Account to protect against amazon A to Z chargebacks

akuma101

Is it possible to get a bank account where it is not possible for Amazon to debit your account without your authorisation? For example if I sell something on amazon for 500, the buyer files A to Z because they didnt read the description properly, and then amazon forcefully reclaims the 500 while letting them keep the item, is there a way to prevent this? I have thought about setting up an account with 0 in (unless I credit it) but would a chargeback push the account 500 in debt, even if I don't specify an overdraft?

Thanks

nidO

Is this a hypothetical question, or something that has happened?

I ask because the question as it stands makes little sense - Amazon's A to Z system and the process of chargebacks are entirely separate from each other, however in either case if you lose Amazon will debit your seller account with them for the cost of the claim, they don't just raid your bank account, and indeed have no way to perform any kind of "chargeback" against the bank account to which they pay your sale proceeds, as you arent the recipient of a card payment.

akuma101

I am speaking from experience as well as asking the question hypothetically. Since the a to z refund claims are 99% of the time granted to the buyer, even if they are lying. So I am wondering, going forward, is there a way to prevent your bank from being debited in this case?

benjus

How did the debit happen when it happened to you? Did you have a direct debit set up to Amazon? For it to have been a chargeback you would have to accept debit/credit card payments, and Amazon would have had to pay you by debit/credit card - which I think is rather unlikely. If it is a direct debit these can easily be cancelled, but Amazon would presumably freeze your seller account and/or take legal action against you to reclaim the shortfall.

akuma101

benjus wrote: »

How did the debit happen when it happened to you? Did you have a direct debit set up to Amazon? For it to have been a chargeback you would have to accept debit/credit card payments, and Amazon would have had to pay you by debit/credit card - which I think is rather unlikely. If it is a direct debit these can easily be cancelled, but Amazon would presumably freeze your seller account and/or take legal action against you to reclaim the shortfall.

It happened once before (I sold an expensive smartphone item, buyer filed a to z 2 and half months later after lying about a problem, he won, I received the item back and sent it to the manufacturer to test, no problems, but the resultant depreciation over 2.5 months resulted in a loss of couple of hundred pounds) . I am currently going through another a to z. This time the buyer doesnt want to return the item, even though amazon has instructed him to. Looking on the Amazon seller forums, there are many accounts of sellers being hit with a to z then losing both the item and their money, due to amazon's buyer centric platform. I currently have a direct debit set up with amazon. Has amazon even taken a seller to court for cutting the DD?

benjus

Cancel the direct debit to Amazon if you want to. Your Amazon seller account will then be overdrawn if they make a refund to your buyer.

If you want to continue trading via Amazon you will have to bide by their policies. Maybe they will freeze your seller account if you cancel the direct debit. Maybe they will freeze it until you bring it back into a positive balance. Maybe they will allow you to keep trading but you won't get any of the sales proceeds until you have a positive balance again. I don't know.

If you don't want to continue trading via Amazon, they might just let it drop, but I'd be surprised.

akuma101

benjus wrote: »

Cancel the direct debit to Amazon if you want to. Your Amazon seller account will then be overdrawn if they make a refund to your buyer.

If you want to continue trading via Amazon you will have to bide by their policies. Maybe they will freeze your seller account if you cancel the direct debit. Maybe they will freeze it until you bring it back into a positive balance. Maybe they will allow you to keep trading but you won't get any of the sales proceeds until you have a positive balance again. I don't know.

If you don't want to continue trading via Amazon, they might just let it drop, but I'd be surprised.

Ok thanks for your help.

jonesMUFCforever

Try selling it elsewhere?