Beware: Amazon is cut-throat …
As many of you know I have a number of e-commerce properties as well as info products and many other content websites. Ecomm has a special place in my heart, mostly because it’s where I started. I started out coding html and then graduated to php when the company I worked for desperately needed a shopping cart app.
I know there are also a number of you that sell on the Amazon Marketplace. Well I have a warning for you. Watch Your Back.
Yesterday I was blocked and removed from the Amazon Marketplace for:
you may have listed products which are in violation of our policies against
intellectual property infringement. As stated in our policies, the sale
of unauthorized replicas, pirated, counterfeit, and knock-off
merchandise is not permitted on our site.
So I awoke on Monday morning to no orders in my Amazon inbox which is weird, then I found this email. And that was it. No real reason or examples, or most importantly no proof. I don’t sell anything that I’m not allowed to on Amazon and there are many other current merchants listing the very same products on their site right now – including the company that was drop shipping our orders. Also our feedback rating – the life blood of the amazon system – was 4.5 stars / 5 stars with no negatives in the last 3 months.
What’s dishearting is that as a merchant you have no recourse whatsoever. Sure maybe I could sue — but what would be the point of that, to lose more money? No Thanks.
Honestly I don’t have a problem with Amazon removing my account, what bothers me is that they are unwilling to actually provide me with the reason my account was terminated. No copy of the complaint, No example product, No phone call – nothing but the email. This folks is just bad business.
My only solace is that we haven’t been on Amazon for that long (only about 6 months) and we weren’t doing enormous numbers, and Amazon takes a very large percentage, which cuts into profits. But if you are selling – or are thinking of selling on Amazon head my advice and be wary and don’t count it lasting forever because they may just decide one day that they don’t want you.
Oh, and if you want to buy some perfume and fragrances that are 100% legitimate, I know a great store! 
