Amazon banned me

[Solomani]

Can’t trust good reviews: they are frequently shills. Can’t trust bad reviews: they are often customers with unrealistic expectations or an axe to grind.

Three star reviews can occasionally be informative, but, frankly, most people seem incapable of writing a useful reviews.

Not only that. The vast majority of "Review n00bs" actually don't know the difference between a Product Review versus commenting on Transaction/Shipment Feedback. It annoys me when these people think they are reviewing a product when they say things like "And the Seller even shipped my item late and the package arrived all dinged when I got it from UPS"

 

[Southern Dad]

I had my account on Amazon since 2007. I had several hundred reviews and was active on Amazon Spark. Like the OP, my account was "wiped". That means all reviews gone, not able to post questions, and blocked from Spark. The reason given by Amazon was that I violated TOS. The initial reason given was that someone on my account purchased an item with an Amazon Gift Card and I had reviewed it. Amazon flagged this as suspicious. Looking back over the account, there were more than a dozen Amazon Gift Cards added to my account, mostly ones that I gave the kids. I didn't bother to appeal.

In 2017, I made over 900 purchases on Amazon. In the first four months of 2018, I made over 300 purchases. My account got the wipe in April. In May, June, and July, I made a total of 20 purchases.

 

[thepixelpusher]

I don't review many items on Amazon. I do look at the reviews, however, many are complete crap.

really!? I must say I've found most of the reviews helpful. I am unaware this had become such a problem. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Solomani]

really!? I must say I've found most of the reviews helpful. I am unaware this had become such a problem. Thanks for the heads up.

There are some helpful reviews, but only the ones that actually describe WHAT the product does, what it fails to do, and of course good-intentioned warnings like "Make sure you don't use this product outdoors, it's only meant to be used indoors, if you leave it outside and it gets damp or wet, it's hosed!"

The reviews that merely say "This is an awesome product! I highly recommend it!" -- those reviews are pure garbage as they say nothing about the everyday usage of the item. You do see those fawning reviews quite a bit, true.

 

[Solomani]

Also I might add….. this is not the first time I've read about long-time Amazon customers being insta-banned because of a review.

All I can say is…. as a long time Amazon customer that has posted several well-written reviews: I have no reason to post one ever again. Zero reason. Posting a review that Amazon considers suspicious or does not agree with, may potentially get me perma-banned. But what if I post a good and fair review? Nothing. Amazon does not reward people for posting fair and well-thought-out reviews. So, in conclusion, Amazon customers should just stop posting reviews. There is no incentive for doing so. There is only a negative risk for doing so, the risk of being permanently banned.

 

[thepixelpusher]

Also I might add….. this is not the first time I've read about long-time Amazon customers being insta-banned because of a review.

All I can say is…. as a long time Amazon customer that has posted several well-written reviews: I have no reason to post one ever again. Zero reason. Posting a review that Amazon considers suspicious or does not agree with, may potentially get me perma-banned. But what if I post a good and fair review? Nothing. Amazon does not reward people for posting fair and well-thought-out reviews. So, in conclusion, Amazon customers should just stop posting reviews. There is no incentive for doing so. There is only a negative risk for doing so, the risk of being permanently banned.

I agree. here's a novel idea Amazon. Maybe just pull the review if you don't like it, but for God sake don't cheese off your paying customer by banning them!

 

[Solomani]

I agree. here's a novel idea Amazon. Maybe just pull the review if you don't like it, but for God sake don't cheese off your paying customer by banning them!

The Amazon banning is severe in the Modern (Digital) Era, especially in the USA where Amazon has destroyed and REPLACED dozens upon dozens of US retail chains. Toys R Us? Dead. Buy new toys for your kids at Amazon (and used ones from eBay). Sears? Dead. Order your washing machines from Amazon because AMZN is now an authorized Whirpool and Maytag and Samsung washer/dryer dealer. Lowe's Hardware? Struggling, gonna be like Sears soon. Buy your hardware from Amazon, it's cheaper to buy a chainsaw from Amazon anyways.

