Amazon lost the case! Dongguan seller successfully unblocked the frozen funds

Last year, Amazon’s account ban wave affected many Chinese sellers, tens of thousands of them, causing industry losses of more than 100 billion yuan.

Recently, a big seller in Dongguan successfully fought back! He won the arbitration lawsuit against Amazon and took back all the funds that were blocked from his store.

1. A big seller in Dongguan successfully recovered the frozen funds, and Amazon lost the case!

It is understood that the store of this big seller was banned by Amazon last year and all the funds of the store were frozen, so the big seller hired a team of lawyers to apply for arbitration.

At present, the arbitration in the US court has ended. The arbitration result is that the second clause of the Amazon agreement that freezes the seller's funds is invalid . Amazon not only needs to unfreeze all the frozen funds of the seller, but also needs to pay 12% interest.

This is undoubtedly exciting good news! It brings hope to many sellers whose stores have been blocked.

As long as Amazon sellers do not cross the red line of the platform, they can apply for arbitration. In March of this year, a Shenzhen seller successfully appealed and unfrozen funds from his store .

It is reported that the seller's store was closed during the account blocking wave last year, and all the store's funds were frozen at that time.

Amazon stipulated in the email about the account suspension that if the seller wants to appeal, he must wait 90 days to submit the appeal materials. The seller submitted the appeal materials within the stipulated time, but Amazon refused to unblock the account. In order to regain the blocked funds, the seller insisted on appealing and took emergency procedures with the help of a lawyer. Finally, in March of this year, the US court ruled that the relevant provisions of Amazon freezing the seller's funds were invalid, and Amazon also had to pay all arbitration and other fees.

Among the current cases of appeals against Amazon’s account suspension , 6 cases have been won worldwide, and 4 cases have been won in China . This undoubtedly gives sellers whose accounts have been suspended great confidence, and more sellers will choose to use legal means to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests.

2. Due to heavy losses from huge sales, a large number of sellers collectively sued Amazon!

Last year's account blocking wave affected a wide range of areas. In early May 2021, brands under many top sellers in South China, such as Aoki, Patoxin, and Zebao, were blocked. In June, brand accounts under many top sellers were blocked one after another, and a large number of products were removed from the shelves.

According to statistics, as of the end of 2021, the number of Zebao sales sites suspended by Amazon has reached 367, and the balance of frozen funds is equivalent to RMB 32.2492 million. The revenue of the Amazon platform has decreased by 55.76% year-on-year. Shenzhen's popular Youkeshu has had nearly 340 sites blocked, with frozen funds reaching 130 million yuan.

Not only did the big sellers suffer heavy losses, but quite a number of small and medium-sized sellers were also not spared from this wave of account bans.

So, in July 2021, a group of sellers in Shenzhen decided to unite and file a class action lawsuit against Amazon.

The lawsuit shows that these sellers are demanding the return of funds frozen by Amazon, stopping all illegal freezing and improper use of sellers' funds by Amazon, and requiring Amazon to compensate for related expenses and attorney fees.

It is understood that some sellers have successfully reached a settlement with Amazon and were able to get back most of the frozen funds. Although this is not a real victory for the seller, getting back some of the frozen funds is also a victory for the seller to a certain extent, which is of great significance to the sellers who will sue later.

3. How can sellers avoid having their accounts blocked?

Most sellers are still haunted by last year’s account suspension . In early June this year, more than 40 sellers had their accounts suspended overnight . On the eve of Prime Day this year , a large number of sellers were affected, and one seller had 16 accounts suspended overnight. Recently, Amazon upgraded its seller account rating function, and a large number of sellers were suspended because of low ratings.

Amazon’s account blocking action is still ongoing. Amazon sellers must avoid the platform’s red lines, abide by the platform’s rules, and understand the reasons why their accounts were blocked.

There are several reasons why Amazon accounts are blocked:

1. The store has fake orders

Many blocked sellers solicit positive reviews by giving gift cards to consumers, and also engage in fake order practices, which seriously violate the platform's regulations.

2. There are problems with the store products themselves

For example, if the product quality is unqualified and does not match the product description, and consumers do not meet their expectations after receiving the product, they will complain to the store. If the number of complaints is too many, the seller will receive a warning from the platform, and serious cases will directly lead to account suspension.

3. Account association

Amazon clearly stipulates that a person or company can only have one Amazon account , and multiple accounts are prohibited. The platform often detects whether the seller's account is related by obtaining the seller's relevant account information, product information, trademark association, hardware conditions and software conditions. Once any of the information is detected by Amazon, the seller's accounts will be closed.

In early June and on the eve of Prime Day, a large number of seller accounts were blocked in part due to brand and account associations.

4. Product Infringement

The international market pays great attention to the protection of intellectual property products. Once any infringement occurs in the appearance, trademark, or image of a product , it will be immediately removed from the shelves . In serious cases, it may even lead to the store being closed. Therefore, before putting a product on the shelves, sellers must understand the specific situation of the product in terms of copyright, trademark, and patent to avoid infringement.

5. Poor store performance

Amazon has set performance indicators for third-party sellers , requiring sellers to operate their stores according to the indicator requirements. If the seller's performance is too poor, the store may be closed.

6. The account has a record of violations

If the seller's account has too many violation records, it may result in the account being blocked.

Recently, Amazon updated the seller account rating function, which displays the account status rating score from 0 to 1000. Through this function , sellers can clearly see the severity of each violation . At present , a large number of sellers' accounts have been blocked, and the violation records involved by the blocked sellers range from 1 or 2 to 30 or 100. Therefore, Amazon sellers should pay more attention to the account rating score on a daily basis, and deal with violations in a timely manner to avoid affecting their accounts.

In short, Amazon sellers should never challenge the rules of the platform for the sake of temporary interests, and should improve their awareness of compliance operations . At the same time, they should seriously study the products, improve their operational skills, and always pay attention to the updates of new features of Amazon platform accounts .

At the same time, sellers should not overly rely on the experience of a single platform such as Amazon, and should not put all their eggs in one basket. They should establish a multi-platform and multi-market operating awareness . Sellers can focus more on optimizing the supply chain, improving the core competitiveness of products, and building influential brands.

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