The blocking incident in the delivery room

I returned to China in 2012. After graduating with a master's degree, I came to Shenzhen and worked in HR . I came into contact with Amazon in 2018 and created a small account. At that time, the European site needed to register VAT , so the former operator found a company he had worked with before, Zhuoxi Cross-border (full name Shenzhen Zhuoxi Information Consulting Co., Ltd.), to register European VAT and help us with European tax processing.

Objectively speaking, our cross-border cooperation with Zhuoxi has been relatively smooth and peaceful in the past few years, until July 29, 2022 , when this peaceful state was broken.

On July 27 , I was 39 weeks + 1 pregnant and was admitted to the hospital for delivery. I gave birth to my second baby by cesarean section on the same day. On the 28th , I was lying on the delivery bed replying to emails and making invoices, saying to my baby the line from "Happiness to Ten Thousand Homes": Mom must live hard and live well. At that time, the confinement nanny in the hospital replied to me that as long as you are a mother, you must live your life with all your strength. On the 29th , I opened the backstage as usual and was surprised to find that there were no orders for 23 hours . At that time, I was stunned and immediately opened a case to inquire. The customer service replied to me that the German VAT reported an error, the inventory was reserved, and all products were displayed as out of stock.

I was shocked. All our inventory was in Germany, which meant that other sites were forced to stop selling. We received an email reply to the case that day, saying that there was a problem with VAT in Germany and Amazon Logistics was disabled.

Since it was a tax issue, we asked Zhuoxi Cross-border and my training instructor , the founder of a very authoritative Amazon training academy in Shenzhen, on the same day. He said that he had encountered many problems but had never encountered such a situation and would help me ask the Amazon key account manager. He also told me that generally there might be problems with taxes in the past year and asked me to ask my tax agent.

I became even more panicked. I didn't know what happened, but I felt that this problem was rare. This mentor had worked at Amazon for almost ten years and had never encountered such a situation. I didn't know how to solve this problem. At that time, we still had more than 2,000 pieces of goods on the way to Germany. Because in the phone case, the customer service replied that in this case, the German warehouse should not accept my goods and suggested that I send them to other countries instead. I immediately contacted the overseas warehouse and changed the dispatch if it was not possible.

On July 29 , Zhuoxi responded to us: We have always filed taxes normally and on time, and if the tax bureau audits us, they will usually ask for the tax returns for the past few months and notify the tax agent, so it should not be an audit. At that time, we thought it was an error in the Amazon system and frequently asked Amazon to solve the problem. From July 30 to July 31 , because it was a weekend case and we couldn’t chat or call, I opened 6 email cases in the delivery room to request Amazon to solve the problem and restore our Amazon logistics.

On August 1, Zhuoxi called me and told me that I forgot to submit the 2019 annual report of my German account , which led to the German tax bureau sending a letter to Amazon. At the same time, I was told that the unblocking letter had been sent on August 1 and it would be unblocked in 1-2 weeks , and asked me to wait patiently. I was also told that they were very fast, usually sending it out in a month, but it took me two weeks to send it out.

At this point, I simply couldn't wait patiently, and I kept calling and emailing the Amazon account support team. At the same time, I urgently shipped the goods to France on August 1st, so that the French, Italian, and Spanish sites could operate normally and reduce losses.

On August 3 , we received an email from Amazon, saying that our account was frozen and all operations were suspended. We could only open cases related to the account. We then asked Zhuoxi Cross-border about the email sent to them by the German tax bureau, and I asked Zhuoxi Cross-border to issue a certificate for me, proving that the failure to file the annual report was caused by the accountant's mistake and had nothing to do with us.

The first time, the email was returned because of coding;

The second time, it was rejected because the proof lacked credibility and was issued by the tax agent himself;

The third time, Amazon replied that they needed an official letter to submit to the tax team, and told me that if the tax team received the unblocking letter, the account would be automatically unblocked and no other action was required.

At the same time, this certificate is also proof that Zhuo Xi admits breach of contract.

Zhuoxi replied that the German tax bureau sent the unblocking letter to Amazon through electronic channels, not by email, and I still had to wait. Then I waited in agony for two weeks, during which everyone comforted me that it was okay and it would be solved slowly, but only I could understand the pain during that time.

On August 16 , I contacted Zhuoxi Cross-border because it had been two weeks and my account was still frozen. I hoped that their person in charge would contact me to resolve the issue because the waiting process was extremely distressing.

