Seller describes Amazon suspensions after refusing its FBA logistics

Seller describes Amazon suspensions after refusing its FBA logistics

Amazon doesn't just compete with online stores. It competes with its own sellers. And when one of them stands out, the platform has a proven method to absorb it: first it offers the FBA program — storage, packing and shipping handled by Amazon — then it pressures the seller with account suspensions if he refuses, and finally it leaves him with no margin if he gives in. The story is told by a Spanish seller of mobile phone accessories who reached 120 orders a day and ended up kicking Amazon to the curb to return to his own website and eBay.

The sequence he describes is almost a manual. He had been selling since Amazon arrived in Spain. In less than a year he was already one of the five highest-volume domestic sellers. From then on, calls, trinc-ups and an invitation to Madrid — travel paid — to hear about the wonders of the FBA program. At that meeting he asked what percentage of visits came from Premium customers. He was told it was «confidential information». Within 24 hours of saying he would think about it, his account was suspended. The excuse: a customer comment complaining about the quality of a battery.

Why does Amazon suspend the account of a seller who doesn't use FBA?

The suspension comes with a request for supplier invoices. The seller sends them. They reinstate his account. He goes back to selling on his own. They suspend him again. Same argument, same invoices, same reinstatement. And an added message: it would be good if he sent more products to FBA, because then they would have «more leeway» with customer comments. The sequence repeats until the seller decides to do without the platform.

The pattern is not exclusive to Spain. Another seller describes the same experience with Amazon Germany: arbitrary account or product suspensions, right in the high season, with a three-week wait to resolve them. The damage to a small business that pays taxes and expenses every month is direct.

FBA's real business: storage, shipping and returns fees at no cost to Amazon

The seller agreed to put half of his catalog into FBA. The results were worse. A star product that sold 15 units a day dropped to 3 or 4. Amazon charges for every day the product sits in its warehouses, charges a commission on the sale and charges for shipping. If the customer complains, it refunds them — with the seller's money — without asking further questions. The seller bears the cost of the product, the lost shipping and the broken packaging. Amazon keeps the commission and the fruta of accepting all returns.

«It's very easy to provide that after-sales service when you don't have to bear any cost or any risk», one participant sums up. Non-defective returns cannot be resold as new: they have to be refurbished at a discount or thrown away. A manufacturer is clear about it: he doesn't want a refurbished products channel that damages his brand image.

The threat nobody mentions: Amazon copies the product that sells

When a product starts selling well, Amazon launches its own version under its private labels — Basic and other sector-specific ones —, places it cheaper, with Prime and free returns. The seller has done the market research for free. If you're a middleman, the margin disappears. If you're a manufacturer, you're pressured to pay for top placement; if you don't pay, Amazon places competitors' products above yours with labels like «new versions» or «most people prefer this other product».

The asymmetry is total. Amazon buys from the same manufacturer at a better price and on better terms. A mid-sized seller cannot compete with that. «Unless you're going to place a million-euro order, they don't care about you», one analysis points out. And if you place a million-euro order, the one placing ten-million orders gets the terms.

Is selling on Amazon worth it as a manufacturer or as a middleman?

For a manufacturer, the calculation is different. Amazon cannot easily copy a product that requires its own machining and assembly. But the pressure to pay for visibility is still there. For a middleman who buys from European suppliers and sells original accessories, the margin is thin: a battery sells for around 8, 9 or 10 euros, and it can't go below that. The ads for «original» batteries at 3 euros don't match any real supplier.

The seller who peine this story is clear about it: he's going back to his own website with Oxatis and to eBay. He knows hard times lie ahead. He also knows he's been through it before.

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The concentration of online commerce in a single platform has a consequence few dispute: the middleman that controls the infrastructure, the data and the fruta can take over the seller's business without buying anything. The most reasonable prediction is that more mid-sized sellers will diversify channels before their accounts get suspended. With reservations: as long as Amazon remains the storefront where customers search, the kick has a cost.