Amazon OA sellers lose accounts with no warning or appeal path
48 posts across 23 communities in the last 30 days; 19% from r/ecommerce.
“Hey guys, I’m just wondering how real the danger actually is. It seems like a joke at the moment because I haven’t seen anyone actually lose money, but maybe someone has experienced this issue firsthand and can confirm that it’s real. Is there any actual demand for a solution to…”
“as a buyer, what makes me hesitate on amps from smaller shops is shipping. it's heavy, expensive and fragile, so tell me how it's packed and that it's insured if it shows up broken, right on the product page, and i stop going back to the big retailer to buy it there”
“Seems like I hear this constantly from smaller DTC founders. Why is it so hard to think about the CX first?”
OA sellers face significant anxiety around account stability and sudden suspensions (Section 3s), leading to fear of lost investment. There's also a lack of transparency regarding the high costs and workflows employed by successful sellers, creating uncertainty and pressure to spend heavily. The manual processes of the past have been replaced by a new, risky system.
SOURCES (60)
“Hey guys, I’m just wondering how real the danger actually is. It seems like a joke at the moment because I haven’t seen anyone actually lose money, but maybe someone has experienced this issue firsthand and can confirm that it’s real. Is there any actual…”
“but that fell through as it often does. can you say more on that? I'm just getting started on this entire journey [re: Are all business buying programs a scam? Looking for first-hand reviews of courses by Carl Allen, Codie Sanchez, Walker Deibel, etc.]”
“two things sound like a hard sell about this: 1) not buying from an existing distributor means another person to order from, another delivery, another invoice to pay. doesn't sound like much, but it adds up quick when you have hundreds of products. A lot easier to say "we're with [this distributor]. who do you buy from there, I'll reach out and let them know you want to add a case" 2) a product that moves slowly isn't a big selling point for them/good use of space for t”
“Every October the same narrative comes out - Christmas searches peak earlier than people think, sellers who start in November are already behind etc. But I’ve also seen shops do just fine launching Q4 products in late October. Curious what people who’ve actually been through a few Q4 seasons think. Is the “start in August” advice genuinely backed by data or is it just content creators manufacturing urgency? What’s the latest you’ve successfully launched a holiday product and still had a good sea”
“I’m talking 10-15 accounts with multi million ACV each. What do you do all day? submitted by /u/Due_Success_1400 [link] [comments]”
“Yep, I have a dashboard for coverage and error on shops. Really helpful! [re: Got called a scalper on reddit, still got my first 6 paying customers]”
“Trust the system unless you can afford the loss. I cancel all high risk almost immediately. I don’t have time for that level of risk. [re: Should I fulfill this high-risk order? It feels extremely suspicious.]”
“I've been doing this as a solid gig for about a year, though I started in 2020. But after the first 6 months, I stopped looking at my standing. What about you? Yes, packages are "missing". Yes, I'm dropping them at the apartment office. No, I'm not delivering the one package that's an hour away from my last stop-- I "don't" have it in my car. My one grudge that I'll never get off my shoulders is the One Time Passcode that customers don't even remem”
“yeah flippa at 200 is rough, listing plus success fee eats like a quarter of it. for a 2 day codebase id skip marketplaces and sell in the open, sideprojectors plus this thread, first 200 that shows up wins. is it about the money or just closing the loop? [re: [ATLAS MERCHANT] - I built an autonomous commerce research/store-building pipeline in ~2 days with AI assistance — now I'm testing whether the codebase itself is worth selling]”
“Yeah for sure, good luck. Bans usually come from listing high value items right out the gate. Clothes are the prefect thing to sell on Vinted, very unlikely you'll get banned. Making money comes from sell though, you'll sell like 10% of what you list per month, so if you can find 10k worth of used goods (a lot easier than finding 10k in euros, for any man) you'll be making about 1,000 per month or close to it.”
“Nobody's covered the policy risk part you asked about, so to answer that directly: the thing that actually gets accounts flagged is a discount code or explicit "shop direct and save" pitch printed on the insert, since that reads as diverting a sale off the marketplace. Softer asks (warranty registration, care instructions, a QR to a loyalty list) survive review because they don't attach a dollar incentive to leaving the platform.”