I waited for two days, but no one contacted me . On the 18th , the account still showed frozen. I had no choice but to download Rights Defender, buy a timestamp, and take a video of the account freezing to notarize it as evidence. Here, I would like to remind all sellers that because some Amazon data existed at the time, it is difficult to retain and trace it afterwards. If there is a dispute, you can download Rights Defender, buy a timestamp to notarize the video, recording, and picture, which will be more effective when submitted to arbitration and court. Of course, I hope that no one will need to use this APP .

On August 22 , the account was no longer frozen on Amazon, but I could not use it normally. Zhuo Xi and I reported the matter to the cross-border bank, and they said that the account was no longer frozen, but the funds and account were still unavailable, and the funds would be frozen until August 27 .

What I want to say here is that during the negotiation process for compensation, one of the managers of Zhuoxi Cross-border, Ms. Luo Min, told me that even if the funds are frozen, Amazon will unblock them sooner or later. What she said was true, but I felt uncomfortable when I heard it. Even if the funds are frozen, we still need to pay the suppliers, office water and electricity, and freight as usual. These cannot be delayed with this reason. I can't always say that I will pay sooner or later.

On August 23 , a staff member of Zhuoxi Cross-border told me that their boss wanted to communicate with me. At this time, it had been almost a month since the incident. During the phone call, he admitted that it was Zhuoxi Cross-border's work error that caused my account to be blocked. In this month, I have asked three times, twice on WeChat and once on the phone. If you forget to pay taxes, the German tax bureau will send an email to remind you. Why didn't the tax bureau remind you or send an email when you didn't submit the annual report? Zhuoxi Cross-border has not responded to me.

On August 26 , Mr. Wang Ming, the legal representative of Zhuoxi Cross-border, and a lady came to the postpartum care center where I was and had on-site communication. I told Mr. Wang Ming that my account was very small, with sales of more than 20,000 euros a month, but the profit was OK. Our loss was very big for me, especially in this year's low exchange rate, intensified competition, and bad environment in Europe. I hope they can make a compensation plan, and said there is no need to worry, just give me a reply within 7-10 days .

Mr. Wang Ming said that the company was not owned by him alone, but by three shareholders. The company was in a difficult period, and had been reduced from 40 to 50 employees to 20 or so. He hoped that I would understand. I made it clear that it was okay, and that we could share the responsibility and negotiate to a balance point that everyone could accept. Of course, I also asked the nurse to record the entire conversation and notarize it.

On September 5th , I received another letter from Amazon saying that there was a problem with the German VAT .

We immediately opened the backend and found that there were no orders in the past few hours. We opened a case and asked Zhuoxi Cross-border, and forwarded the letter to Ms. Luo, the person in charge of Zhuoxi Cross-border.

Later, Zhuoxi Cross-border responded that the German tax bureau had not sent a letter, and we responded to Amazon's customer service. The account support team called me and said that because the tax team found that we had received an email from the German tax bureau saying that there was a non-compliance situation, our account might need to be paid attention to for a period of time. In the email reply, my account was to be reactivated and an appeal link was given. We also sent an email to explain the matter, but it did not show that the account was frozen. Because I think there was no loss, the German tax bureau did not send a letter.

During the negotiation, Ms. Luo slandered me, saying that I spread false information and lied when I said my account was blocked for the second time on September 5. When my lawyer reminded her to be careful with her words, she said that it was freedom of speech and she could say whatever she wanted.

On September 6, 10 days had passed since August 26 , and of course no one had contacted me about this incident. I took the initiative to add Mr. Wang, the legal representative of Zhuoxi Cross-border, and sent him the loss statistics. First, Zhuoxi Cross-border has our taxable sales reports, which we send on time every month, and they can verify the authenticity of the reports I provided; second, I hope they can calculate a loss amount for us to share, and settle the matter, and everyone can go about their own business.

On the same day, I rejected the proposal to use the service to offset the loss, because our loss was a real loss of money. In addition, our five European countries all have VAT , Poland is also applying for it, and the others may not really be of much use. I told Mr. Wang Ming that I hope to resolve this matter as soon as possible.

