Amazon Suspension (Suspended)

The fact is that I have been a successful Amazon seller for many years now.  Originally, selling on Amazon started out as a part hobby that would bring a few extra dollars each month and it would not take up very much time at all. 

The funny thing was that while there was not a yearly pay raise at my day job, my Amazon sales were constantly on the rise; it reached a point where it felt like there was as much time spent on my part time job as was spent on the day job.  Not to mention selling through Amazon was starting to make more money than the eight hour shift.

This was the period when I did what so many others wish they could do:  I quit my day job.  Things were going great for a many years.  Working at home was simply amazing.  Just recently I woke up to find a very disturbing e-mail and it was an Amazon suspension.  No warning, no specific reason why.  It was just an e-mail letting me know that my lucrative business was suddenly shut off.   It felt like the big boss had come in and abruptly let me know to not come to work tomorrow.  Unfortunately, Amazon does not have anything like unemployment.  So instead of having the safety blanket of unemployment or even a two week’s notice, all I had was a vague e-mail describing that a bit of policy had been violated and my account was suspended.

The first step was to do some research.  Could I create a new Amazon account?  Maybe sign my spouse up and do the selling through her name?  Turns out that Amazon now has a pretty robust tracking system and it would take some work to try and create a fake account.  The reasons for suspension were the second thing I research.  Turns out there are a few good reasons a merchant could have his or her account suspended, but it turns out that an error on Amazon’s part could be the reason as well.  I simply could not understand why my account had been targeted.  I sent off a long detailed e-mail to the support address, but from what I have read there does not seem to be much hope.

Now my income has dropped from a healthy constant pay check to zero.  I have not had an actual job in almost five years.  Being an Amazon merchant did not exactly add to my previous job skills and I do not know what I am going to do.  My old job is definitely not going to hire me and trying to apply for a job with what amounts to a five year whole in my resume will not go over well.

After Amazon suspended my account my life has been effectively destroyed.  I have some savings, but a lot of money was invested in products; Products that I no longer have a way to sell.  Maybe I can talk a friend into becoming my business partner, but there seem to be very few avenues of hope right now.