“The tiered clearance idea is probably the easiest one to test. Instead of discounting one unit heavily, you can make the incentive progressively better at 2, 3 and 4 units. FoxSell's volume bundles are pretty well suited to this kind of "clear more, save more" setup.”
“Before signing with anyone I'd ask who they've actually gotten a yes from in your category in the last year, and how they get paid. A retainer with no clear 90 day target is where people get burned. Upbeat_Opinion is right about running it as a defined pilot. The thing I'd add is timing. Most big chains review a category on a set schedule, so a good pitch sent in the wrong month just sits until the next reset. Ask the agency when the reviews are for your category at the stores you li”
“as a buyer, what makes me hesitate on amps from smaller shops is shipping. it's heavy, expensive and fragile, so tell me how it's packed and that it's insured if it shows up broken, right on the product page, and i stop going back to the big retailer to buy it there”
“That's probably the most fundamental way to A-proof an ecom business to be honest”
“honestly not yet. the only sites linking to it are junk directories. suppliers and trade groups pointing their members at it is the obvious next thing to chase”
“I'd probably test the free-gift threshold before going aggressive with discounts. If your AOV is already $60, for example, giving away a slow-moving $15 SKU at $75+ could be more attractive than putting that SKU at 40% off. FoxSell is worth looking at if you want to combine these bundle/AOV experiments with proper component inventory tracking.”
“The hero product + aging SKU strategy makes a lot of sense. Instead of telling customers "this product isn't selling," you're positioning it as an extra benefit of buying something they already want. FoxSell's fixed bundle setup seems like a pretty straightforward way to test that without changing the individual product pricing.”
“Hell no. It’s highly likely that what is being sold is hot garbage. The term ‘winning product’ is an absolute red flag to boot. It’s dudebro speak.”
“May not be successful with this in today's day and age. Its usually hard to get banks to approve them. Once its flagged as cmra its pretty much a no-go. Ipostal is usually never the way to go for an address.”
“Account health first. I had a supplement client whose accounts kept getting shut down, so we ran a backup account just to keep spend going. Supplements get their ad copy picked apart harder than almost anything else on Meta. Read the advertising policies before you write a single ad, because rejections stack up and affect how Meta treats your account. Anything that implies you know something about the viewer's body gets flagged fast. I keep supplement copy focused on ingredients, routine, an”
“I’ve had deals close on revenue and renew because ops finally stopped chasing status updates.”
“Seems like I hear this constantly from smaller DTC founders. Why is it so hard to think about the CX first?”
“Fair to call out, we are a lender so I get the suspicion. There's no link and I'm not pitching anything here. I'm curious which one people prefer, since we only hear from the ones who end up borrowing. If you've got a take on it I'd like to hear it.”
“is there anyone works for a commission based Under 40% ? submitted by /u/ily__knd [link] [comments]”
“Imagine calling yourself a PM and not having a backup plan for provider degradation.”
“Hello! I am a Latin American seller and I used to do online arbitrage (AI told me the name of the business model, im not really sure if it is okay) with stuff like plushies or wallets from aliexpress. I used to search for aliexpress products that were already listed on Amazon using the scanning feature of the amazon seller app, and then I would order the products and relabel them at home. It was a very small business that just helped a little, and it never scaled a lot. I stopped doing it about”
“These numbers are horrible. Is this normal? So much effort and this is the outcome and this isn't counting multiple miscellaneous fees too. Any advice. At all. Should I just move to some private label? Worried too because I don't think I have the capital for that and have 0 experience in that field too submitted by /u/Few-Friendship126 [link] [comments]”
“Wow, never thought about it that way. Always heard about picking a niche and always thought about it as like picking a specific product and mastering it instead of looking at the broad scale of the business. You give better advice than my dad. Thanks, bro.”
“I used to think that if a product was getting orders, it was automatically worth keeping. But after hearing about sellers losing their margins to reprints, replacements and shipping problems, I’m starting to look at it differently. A product can sell well and still be a headache behind the scenes. Have you ever stopped selling something because it created more problems than profit? What was the product, and what finally made you remove it?. submitted by /u/Pixogate99 [link] [co”
“What about if someone can get something on par with what you have but for a lot cheaper than you paid for it, let alone the price you want for it? What then? Sometimes undercutting is the only strategy left.”
