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Selling on Amazon is easy. You really can make money. I did for about two and a half weeks. This link should work to open a seller account. If it doesn’t, go to Amazon and click YOUR ACCOUNT, then find the links on the right lower middle of the page – Your Other Accounts. There you can sign up to sell on Amazon. If you have a large inventory like me you might be making a trip to the post office everyday. Your business may grow so quickly that an internet postage solution will work better than making post office runs. There is, of course, a ‘but’ to this – Seller Beware! Watch out for the team that monitors your activities and, like a secret, unapproachable oligarchy, THEY enforce the rules. They are called the Seller-Performance team.

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Warning number one – be very, very careful to follow their terms of service. Here’s what happened to me. I started selling CDs from a collection I have had for many years. Inside of two weeks I was making good money – and so was Amazon to the tune of roughly 13%.  In my guarantee I told buyers that I would refund with no questions asked.

In the first week, one of my very rare CD’s was purchased by a 70’s rock star. Oddly I knew her through friends and decided to REFUND her money and send her the CD for free. I did this because the CD was a rare recording that her late husband had written.

Without warning, a few days later my account was temporarily frozen because I had given out too many refunds. I must have hit some software threshold. (See Seller Performance Links at end of article.) Warning number two – be careful when entering your inventory! For some reason I had four duplicate listings. Inside of the same 3 days that I gave the rare CD away, I had two more duplicate orders for non existent inventory. I PROMPTLY fully refunded those orders with apology emails to the buyers. One of those buyers gave me positive feedback for great service.

Amazon’s software doesn’t really care, they shut me down saying I had given out too many refunds in too short a period of time. Not only that, but their auto email suggested that I had refunded without even waiting for the buyer to respond to the transaction. (Don’t give out speedy refunds. Bad for your metrics.)

My frustration stems from being too honest and too caring for my buyers to the point where Amazon’s Seller-Performance Team had automatically shut me down.

To be fair – the Amazon seller HELP team is fantastic. You can reach them by phone and they will walk you through the various issues you might be having. They will also advise you if you are making any TOS violations so that you can quickly correct them. The only problem is they have no contact with the dreaded Seller-Performance Team. No matter what is discussed, or corrected on your seller account, the people who work in Seller Help can’t contact or email Seller-Performance.

The last straw that permanently shut me down was this: A buyer sent me an email that his CD had scuff marks and wouldn’t play. I am 90% sure the CD i sent him was in MINT condition. I offered him a refund without wanting the ORIGINAL CDs returned (it was a two CD set). I also offered him FREE OF CHARGE a burned copy of the tracks that didn’t play.

Well, having been shut down for refunds a few days earlier I sent an email to Seller-Performance. They mis-read my email to think I was selling copied media. They shut me down permanently. Thus I warn you, if you sell on Amazon don’t try to make things right with your customers, that may appear as you are violating the TOS – it will only get you into trouble.

The torturous part: You cannot speak with Seller-Performance. You can only email them. The three emails I received were ALWAYS cryptic, except for the part where they stated my account was permanently shut down. (A copy of their email is at the end of this article)

This a hugely ridiculous exaggeration – I felt like an innocent prisoner at Guantánamo Bay. Certainly some of the detainees must be innocent. Yes, that’s one hell of a stretch in comparison, but I couldn’t think of a proper analogy. Getting shut down for unspecified reasons is difficult and frustrating -  it builds animosity when you have tried so hard to reflect well on yourself, your customers and the Amazon way – only to be wrongly accused and punished.

The end result being that Seller Performance, in my opinion, operates without trials, without evidence, and without thoroughly examining their cases. They just shut you down. Period. In my case, I tried too hard. My seller account was just under three weeks old.

As a final note I called Amazon Corporate. I dialed the number and asked for Jeff Bezos. I did this NOT to get my account re-opened but to let them know how unfair the Seller-Performance team had judged me. Many years ago I couldn’t get DSL hoked up. I called the CEO of PAC Bell (Ed Whitacre at the time) and an assistant answered. I got my DSL inside of two weeks. At Amazon I got a receptionist at Amazon Corporate. I told him the story. He said, “If I transfer your call to Jeff Bezo’s office I will get fired.” Yes, that’s what he said. He offered to transfer me to another voice mail instead. Well, that transfer was some Amazon department that said – “You can leave a voice mail, we are very interested in your call, but due to the high volume of voice mails we cannot guarantee we will return your call,” I hung up.

So, here I am writing my frustrations via Triond. Good luck selling on Amazon. I really mean that. Just be very careful. Perhaps my story will keep you from committing the same sins as I did.

Here was my feedback – as could have been viewed publicly on Amazon.

5 out of 5:  “item arrived quickly and in excellent condition as described, quite satisfied..”
Date: 3/5/2009     Rated by Buyer: Elle M.

5 out of 5: “Everyhting Perfect… Beautiful item… Thank you so much ”
Date: 3/5/2009     Rated by Buyer: danielximo

5 out of 5: “Great seller! Thanks so much!”
Date: 3/5/2009     Rated by Buyer: Marianna L.

5 out of 5: “Item arrived sooner than I thought possible, in perfect condition. Great seller!”
Date: 3/5/2009     Rated by Buyer: millionrainbows

5 out of 5:  “Great service. Thanks.”
Date: 3/4/2009     Rated by Buyer: smlazur

5 out of 5:  “Warp-speed delivery, and CD arrived with mint playing surface as promised. Thank you so much for a high-integrity transaction!”
Date: 3/2/2009     Rated by Buyer: imnhvn

5 out of 5:  “Great Seller, fast delivery, and wonderful service!!! No problems whatsoever!!!”
Date: 2/28/2009     Rated by Buyer: Tim K.

5 out of 5:  “CD in perfect condition, with its original jewel case and inserts, safely packaged, swiftly dispatched, and with cheerful helpful mail confirmation. What more could one possibly ask?”
Date: 2/28/2009     Rated by Buyer: xpb

5 out of 5: “Seller Rocks!! Order came immediately. Would love doing business with seller again.”
Date: 2/28/2009     Rated by Buyer: bgsm

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Hello from Amazon.com.

We apologize that you feel singled out by our actions, but want to assure you that is not our intention. Be assured that our policies apply to all sellers. After a review of your account by an account specialist, we have decided your account will remain blocked.  We regret we are unable to provide further information on this situation. Further correspondence regarding the closure of your selling account will not be answered. The closure of this account is a permanent action. Any subsequent accounts that are opened will be closed as well.

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Some Helpful Links and Advice Below.

If you are so inclined to open a seller account here are two Seller-Performance Pages That You should READ. And HERE is the second. Get familiar with those pages. Of course, follow the common sense rules of rating your inventory properly. There are CD collectors who want to know if the CD Artwork has indentations. Make sure you describe your products with extreme accuracy. Get your orders filled each day if possible. Email your customers and let them know it shipped. For further research Google “Amazon Seller Performance Issues”

As a post-script. If you have a large CD collection I highly recommend Delicious Library. It scans your collection and shows you the retail price on Amazon. It is Mac only. Good Luck.

For me, I’m done with Amazon. No more selling, no more buying.  I was good at both.