Sales suddenly dropped by 90,000 pieces, sellers: Amazon "stole money"

"Amazon is stealing money," several sellers believe.

Sellers found that the sales data shown by Amazon during the settlement period was half or more less than the actual sales data, which made them uneasy. Moreover, this change was different from Amazon's previous payment overdue. In the view of some industry insiders, Amazon may be facing a cash shortage and hijacked the sellers' funds for some reason to improve the cash situation on the books.

Sales data showed a sharp drop of two-thirds

Recently, the transaction data of many Amazon sellers have shown abnormalities, and some settlements have also been affected.

Seller BOb said he didn't know what was going on, but felt that Amazon was stealing money now. He noticed that the final settlement showed sales that were about 3 times less than the actual amount.

" We sold 150,000 items in two weeks, but the settlement period from October 22, 2024 to November 5, 2024 only showed orders for 60,000 items. We sell about 150,000 items every two weeks, and it's been about the same every time, but this time it's suddenly reduced by about 90,000 items.

You might say that introduced extended deals, but that is different from extended deals. Amazon showed that we only sold 60,000 units in 2 weeks, while we were selling 10,000 units every day.

The sales data showed anomalies, and the sales amount was also wrong. The new settlement period was 3 days after November 5, 2024, and our sales reached $35,000. However, the amount of product fees shown in the settlement period was 3 times less, only $11,000. "Bob was puzzled.

Like Bob, many sellers have discovered this problem. There is a big discrepancy between their sales data and the actual displayed data. The displayed data is only about one-third of the actual sales data. Two-thirds of the data "disappeared" out of thin air and they don't know how to explain it.

"——This is exactly our problem. Our payments were correct, but the sales figures were far from reality. Deferred transactions do not explain the difference in sales, and two-thirds of our sales are missing.

- Our last payment summary, sales and fees were a third of what they should have been. We were paid the normal amount, but the sales reported by the platform were much lower than normal. Our account level reserves were shifted to deferred transactions, but this does not explain why sales were so low.

——In the past two payment cycles, our actual sales and the sales reflected in the report differ by about $6,000, which is a very obvious discrepancy. Now, either someone at Amazon has transferred our funds or the system is malfunctioning. We cannot communicate with customer service, and Amazon refuses to resolve this issue. This is major theft, and I want to remind everyone to closely monitor the platform's payment reports. ”

Sellers troubled by abnormal sales data have not received an effective explanation. They are afraid that their orders will be affected and are worried that overdue payments will not be able to flow back to their accounts normally.

November Deferred Trading Policy Update

Because of concerns, many sellers tried to contact Amazon support. Some failed to get through, and were told that the platform does not provide financial advice and their support cases were closed. Some received the following response:

We did make an update to the Deferred Transaction Report, and it now shows things a little differently than it did in the past. I want to clarify that the Cash on Delivery policy remains the same:

Funds will be held until the goods are delivered and there is a hold period. The standard hold period is 7 days after the delivery date ("DD+7" hold policy). For example, if you sell an item on January 1st and it is delivered on January 6th, your funds will be available for payment starting on January 14th under the DD+7 policy.

As for the new Deferred Transaction Reports: By November 1, your Delivery Date Reserve amounts will appear as Deferred Transactions in the Total Balance box at the top of your Payments Dashboard. Until then, they may still appear under the Account-level Reserve field on your Payments Dashboard and reports. Please note that your dashboard will not change if you are not subject to our Delivery Date policy.

Amazon’s response did not seem to explain the sellers’ concerns about the sales anomaly, some of whom thought the issue might be a technical reporting problem because the sales figures for the settlement period were completely underestimated.

Regarding the current situation of a sharp drop in sales data, experienced sellers analyzed: Amazon used to delay sellers' transaction payments. They used to acknowledge the sale but did not pay the seller for 7 days. Now on paper, the platform is delaying the actual transaction until the 7-day period is over, when the sale will officially begin and the seller will receive the money.

The sales on your current seller dashboard will not match the sales on your settlement form because the sale will be pushed back a week.

Judging from the settlement report, the situation is not optimistic. Sellers will eventually have to do more work to ensure fees and profits, and Amazon should communicate better with sellers about the impact on them.

Sellers accuse Amazon of "stealing money"

Because of display anomalies and payment delays, many sellers posted about their "anxiety", and they all used expressions such as Amazon was "stealing money".

"Our sales have been delayed for nearly a month, and hundreds of transactions are still held after the funds are released 7 days after delivery confirmation. I asked many people, but no one could explain why the platform did this. Amazon is 100% deceiving sellers!" lamented a seller.

Another seller shared a similar sentiment: “This is just another way to rip off sellers. We all have bills to pay, and they come due every month. Many of us are still on a two-week payment cycle, and Amazon’s new policy makes it impossible to keep up. Every year at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Amazon does something to make things more difficult for sellers.”

"Amazon is stealing in the sole sense that it continues Amazon's credo of going to war with small businesses and squeezing every penny out of them. Can you imagine the interest they earn from deferred transaction periods? Can you imagine the interest on a billion dollars in sales per month? If a third-party seller has sales of $25 billion per month, it will take at least an extra week to get paid, and the interest incurred is incredible. Amazon will squeeze every penny out of sellers until they can compete with similar products and sell directly," said an industry insider .

Amazon’s deferred payments began in early October, when a large number of sellers were suddenly deferred without any announcement or notification. Amazon then issued an announcement to “view reserved payments in the new deferred transaction report”.

In the sellers’ view , Amazon’s operation is to prevent product problems. On the one hand, it may be to prevent some people from not shipping products and taking advantage of the platform. On the other hand, it may be to facilitate returns and provide a good customer experience.

Under the new deferred transaction policy, if the sales data shows abnormalities or there are system problems, there is no need to worry too much about common problems.

Amazon

Abnormal transaction data