On September 7 , Mr. Wang Ming proposed to meet again for negotiation. To be honest, I was a little disgusted. On August 23 , I expressed my hope that the other party would give an explanation for the loss and compensate for the loss. On August 26, I also talked about my losses at the European station and hoped to get a plan. On September 6, the statistical table was sent out. I hoped that they would check it and discuss any problems with me, instead of talking again and again without any results. At that time, my second baby was just one month old. I told Mr. Wang Ming that we should hire a lawyer to negotiate. It was really inconvenient for me.

On September 8, lawyers intervened in the negotiation, hoping to reach an acceptable amount of compensation. During this period, we provided various evidences to show our losses and answered questions from Zhuoxi Cross-border, such as why we are pan-European, but the delivery fees are different in each country. At the same time, I took screenshots to explain to Zhuoxi Cross-border, and I calculated the lightest product in my store, 180g ; for example, the advertising fee background does have click-through deductions, etc. All the losses were screenshoted and sent to the other party, and a document was prepared to respond to the questions sent to the other party. I also explained that I had never dealt with this situation before, and could only answer according to the Amazon background and customer service.

On September 15 , Ms. Luo Min, the person in charge of Zhuoxi Cross-border, began to question the authenticity of our screenshots. She also questioned why the freeze of our German store would affect the entire site, why the pan-European delivery fees were different, and why there were advertising fees for the store freeze. She also determined that we were going to ship the goods anyway, but just changed the country, and that the compensation we wanted was reasonable compensation. Here I am not sure what reasonable compensation means, what is reasonable, whether it is reasonable to compensate for all my losses, or to take a step back.

We responded to them one by one again, and emphasized that we had sent Mr. Wang Ming a statistical table on September 6th, which could be verified with the monthly data, but we did not receive any response. In order to resolve this matter as quickly as possible, we are now discussing the overall compensation for the account being frozen for 19 days and not being able to use it normally for 31 days ( we also notarized the video of the account still not being able to be used normally on August 29th and sent it to Zhuo Xi), rather than dwelling on the details. The details will be contested when the arbitration court opens the hearing. Once the details are caught, we will need to ask a third party to intervene and calculate the losses. We will demand full compensation, and we cannot give in one step.

Ms. Luo asked for a sales breakdown, which is the monthly tax return. I said OK, I am putting my child to sleep and will send it to them later. I asked them to calculate it. At this time, Ms. Luo asked if the second block was lifted. I said it was lifted. Because the case was indeed opened for one day , and there were no orders at that time. My reply was that Amazon replied the second time that because of the tax issue of the first time, the account may be in a high-risk state for a period of time and needs attention, but even if there is, it will only be one day (I don’t know if it was because of the period when there were no orders), so there is no need to worry about it. We only need to deal with the first time.

Because this was the customer service's reply to me, I relayed it. At this time, Ms. Luo said that Amazon was wrong and she would take legal action to ensure their notarization was fair. I said yes, thank you for your reply, and then left the group, asked the attorney to prepare the prosecution procedures, and stopped sending the report as evidence. Afterwards, Mr. Wang, the legal representative of Zhuoxi Cross-border, said that he would not pursue the details, and they would go back to discuss and resolve the matter as soon as possible.

On September 16 , Ms. Luo Min, a shareholder of Zhuoxi Cross-border, replied to the attorney for compensation of 30,000 yuan. I said that this was too big a gap to the loss and we could not accept it. At the same time, Ms. Luo Min told the attorney that Zhuoxi Cross-border was being audited by the Chinese tax department, the company's funds had been frozen, the capital chain had almost broken, and the business could not continue. It was difficult to take out 30,000 yuan, and she told us that arbitration was better for them and could delay time.

On September 20 , I went to the firm and showed all the evidence to the lawyer in person. She told me that when the amount of loss caused by breach of contract is not clearly stated in the contract, we should try our best to prove the scope and amount of loss. This loss includes actual loss and estimated loss. I think all sellers should understand that our loss is not only the actual loss, but also the decline in the ranking of the listing after the store is closed, the decline in weight, and the effort and cost required for re-promotion. This loss is difficult to quantify but it is real.

At this point, I just wanted to recover some of my actual losses, so I asked my lawyer to tell me that if the other company was really being audited and in trouble, I would make concessions. Our actual losses were more than 90,000, including profits, emergency air transport to France (for the sake of fairness, I did not ask for the French railway freight), the difference in delivery fees between France and Germany, and advertising costs. I asked for 55,000 to settle the matter, and they would deal with their tax issues while I would re-promote my products.

