And for the non-clickers, non-onboarders & and non-OCR Software users, here’s the textual quote:
I would think it likely that the “offending” post was this one made to the same discussion, in reply to the FMT/CMT’s CR_Amazon, 6 days ago (link, NSFE):
It may not have helped the OP’s cause that Ina Steiner published the eCommerce Bytes article you linked (link, simplified default URL of AuctionBytes Blog post) upthread, as it specifically references the OP, and there’s a good deal of evidence that Amazon might well be paying closer attention to Ina ever since the eBay Executive(s) debacle she & David endured.
I didn’t realize they were directly mentioned in that blog post. That does explain why they were retaliated against though.
Was kind of a bad move to post that on the official forums though. That’s Amazon’s house and your account there is directly linked to your seller account. If you want to vent do it on reddit, SAS, or some other venue that isn’t owned by entity you’re venting against.
Amazon’s probable narrative in this is it’s the issuing bank’s fault (thus it’s the seller’s fault for choosing that bank) so that absolves Amazon of any responsibility.
To be fair, the reason I chose to use “…specifically references…” rather than “…specifically mentions…” in my earlier post is because Ms. Steiner - as has long been her habit, in most cases - doesn’t actually mention the OP by name, or any other directly-identifiable quantity other than the link to the NSFE discussion itself - and thus to the Posting Profile itself.
Still, when anyone with the ability to fog a mirror with their breath (IRL or virtual) and in possession of an Amazon-acceptable credit instrument can create an SoA (‘Amazonese’ for “Selling on Amazon” aka 3P Seller aka Seller Central) Account, it’s not particularly difficult to connect the dots - and since Amazon doesn’t even need jump through those hoops, I am largely in agreement with this observation:
We get it. And all anyone else is saying is that THIS IS NOT ALWAYS POSSIBLE.
Amazon screwed up. Period. The issue was pointed out to them, and they took way too long to do anything about it, even something as simple as stopping orders for deactivated accounts (Why on Earth would Amazon not have it automatically stop taking orders on an account that is deactivated? How is that helping satisfy the customer?)
Bottom line, yes, for some there are workarounds. But DON’T BLAME THE VICTIM. This is 100% Amazon’s fault for putting accounts in jeopardy due to a glitch that they were informed about over and over.
And note that my example was just that; an example. A small business running right on the edge might not only be largely dependent on Amazon for income, but also be unable to get additional credit, especially if that source of income goes away.
I think that, at the very least, Amazon should not punish any sellers who were caught in this glitch; loss of sales is enough “punishment” for a seller for doing nothing wrong.
But I’m not holding my breath.
Part of the reason to participate in a community is to learn from the mistakes of others, so that you can avoid those mistakes yourself.
The point here is, that relying on Amazon to do things right is not a recipe to being a successful seller. As we can see in this case, Amazon goofed this up (not so much with this specific charge card issue, but the fact they lock people out of their accounts for it, which has been an issue outside of this glitch as well for as long as I can remember), but who pays the price for it? The seller does.
The lesson to be learned here, is ALWAYS take responsibility for and try to resolve problems. Relying on Amazon to correct the issue will likely result in a bad outcome for the seller, and an Amazon that doesn’t give a crap about that outcome (and won’t do anything to help).
And to add insult to injury, Amazon retaliated against the seller by adding another ding to their account for pointing out their incompetence (which means someone with some kind of power DID see their posts, and decided the appropriate action was to penalize them, not to assist with their issue).
This is a very valuable lesson. You don’t want to be in that seller’s position now or ever if you rely on Amazon income. Amazon does not treat sellers fairly or with respect, so sellers need to keep that in mind and react accordingly.
Dealing with what Amazon demands of you is far more important than good business practices. I would argue though that an Amazon’s seller #1 “good business practice” would be “keep Amazon happy,” since if you’re suspended it’s game over.
Amazon’s 100% of my business revenue. I will do anything, and I do mean anything, to keep the Amabots happy. Maybe it’s not as important of a channel to you (and if you’re diversified, that’s a good thing) so you don’t understand that mentality.
If I need to do something that’ll cause problems with taxes, or get me sued to keep the Amabots happy, I’ll do it. Do you know why? Because those problems are resolvable. I can explain a situation to an IRS auditor who will actually listen to me, and will review my documents to see that the taxes were indeed paid correctly – just there were some improper things done with how the money was handled. If I get sued, I know that a court is a forum that will listen to both sides and issue a fair judgement, assuming that the 2 parties cannot come to a settlement by themselves. If the Amabots suspend your account, nobody will listen to you, and nobody cares, you’re just bankrupt.
