance notification asking me for the same information over and over again.
About 3 weeks in, and after having about 3 phone calls with account health, it turned out that the address they wanted me to prove was my OPERATING address instead of REGISTERED address. I gathered as much evidence as I could since then (utility bills, commercial invoices etc). and sent it to them. Since then it has been a wild goose chase. I've had to send this information multiple times too, and to multiple email addresses (all of this under the advice of account health).
It has been 6 weeks since I sent the last bit of information they asked for and I have had no response. I have lost over £150K worth of sales and paid over £15K in storage fees in these 3 months. Every time I call Account Health they tell me all I can do is wait. The more I wait, the more I lose in storage fees. They refuse to give me any rough estimate whatsoever on when this will be complete - I could still be waiting next year for all I know.
This has just an extremely stressful and depressing past few months. I did nothing to deserve this - this is just Amazon refusing to look at the documentation and reinstate my account at this point. This issue has been escalated twice in the last week. 5-6 days ago I received an e-mail from the "specialised team" it has been escalated to telling me I'll hear a response within 72 hours. They have not responded.
I'm not sure what to do at this point. Do I just accept that the accounts gone? I can make a new company, new seller account, and pay another £15K or so to get stuff removed from the Amazon warehouse but it's always in the back of my head that by the time this is all done my actual account will be reinstated by then. It's a frustrating dilemma. Really seems like Amazon is just torturing me at this point. Has anyone been through anything similar? Any advice?
My £1M / year store has been deactivated for the last 3 months because Amazon is not responding to my verification document submissions
I have had zero violations on my account. I built this business by myself over 4-5 years and it has become my main source of income - so this is quite depressing.
Amazon requested me to send them documents proving I'm a UK established business that pays VAT. They never formally rejected my documents - they just kept spamming the same performance notification asking me for the same information over and over again.
About 3 weeks in, and after having about 3 phone calls with account health, it turned out that the address they wanted me to prove was my OPERATING address instead of REGISTERED address. I gathered as much evidence as I could since then (utility bills, commercial invoices etc). and sent it to them. Since then it has been a wild goose chase. I've had to send this information multiple times too, and to multiple email addresses (all of this under the advice of account health).
It has been 6 weeks since I sent the last bit of information they asked for and I have had no response. I have lost over £150K worth of sales and paid over £15K in storage fees in these 3 months. Every time I call Account Health they tell me all I can do is wait. The more I wait, the more I lose in storage fees. They refuse to give me any rough estimate whatsoever on when this will be complete - I could still be waiting next year for all I know.
This has just an extremely stressful and depressing past few months. I did nothing to deserve this - this is just Amazon refusing to look at the documentation and reinstate my account at this point. This issue has been escalated twice in the last week. 5-6 days ago I received an e-mail from the "specialised team" it has been escalated to telling me I'll hear a response within 72 hours. They have not responded.
I'm not sure what to do at this point. Do I just accept that the accounts gone? I can make a new company, new seller account, and pay another £15K or so to get stuff removed from the Amazon warehouse but it's always in the back of my head that by the time this is all done my actual account will be reinstated by then. It's a frustrating dilemma. Really seems like Amazon is just torturing me at this point. Has anyone been through anything similar? Any advice?
18 yanıt
Seller_k2X0L9mVRT0pW
Does the address you have now provided exactly match the Vat info for you on the Vat Vies database
Seller_B1ACPItaAiHWQ
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/G/01/EPSDocumentation/AmazonPay/LOA/English_LOA.pdf?ld=NSGoogle
did u fill out this and sent it to them i was stuck in the same thing i requested 100% everything the hmrc had on me and all my banks and everything i had with my name and address on it cars cards phones bills everything allllll rejected as it wasnt that thay needed it was a form filled out by myself declaring i am myself working for myself signed by myself .......
Seller_mS10UjVYuuGor
Whatever you do don't take this plan.
Amazon will link the accounts and you'll be back to square one of trying to get the original account activated.
Frustrating though it is you need to get your current Amazon account activated and in good standing.
Seller_GkLry66xQzT9C
First I guess is are you registered for VAT in the UK, live in the UK and operate from the UK?
We went through the same thing last year and was what seems the same as you. Registered in the UK, Operate from the UK and we had a similar situation with a fairly normal difference between Registered Address and Operating Address.
In the end we got help from Liz Barclay who at the time was the small business secetary. She took on our case and within 24 hours of her contacting Amazon it was resolved. If you are really at the end point whatever you do, do NOT open another account. That is the fastest way to lose Amazon forever. I would suggest if you have done everything possible then I would consider formalising your situation and send to these email addresses with all docs attached.
managingdirector@amazon.co.uk,
kyc-escalation-internal@amazon.co.uk,
resolution-uk-sellers@amazon.co.uk
Hope this helps
Seller_6HXPDZ2n6YG3n
Better to speak with a solicitor who has experience in Amazon cases.
Amazon does have the right to suspend or deactivate accounts while they carry out checks , this is allowed under the contract we agree to as sellers. But I don’t believe that means they can keep charging you storage fees at the same time, especially when they’re preventing you from selling or removing your stock. This looks like it could amount to unfair trading or even abuse of position.
Relevant UK law that protects you:
Consumer Rights Act 2015 (Part 2) requires contract terms to be fair and not create a significant imbalance between the parties.
Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (Regulation 3) bans unfair commercial practices that harm businesses or consumers.
Competition Act 1998 (Section 18) prohibits abuse of a dominant position in the market, including imposing unfair trading conditions.
Amazon has its own internal rules, but it’s important to remember these can’t override UK law. They must still comply with UK standards of fairness and good faith in business.
Where you can report this:
Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) , if you believe Amazon is abusing its dominant position.
Trading Standards , you can contact them through your local council.
Your MP , some sellers have found that their MP’s office can help get a response from Amazon.
Seller_8A2GBSqNZDr4Q
Update: Got permanently closed with no option to ever contact them again on the account. Reasons: unknown.
What a shame
Seller_B1ACPItaAiHWQ
have a look in other posts and see if u can find a mod and then tag them in this thread
Seller_B1ACPItaAiHWQ
@Manny_Amazon maybe you can look into this ?
Seller_IZMia0ASJ6cAm
What address did you use on your VAT registration? Operating or Registered?
Seller_8A2GBSqNZDr4Q
@Sarah_Amzn @Simon_Amazon @Ezra_Amazon @Ash_AMZ
I would really appreciate it if you could look into this :(