After the lawyer told Ms. Luo Min that I could not accept her amount, the other party replied that we should go for arbitration, and we just had more time. They also slandered me for using sales volume to demand compensation, saying that I was blackmailing, spreading false information, lying, and providing false evidence, saying that my goods were not unsellable, and still emphasized that they did not shirk their responsibilities and actively solved the problem. What I want to say here is that the goods can be sold, but does it mean that there is no loss if they cannot be used normally for one month? Can I make up for my own losses by selling my own goods?

On the same day, I told Mr. Wang, the legal representative, that they could disagree with the evidence and the amount, but they could not accuse me of lying and extorting money with false evidence. I never said that my account was frozen for the second time, nor did I mention the second email during the negotiation. I never claimed a loss of 200,000 yuan in sales , and I never gave false evidence. I do not agree with this statement and will pursue it. If you want the details, we can arbitrate or ask Amazon Finance to calculate the losses.

On September 24 , Zhuoxi gave the final reply: 1. If we settle, I will give you 35,000 in the end ; 2. I will file an arbitration, each party will provide evidence, and the loss will be determined. This result is expected. Whether Zhuoxi cross-border doubts the evidence or the company is in financial difficulties due to tax audits, I cannot accept the amount. Moreover, after accusing me of spreading false information, providing false evidence, and blackmailing, it is even more impossible for me to take this little settlement money. If the lawsuit is opened for one month and the judgment is issued for 4-6 months , it is indeed a delay. If the arbitration result is not recognized, the first and second trials will probably take several years.

From July 29th when the incident happened to today, I have not received any apology from Zhuoxi Cross-border, except for the September 14th when Ms. Luo of Zhuoxi Cross-border said, "No matter which colleague made the mistake, we are very sorry." When I reported it to Zhuoxi Cross-border, Mr. Wang replied that he had come to apologize. My reply was that no matter how many times you came, you should apologize to me for causing losses and inconvenience to my life and work.

On September 26 , when I proposed to issue a press release, Mr. Wang of Zhuoxi Cross-border said that he respected me very much and asked me not to make it public for his sake. I replied that if you have doubts about my evidence, I have no objection to our arbitration. If you are unable to take out the funds because of the audit by the Chinese tax department and the broken capital chain, I can understand that. I cannot understand your current statement and behavior.

On the same day, Zhuoxi Cross-border's attorney found our attorney and said that it was just a difference in the amount of compensation, and that they would try their best to cooperate with me, and that we should both take a step back and settle for 50,000 yuan. My family was there at the time, and they advised me not to waste time and costs for a few tens of thousands of yuan, and forget it. I replied to my attorney, 50,000 yuan for a settlement, and that we should not waste each other's time. We should come to an agreement today and everyone should be busy with their own things. I admit that I still had a glimmer of hope at this time, hoping that the other party would be sincere in resolving the matter and really wanted to resolve it! Let's not waste time and costs! In the end, there was no news!

At this point, I can say that I think: Zhuoxi Cross-border has no sincerity and credibility in this incident! If Zhuoxi Cross-border had not instructed the lawyer, the lawyer would not have conveyed to us several times the intention to negotiate offline. For each negotiation, we gave them a few days to a week to go back and discuss. It was delayed again and again, even at the end, the lawyer was instructed to convey sincerity to us, and then there was no follow-up!

After two months of being delayed and deceived countless times, I could no longer trust the integrity of this company. Then I stopped focusing on this incident and began to examine the company. Because at first I thought they were wrong in this matter, handling the problem in this way, delaying me and slandering me. I chose to make it public, not the company's problem, but now I think the company itself has problems. Zhuoxi Cross-border's online collection is as follows:

1. In the voice recording (notarized), Mr. Wang Ming told me that the company has 40-50 employees, and 20-30 after the epidemic . A company like this said that there is not even 50,000 yuan in the company account after agreeing to the settlement on September 27. I am not an accounting professional, but I think this is unreasonable.

First, how did they pay the salaries of 20 employees when there was not even 50,000 RMB in the public account ? Secondly, if Mr. Wang Ming replied that the tax department was auditing the company, and it would take 2-3 months to check the funds , then was it checking the public account with no 50,000 RMB? Third, if what Ms. Luo Min said was true, then what kind of situation did the company reach that it did not even have 50,000 RMB? Fourth, if it was a smuggling account, was the audit by the Chinese tax department a regular inspection?

