Resolving Lawsuits and Protecting Assets When Accused of Having Multiple Selling Accounts on Amazon
All right, Amazon sellers, since Amazon is constantly changing and there are so many issues, we are continuously training our team as to what Amazon sellers are facing. One of the ways that we get the information to our team is by shooting an internal video and sending it to the team so they could watch it on their own, absorb it, then write questions back to me.
So what I’m trying to do is to use the same information to teach you what we know, to really spread the information as much as possible.
So here’s a question that I received from Jen, who is part of our client relations team:
She received a call from a seller where his account was frozen by a temporary restraining order issued by a court in Chicago, the Northern District of Illinois, where the seller was accused of selling counterfeit products.
That account was frozen under the TRO, but then Amazon froze his other account because he was operating two accounts. He wants to know, what can he do about it?
So on the TRO side, the court order, we can most likely settle those claims. Either the claim itself is baseless or the claim has merit. But either way we can usually resolve those cases, settle with the brand, and get the lawsuit and the complaint retracted on that account.
Now on the Amazon side, what most likely happened is when Amazon received a temporary restraining order from the lawyer, they then did their own evaluation and related the Amazon accounts. So it’s really two different issues. One is resolving the lawsuit and making sure that seller’s personal assets, that his business assets, are protected from a default judgment.
Once that’s resolved, then you have to go to Amazon and deal with multiple selling accounts issue. Most sellers don’t want to settle the case that’s in court unless they know their Amazon accounts are going to come back online. But there’s no way that we can know that in advance. It’s two separate issues.
They got sued in court, and you have to address it. You cannot let a default judgment be entered against you, it totally changes the burden of proof in resolving the case. It changes you from negotiating from a position of strength to negotiating from a position of weakness. So you have to address it, formally respond to the lawsuit, and then negotiate a resolution.
And then once that’s done, then you go back to Amazon and you’re in plan of action world, dealing with what is most likely a related accounts issue.
If you want to learn more about this particular topic, or any topic at all, I’ll do my best to answer it. I totally believe in paying it forward, and giving you the information so you can handle as much as possible on your own. Contact us when you want to have someone else handle the issues or it’s kind of outside your expertise.