Following on from our story last week about Amazon merchants having their stock frozen and refunds given, there is some good news from one seller who took the drastic step of hopping on a plane and flying to Amazon’s Seattle head office and demanding to be heard.
Bloomberg reports that Jason Wright wanted to make a quick buck selling eclipse glasses for the full solar eclipse due to cross the North American continent on the 21st of August. He loaded up debt on his credit cards to fund the purchases confident that he’d recoup his money and make thousands, only for Amazon to shut his account down leaving him with stock which will be just about worthless once the eclipse has come and gone.
This appears to be a pretty desperate measure, jumping on a plane and banging on Amazon’s front door. Before you ask, no he didn’t get to meet Jeff Bezos, in fact as you might expect he didn’t get any further than reception turning him away. However he left his business card with the threat to call a press conference at Amazon’s head office if his account wasn’t reinstated and later got an email confirming his account was back up and running. Once he’d checked he could sell he hopped back on a plane to restart selling.
It’s not something we’ve ever recommended, but turning up at a marketplaces head office and demanding to be heard seems to have worked in this instance. The seller had the good fortune to have invoices and be able to show that his stock was genuine which appears to have been Amazon’s concern, coupled with the fact he had a huge bump in sales with no prior trading history.
Would you turn up at a marketplace head office if you couldn’t get sense out of customer support? Has anyone else ever tried this tactic to get a problem resolved.
2 Responses
Good on the guy!!! these marketplaces have way too much control over people’s livings.
Bad Press is all they respond to, bit of bad PR eBay is exactly the same. These Corporate yes men and ladies have to understand they are dealing with real people in the real world
It can be very frustrating when you dont get anywhere with the Seller Performance team, thats why its important to understand why you were suspended and how to write a successful appeal and plan of action.
There is an easier way to get your account reinstated – contact Thompson and Holt!