- Hundreds of Amazon sellers are believed to have had funds up to £300,000 each wrongly and unlawfully frozen by the e-commerce giant, totalling potentially tens of millions
- Sellers have taken to Amazon’s own forums, some telling the company they are facing bankruptcy – some have even tragically reported having suicidal thoughts as a result
- Left with no other option, sellers are now joining forces to bring legal action against Amazon in the UK to recover their money
- Any Amazon seller whose funds are still frozen by Amazon can join the legal action here.
London, 3 October 2024 – Amazon sellers are today preparing to take legal action in the UK against the US e-commerce giant, claiming it has unlawfully frozen tens of millions of their hard-earned sales proceeds.
The legal action will aim to win compensation for affected sellers and force Amazon to unfreeze their funds. Sellers whose funds remain frozen by Amazon are strongly encouraged to visit this page to find out more and submit their information to join the legal action.
There are approximately 100,000 sellers in Amazon’s UK marketplace, ranging from established businesses to sole traders. Hundreds have taken to Amazon’s Seller Central chatroom and social media forums complaining that Amazon wrongly froze their funds.
The frozen money is the sale proceeds that sellers have earned from selling their products. The sale proceeds are essential to cash flow, and are required to continue the running of their businesses. Sellers believe that funds are frequently frozen on baseless and incorrect grounds, such as needing to update their VAT information.
Some sellers have had nearly £300,000 frozen by Amazon. The combined amount of sellers’ funds wrongly frozen by Amazon is expected to be in the tens of millions of pounds.
All too often, sellers have been offered very little information after these actions were taken against them, despite engaging in good faith by providing letters, evidence, and sometimes hundreds of emails.
Amazon’s actions against sellers are not just causing financial harm – they are putting them through incredible stress. In scenes reminiscent of the Post Office scandal, they face being stuck in an automated process with Amazon’s appeal system. Multiple sellers have taken to Amazon’s own seller forums to tell them that they are facing bankruptcy as a result of their unilateral decision to freeze their accounts. Sellers have also tragically reported suicidal thoughts on Amazon’s forums after months and months of trying to access their hard-earned money.
Efforts by the former enterprise minister Kevin Hollinrake MP raised awareness of this issue back in February 2024. Despite this, sellers continue to have their money withheld unlawfully by Amazon.
On the backs of its sellers, Amazon’s sales in the UK totalled over £25 billion in 2023. Thousands of pounds in frozen funds may not seem like much to a multi-billion-dollar business like Amazon, but for its sellers it is essential to provide for their family, and existential for their small businesses.
Exploring whether they are eligible to join this legal action will not cost sellers any money whatsoever.
One of Rosenblatt’s clients, who had over a hundred thousand pounds frozen by Amazon, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of further reprisals from Amazon, said:
“I’ve been pleading with Amazon for nearly 18 months to unfreeze my funds. We had been a seller on Amazon for almost 10 years, and this is the second time they’ve done this to us. I went above and beyond to provide them with invoices, supplier and buyer information, item descriptions, and quantities, yet I am still waiting to receive my money. It’s been a humiliating process. In the end we were forced to take legal action, but with Rosenblatt’s help, I’m finally close to recovering my funds. We work incredibly hard as sellers to meet all of Amazon’s criteria and standards, but they treat us like second-class citizens—ignoring us and sending automated emails.
We’ve generated millions in sales and paid Amazon millions in commissions over the years, yet they have disregarded us and tried to keep our hard-earned money for themselves. Some of the stories being shared online by people are tragic and, frankly, some are quite worrying. It is starting to feel a lot like the Post Office scandal, with people fighting a never-ending automated system that just keeps saying no.
Sellers can only be patient for so long. It’s time for us to fight back. I encourage anyone else in my situation to submit their information to Rosenblatt and join our legal action.”
Dean Nicholls, Partner at Rosenblatt representing affected sellers, said:
“Amazon’s agreement with its sellers has very clear rules for what it can and cannot do. We believe that Amazon’s treatment of so many of its sellers is a clear breach of that agreement.
We encourage all sole traders and businesses that sell goods on Amazon in the UK to consider joining our legal action to fight for compensation if their funds remain unlawfully frozen.”
If you are an affected seller, please submit your information here at no financial obligation by clicking here.
