Case study about a seller who was suspended for selling expired nutritional supplements:
A customer received the supplement from our client and confused the expiration date with the lot number.
The expiration date is entirely different from the lot number; they have no similarities at all. The product was not actually expired, but instead of asking the seller, the customer went to Amazon and filed a complaint. Remember, you can never point the finger at an Amazon customer.
After doing research, we discovered that the product doesn’t visibly show an expiration date, it only shows the lot number and manufacture date. When you look on the product’s website, it states that the product is good for two years after the manufacture date. We included that information in the Plan of Action (POA) and attached the link from the website to show Amazon and the buyer that the product was not actually expired.
We researched and traced the product all the way back to the manufacturer. We showed that what we were arguing in the POA was correct by mimicking what the manufacturer had.
The seller was reinstated after the first POA.
If a seller needs us to write a second POA, we do; we don’t abandon our sellers. But when we get a seller reinstated on the first winning POA, we ring the bell, give each other a round of applause, and a pat on the back.
On average, Amazon seller accounts employ approximately four people, some are larger, some smaller. Our work helped saved people’s jobs.
If you get an Amazon suspension, you have to look at the product and investigate to find out what the issue is. Amazon does not tell you why you were suspended.