“Too many influencers out there selling the dream - “build this site and orders will start pouring in!” Not easy at all. Not even close. Many businesses will lose money when starting out. Literally no one knows you have a website. Your website is in an endless sea of other websites. You need to regularly spend money on promoting and advertising your site. People might need to see your ad or hear about you maybe 7+ times before they even think about going to your site. And that’s no guarantee they”
“skip the multi account thing, when they catch it you lose everything at once including your reviews. no idea what's big in poland but i'd move to a marketplace that actually allows business sellers and put up a basic site on the side, at under 1k a month you don't have to pick just one yet”
“I was banned on meta ads way back in the day for god knows what reason. My biggest crime was dropshipping mechanical keyboards I guess. I tried making a new account for an entirely different business but instantly got “under review” as soon as I created the new account. Is there any way to not go through support (I have heard they barely help and it’s so much pain going through customer support anyway) and get a working meta ads account set up? submitted by /u/BathInternational685 [l”
“How many contacts do you have on your list, roughly, and how are your sales from that audience?”
“Yeah I was like "this is my reckless purchase for the year" but its seeming like it might just be my first reckless purchase for the year lmao”
“I'm presuming this is fairly common. I started selling online through ebay and had a fairly profitable store. A couple of years later I basically replicated the listings on to a Shopify store. It took a while for it to grow organically, but now, after around 7 years, I constantly have my ebay store on "holiday mode" and solely rely on Shopify. I'm in the UK and get around 1000 visitors a month. I've never ran adds and have waited for it to grow organically. I haven't cl”
“I have recently started using them and have had some pretty good traction. I am seriously considered investing more. How has it been going for you this past 8 months?”
“Fair points, and the ones we spent the most time on. Live today: every sender is identity checked (passport plus selfie) with a verified payout account before they can receive stock or orders. Stock stays the shop property; on request it has to be back within 14 days, otherwise it is embezzlement and we hand the verified identity and address to the shop and the police, and freeze the account and the balance. In transit the carrier is liable and we file the claim. We deliberately do not call any”
“Im going to talk with them hopefully tomorrow...im in pretty deep. Please pray for me ilkllpost the results”
“Auto cancelling medium is crazy honestly. A previous agency set up an auto cancellation that hit 2 legitimate customers with an order value over 1k. We could solve this manually but have disabled the auto-cancellation flow. Instead each case is assessed manually. Maybe in a really big business this isn't feasible. But if the business is that big, you can't be relying solely on shopify's fraud detection.”
“Are you still actively involved in a deal with them ? How long has it been ?And what has the trajectory been like from that point ? I know they say that the will give your investment back in two years if you haven’t recouped it . Have you made any money at all? They left you with debt ??”
“Do you work for X? It's definitely not a "no brainer." The main problem I see is the complete lack of customer support. If your account is restricted, hacked, you lose mfa, etc., you are up sh*t creek. You will not be able to get in touch with anyone in any reasonable amount of time. Prove me wrong if I am wrong.”
“Anyone know of a simple tool that tracks your nexus threshold across all your sales channels on place, no filing, just alerts. Would this help you? What do you currently use, if anything? submitted by /u/JasperLogic [link] [comments]”
“Does anyone know of a simple tool that tracks all your nexus threshold across all your sales channels in one place, no filing, just alerts. What do you currently use, if anything? submitted by /u/JasperLogic [link] [comments]”
“On good days we sell a lot of Upsells/AOV is much higher and then bad days AOV is also very bad. Anyone seen this variance? While CPA stays more or less stable submitted by /u/Necessary_Day1715 [link] [comments]”
“Ouch. 20k tied up in dead stock is brutal. That is just trapped capital eating your storage fees every single month. Are you dealing with just a few specific SKUs that never caught traction, or is that 20k fragmented across a bunch of random leftover sizes and colorways? Curious which of those liquidation methods from the post you are thinking about deploying first to flush it out.”