It is the stuff of any Amazon (or indeed eBay) seller’s nightmares. A courier delivers or loses an item or perhaps a buyer raises a complaint despite receiving the goods on time and in order. They’ve just changed their mind. Amazon takes buyer satisfaction incredibly seriously and you’re guilty until proven innocent. Until Amazon has investigated the problem, you can’t trade on the marketplace.
There is a process of appeal and you may well be reinstated but what lies ahead is possibly weeks of email ping pong, no income and frustration as Amazon consider your case at a snail’s pace. And all this time you’ve got no money coming in and very possibly staff to pay and mouths to feed at home. Any seller who has experienced this situation will tell you how tough it is.
And it was similar stories to these that spurred Lori Jurans from Kentucky to take action. At an annual Amazon seller, she kept hearing how precarious some seller’s lifestyle are and how many were in fear of an unjust suspension. The result is Well Insurance, a specialist insurance company for Amazon sellers. In the event of a sudden suspension, they will insure your income so you don’t go under.
Jurans teamed up with insurance broker Tim Craig to create the policy and it’s underwritten by Lloyds of London. Craig expects to sell 20k of these policies this year.
Whilst this is clearly a useful tool and many sellers will be able to see the value and sense in getting such a policy it is also, frankly, ludicrous that they should be required. It’s another case of a cunning solution coming out of a problem caused by Amazon’s vast scale and lack of responsiveness. It shouldn’t, after all, take weeks to appeal a suspension. Would you take out such a policy if the prices was right? (Although for the moment Well Insurance only covers US businesses.)
6 Responses
It is scary that you have million pound businesses that can be turned off with the flick of a switch.
Seriously?? If your income is entirely dependent on Amazon then the biggest problem is your business and no amount of Insurance is going to give you long term safety and long term success…
Lets say Amazon or another big retailer decide to go hammer and tongs on your category/products – you’d be in the same position with little or no income… Are you going to get competitor insurance?
So, whilst I have been at the wrong end of this (and currently going through the process with my .de account) and think Amazon are absolutely terrible at dealing with it…. I think the moral of the story always goes back to managing the risk in your own business and certainly not becoming reliant on an insurance policy.
This is WHY you never throw all your eggs in one basket, eBay or Amazon. There are plenty of options out there these days.
It also makes common sense our eBay and Amazon sales are shocking right now as we are not interested in just moving boxes, we have however got other platforms that are doing very well. Diversify A+E are not any business’s friend
Bit of a non-starter for many Tamebay readers…………need to be a US citizen to take out the policy!
It depends what you are selling Sam. Try selling collectibles on more than one platform. If you sell something twice you are in trouble so many sellers eggs are in one basket. Amazon are too hard nosed when it comes to enforcing their sanctions & suspensions while thousands of fake Chinese accounts steal the buy box form legit sellers on a daily basis. It is an embarrassment that insurance policies are being sold due to their inability to act in good time & good faith. They totally abuse their position with no consideration for the misery they cause. We are guilty until eventually proven innocent. It’s disgusting.