Filing for Arbitration with Amazon – Why Well Written POA’s are Essential for Reinstatement
As an Amazon Seller, it is important for you to understand the options that you have at your disposal when encountering issues that come from dealing with Amazon.
By agreeing to sell on their platform, you have agreed to allow Amazon to change the rules that normally govern businesses. You’ve given Amazon the ability to suspend your account, hold your money and tack countless fees onto your account.
Despite all of this, by signing their Business Solutions Agreement, you have agreed to not sue Amazon. Since a lawsuit is not an option, what can a seller do when facing this seemingly one-sided relationship?
Arbitration is private process where evidence and arguments are made to a neutral intermediary in an effort to resolve a dispute.
Like anything else in business, a seller must weigh the pros and cons of pursuing this process with Amazon. To determine this, it’s important for sellers to understand what this process can accomplish, and certain things arbitration will likely never accomplish.
One of the most common reasons for sellers to look into arbitration is to get their account back. Arbitration is unlikely to get a court order requiring Amazon to reinstate your account. This is because the law that applies to arbitrations, from the State of Washington, prevents compelling a commercial entity from doing business with another commercial entity. While as a seller you may not view yourself as a commercial entity, you are in fact a sole proprietorship in the eyes of the law. This means that an arbitrator cannot force Amazon to do business with you by reinstating your account.
While arbitration may not get a court order requiring Amazon to reinstate your account, it can help in other ways. As a seller, you’re well aware that Amazon’s staff reviewing your plans of action sometimes simply get it wrong. They don’t get the full picture of the issue you’re dealing with or simply don’t care to. This is where arbitration can potentially help by getting somebody higher up within Amazon to review your plan of action. Many times, we’ve found that once we file for arbitration, a team higher up in the Amazon food chain reviews the plan of action and the matter becomes resolved. So, while going through arbitration may not lead to the arbitrator stating for Amazon to “reinstate this account”, it can get you to the same goal by getting you a deeper look into the issues plaguing your account by someone higher up.
While arbitration may not be the route for every Amazon seller, our firm’s hard-earned experience in these types of cases can be the difference maker. From getting inventory back to forcing Amazon to release withheld funds, our arbitration team has consistently helped represent sellers and gotten results for sellers through the arbitration process.
So, if Amazon has made wrong decisions regarding your plans of action, your appeals or your escalations, feel free to reach out to us for your free consultation today 1-877-9-SELLER. Whether it’s breaking down seller issues, writing plans of action, or representing sellers through the process of litigation and arbitration, we’re here to help. Don’t let Amazon bully you and hire Rosenbaum, Famularo & Segall P.C. today!
