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Funny thing, my auntie once got banned for life from Amazon. She used to sell used books on Amazon (as "used", obviously) until she got one single complaint fro

Funny thing, my auntie once got banned for life from Amazon. She used to sell used books on Amazon (as "used", obviously) until she got one single complaint from a client. Even though the complaint was without basis, she offered him full refund while letting him keep the book. Still, she got banned by Amazon. They even banned the account of her husband, with no explanation and no possibility for recourse. She cannot ever sell anything ever again on Amazon, and she doesn't even know why.

ilamont 7y ago
I hear stories like that, and then I see my own experience with serial cheaters allowed to keep selling and racking up negative ratings. I am wondering if Amazon gave up enforcement, or just changed its practices/loosened the rules.
- dpark 7y ago
  I hear stories like that and question innocence of the protestor. I know sometimes people get screwed over for no reason but I’m also aware of numerous cases where someone loudly protests the unfairness of being blocked for a single unintentional infraction and upon further review it turns out they had a history of abuse, sometimes with a secondary account that they assumed BigCo was too stupid to link to their “real” account. Sometimes it’s a bit of a failure on both sides (e.g. BigCo also fails to notify about the abuse on the other account). Sometimes it’s just bullshit on the part of the complainer (e.g. Endless public protestations of innocence from someone who was actually sharing child pornography). I’m too jaded to trust the intentions of corporations, but I’m also too jaded to blindly trust the claims of those who assert they’ve been screwed over, especially when my gut says the story doesn’t make sense.
  - papln 7y ago
    There's a cottage industry of this in HN, where someone posts a blog complainings about BigCo destroying their small business, getting hundreds of upvotes and comments, and then it turns out, every time, that oops their software developement was outsourced to a developer who is a known serial spammer or scammer, and it's "not fair" because mom&pop can't know that they hired a criminal so BigCo shouldn't blame them.
    - throwaway2048 7y ago
      Every time? I don't think so.
papln 7y ago
How do you know that story is true? Amazon is full of sellers with many complaints published on the site.
- ben509 7y ago
  His auntie wouldn't exaggerate or leave out details... would she?
FireBeyond 7y ago
Right. I got very sick once, and was 2 days late shipping an item (a camera lens). That one complaint was enough to get me banned forever. I had offered in my response to say I was willing to be "required to use FBA" for all sales from the future forward, and they weren't interested. There was no complaint about the product, just that it arrived 2 days late (and I -had- messaged the buyer before that to advise).

ilamont 7y ago

I hear stories like that, and then I see my own experience with serial cheaters allowed to keep selling and racking up negative ratings. I am wondering if Amazon gave up enforcement, or just changed its practices/loosened the rules.

dpark 7y ago
I hear stories like that and question innocence of the protestor. I know sometimes people get screwed over for no reason but I’m also aware of numerous cases where someone loudly protests the unfairness of being blocked for a single unintentional infraction and upon further review it turns out they had a history of abuse, sometimes with a secondary account that they assumed BigCo was too stupid to link to their “real” account. Sometimes it’s a bit of a failure on both sides (e.g. BigCo also fails to notify about the abuse on the other account). Sometimes it’s just bullshit on the part of the complainer (e.g. Endless public protestations of innocence from someone who was actually sharing child pornography). I’m too jaded to trust the intentions of corporations, but I’m also too jaded to blindly trust the claims of those who assert they’ve been screwed over, especially when my gut says the story doesn’t make sense.
- papln 7y ago
  There's a cottage industry of this in HN, where someone posts a blog complainings about BigCo destroying their small business, getting hundreds of upvotes and comments, and then it turns out, every time, that oops their software developement was outsourced to a developer who is a known serial spammer or scammer, and it's "not fair" because mom&pop can't know that they hired a criminal so BigCo shouldn't blame them.
  - throwaway2048 7y ago
    Every time? I don't think so.

papln 7y ago

How do you know that story is true? Amazon is full of sellers with many complaints published on the site.

ben509 7y ago
His auntie wouldn't exaggerate or leave out details... would she?

FireBeyond 7y ago

Right. I got very sick once, and was 2 days late shipping an item (a camera lens). That one complaint was enough to get me banned forever. I had offered in my response to say I was willing to be "required to use FBA" for all sales from the future forward, and they weren't interested. There was no complaint about the product, just that it arrived 2 days late (and I -had- messaged the buyer before that to advise).