I’ll be honest, it’s a pretty crappy way to do business, but if you get all your revenue from Amazon, they basically own you and your business. They have the power to bankrupt you at any time for any reason and they don’t need to justify it to anybody. There’s sellers here who pay thousands of dollars every month in extortion to SAS as insurance against their listings getting attacked by the Amabots. Amazon doesn’t care about what’s “fair” or “right” and sometimes if you want to survive you can’t rely on that.
Again – It is not the victim’s fault, but there were actions they could have done to avoid the suspension. And as far as blaming the victim goes, Amazon routinely does that. This is not the first time that sellers have been the victim of some Amazon problem, or getting attacked by other sellers, and Amazon points the finger at them and asks them to write a POA explaining what the seller did wrong and how they intend to fix it.
It’s like if an arsonist set fire to your business, and you see the fire when it’s still small. You’re not obligated to put it out, you can just watch it burn and file an insurance claim. But that’s a hassle and you rarely get made whole for ALL damages incurred. In this case, Amazon’s the insurance company that hired an arsonist and is refusing to pay the claim.
Hello everyone, I finally found a forum that can help me, based on the comments I read here.
My debit card, Mastercard was associated with my account and has expired. I added a new one and the problem started: “Invalid Charge Method Your access to Seller Central is currently restricted due to an invalid charge method.” After opening a case on Amazon and a lot of conversation, it was suggested to me today that I try to associate a new card, I added a Mastercard but this time credit card, still with the same error. They keep saying to wait 24 to 48 hours for full access, the answer is always the same.
After what I read here and on the Amazon forums, the problem is with Mastercard cards. I would like your opinion, I will ask for a visa credit card, add it first to the BUYER section, and only after 24 to 48 hours will I add it to my SELLER account.
I appreciate all the help you can give me on this topic, I have orders to send and I already know that after all this my metrics will be bad, and I don’t know what to do anymore. In the meantime I have already put the store in vacation mode.
Debit cards sometimes work, other times not, so I am glad to see you also tried a credit card.
From trial and error over the years, many MANY sellers have found the add to buyer side, wait, add to seller side offers the best chance of success. So yes, I would agree with your thought process here.
Also make sure the billing address matches an address on your account. Also, do not use a friends card, as that can cause even more issues.
Amazon doesn’t always allow debit cards … credit cards are the preferred card to use.
Yes … this has been reported as the work around for this issue.
Visa Credit Card (not Visa Debit Card)
So you full fill your orders … correct? … and you can see your orders and shipping details … correct?
If you are not able to use Amazon Buy Shipping to buy shipping, then buy the shipping from USPS, UPS, FedEx … etc. to be able to ship and manually input the tracking on the orders. This way you clear out the orders that you currently have while you are on vacation and working through the credit card issue.
Hello
Thank you very much for helping.
I’m a handmade seller and I send my orders. I do not have access to the orders or their details. I put my account in vacation mode so I wouldn’t receive any more orders.
Many thanks
A MOST-pertinent fact that was reinforced yesterday, over in the NSFE (“New Seller Forums Experience”) by one of the better members of the FMT-CMT (“Forum Moderation Team”-“Community Management Team”), Micah, in his choice of crafting the web-page identifier element he ‘embedded’ in linking the SHC (“Seller Help Content”) page “Bank account and credit or debit card information for your seller account” @ https: //sellercentral.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/19791 in this response to a similar question as is concerning our friend @Bling_Handmade:
Hello
Thank you in advance for all your responses to help me.
Unfortunately, as I don’t have a valid charge method, in the central seller I only have access to the help page, on the PC, not through the application. Tomorrow I will associate the new visa credit card on my buyer account and I will wait, to later add it to the seller account.
In typical Amazon fashion they have changed their wording and language regarding debit cards.
In the latest rendition they indicate in various spots that they now accept them even in the US. They apparently had been saying OK to them in other countries for some time.
I found this out many months ago when a MOD responded saying they were now OK. I would have to hunt for the post
but here is some of the new language –
New start to your link page –
Bank account and credit or debit card information for your seller account
When you register as a seller, you must enter a credit or debit card that will accept international charges and that has a valid billing address located in an eligible country. Your credit or debit card will be billed the monthly fee (if applicable) or USD 1 (excl. VAT) for purposes of validating the card. For more information, go to Registration requirements by country.
And, from their “new improved” Update credit or debit card information in seller account
Complete the following steps to update the credit or debit card information in your seller account:
Go to Settings, and click Account Info.
From Payment Information, select Charge Methods.
Click Replace Charge Method for the credit or debit card you would like to replace, and select the store where you would like to assign a new charge method.
Select an option to either Add a new credit or debit card, or select a card that is already available in Seller Central. Enter the requested information exactly as it appears on your credit or debit card statement.
It has also been clear on the NSFE that the Debit Cards do NOT always work – again, typical Amazon silo manglement.