Finally, according to the introduction on Zhuoxi's website, there are branches in Europe and Hong Kong. How do they pay the fees? The service fees transferred by customers in China are all in RMB. If there is not even 50,000 RMB in the public account, how do they pay the fees and cooperate normally with foreign accountants and other businesses including W EEE ? I looked through the previous contracts with Zhuoxi and found that they were all transferred to private accounts. If the funds are in private accounts, talking about using the public account without funds to compensate me is itself a mentality and behavior of not wanting to compensate. No matter which of these two, I think it is extremely bad behavior .

2. Zhuoxi Cross-border introduced itself on its website as a business elite with decades of industry experience and the most extensive resource system in the industry. The company's founders and shareholders have been working in the cross-border e-commerce industry for many years, have rich cross-border e-commerce resources, and have established a cross-border e-commerce training academy. If Zhuoxi said that he had many years of experience and established a training academy, he should not have said that Pan-European means that the delivery fee is the same no matter which country the warehouse is located in, and this is the advantage of Pan-European, and that the difference in delivery fees for each country that I requested compensation for is not recognized.

3. Zhuoxi Cross-border repeatedly emphasized that they were sincere and actively resolved the problem. I think that sincere and active resolution of the problem does not mean that I have to go to them again and again to resolve the problem, nor does it mean that they repeatedly delay the time, and even directly said that they were delaying the time, slandering me for lying and providing false evidence.

On September 25 , Zhuoxi Cross-border instructed its lawyer to negotiate with us. After my family persuaded me, I agreed to negotiate and asked the other party to give me a settlement agreement. On September 26 , Zhuoxi Cross-border stopped responding and disappeared. On September 27 , after I gave the manuscript to the editor and notified the lawyer, Zhuoxi popped up again. The legal representative, Mr. Wang Ming, said that he agreed to compensate and sign a formal settlement agreement. On the same day, he promised that the agreement would be given to us on September 28 .

At this time, we conveyed that there was no dispute except for the account password. We replied that we could reapply for the account password when we transferred the agent. We thought that the matter was resolved and we would not waste each other's time. When we asked about the agreement on September 28, Zhuoxi disappeared again and no longer responded!

This is what Mr. Wang Ming and Ms. Luo Min said about the positive solution and no deception. At this point, I think Zhuoxi Cross-border has no integrity at all! It is purely a deception and delay!

We had already filed a lawsuit when this article was sent out. In this store closure incident, the tax agent made such a low-level mistake and the consequences were so rare that I had no idea how to deal with it at first. Regarding compensation, I think that because of different positions, we can question the evidence and have objections to the amount. It is understandable and justifiable for us to file an arbitration. After all, there will be contract disputes when there is a contract.

I chose to make this public initially because Zhuo Xi slandered me for lying and providing false evidence. The emails and the case are there. And after Ms. Luo replied to the German tax bureau in the second email that there was no letter, she never mentioned it and was not involved in this case. Where is the evidence and whether it is true or false? You are the party at fault, so what qualifications do you have to slander me for lying and providing false evidence? When my lawyer reminded me to be careful with my words, he said freedom of speech, say whatever you want, then I also have freedom of speech. This is the direct reason why I decided to expose it publicly.

But the subsequent negotiations did not produce any results. From September 25th to September 28th , Zhuoxi tried to settle the dispute twice but then disappeared and did not respond. Then I realized that the other party was the one who had been cheating me. They were delaying the process under the guise of negotiations and refusing to pay compensation! How can such a company provide the one-to-one nanny-style service they claim to provide? How can we believe that professionalism, integrity, and reliability are their mottos?

Finally, I hope that sellers can find reliable and responsible service providers. After all, if there is a problem, only you will be anxious to suffer losses. In other words, if I have a tax problem, will the service provider bear the responsibility with me? The answer is no. However, if it is a problem with the service provider, it will be extremely difficult to recover the loss. Even if you keep giving in, it will be time-consuming and labor-intensive, and you may still need to take legal action in the end. Here, I am responsible for all the authenticity of the account freezing incident mentioned in this article, and I promise to bear all legal responsibilities for it. The doubts about Zhuoxi's final behavior and the information introduced on the Internet are my inferences. Please treat them rationally.

The road to cross-border transactions is long, I hope everything goes well for everyone, and it’s peak season!

delivery room

title

Zhuoxi Cross-border