And God help you when Amazon will soon destroy and shut down several Pharmacy retail chains. Amazon has already jumped into this. Once the convenient retail chains like Walgreens and Rite-Aid and CVS go extinct, because Amazon dominates the prescription drug industry in the coming years, God help you if you are still banned from Amazon. Where the heck do you get your prescription drugs if you need it right away? Oh right, you gonna save some money and mail-order it from Canada, right? This is an old trick that Americans use to buy cheaper drugs by ordering them from Canada. What if your child is sick and needs the prescription drug that very night? You still waiting for your mail-ordered drug from Canada to arrive?

Again, because Amazon has become an unstoppable monopoly that has replaced many retail chains, being banned from Amazon is a very severe punishment.

 

[Huntn]

Can’t trust good reviews: they are frequently shills. Can’t trust bad reviews: they are often customers with unrealistic expectations or an axe to grind.

Three star reviews can occasionally be informative, but, frankly, most people seem incapable of writing a useful reviews.

Amazon seems to have recognized their problem re reviews. I applaud your previous efforts, but, unfortunately, they are probably sweeping up a lot of false positives in their quest to clean things up.

It’s like you have to read a good many reviews to get a good reading. I heard about this problem reported by NPR about China, not about Amazon but about fake reviews, where the problem is rampant, is that worse than the US? A paid reviewer, pretended to buy stuff, but instead of the actual product she would receive misc inexpensive products shipped to her. This would get her listed as someone who had purchased the product. Then she would write a glowing review.

 

[Southern Dad]

There is a difference from being banned from Amazon and wiped by Amazon. Most people who are having this issue are wiped by Amazon. They can still make purchases but they can't review purchases, they can't ask questions, and they can't participate in things like the Spark program.

 

[Solomani]

There is a difference from being banned from Amazon and wiped by Amazon. Most people who are having this issue are wiped by Amazon. They can still make purchases but they can't review purchases, they can't ask questions, and they can't participate in things like the Spark program.

Maybe you're right. But the OP clearly stated that he was banned. And he is not the first one I have heard gripe about this. I know several others (beyond these forums) that have complained of the same draconic treatment: Amazon permanently banned them because they were accused of being frauds/hacks/fake-reviewers, etc. Notice that I bolded the word accused, because that means someone is punished as a result of accusation or even just suspicious activity. If there is such thing as a recourse or even an appeal process here, then I'd view this issue more positively.

I highly doubt there is such an appeal process, where the accused can at least try to prove (argue their case) that they were innocent. Amazon is a for-profit corporation, not a democratic justice system. Hence, they have no obligation to provide fair treatment or even provide justice for their customers. They can ban at will. I'm sure it's even written in the fine print of their TOS.

Never heard of the "wiped" by Amazon thing. Is that fairly common? have not read any articles about it.

 

[Huntn]

The Amazon banning is severe in the Modern (Digital) Era, especially in the USA where Amazon has destroyed and REPLACED dozens upon dozens of US retail chains. Toys R Us? Dead. Buy new toys for your kids at Amazon (and used ones from eBay). Sears? Dead. Order your washing machines from Amazon because AMZN is now an authorized Whirpool and Maytag and Samsung washer/dryer dealer. Lowe's Hardware? Struggling, gonna be like Sears soon. Buy your hardware from Amazon, it's cheaper to buy a chainsaw from Amazon anyways.

And God help you when Amazon will soon destroy and shut down several Pharmacy retail chains. Amazon has already jumped into this. Once the convenient retail chains like Walgreens and Rite-Aid and CVS go extinct, because Amazon dominates the prescription drug industry in the coming years, God help you if you are still banned from Amazon. Where the heck do you get your prescription drugs if you need it right away? Oh right, you gonna save some money and mail-order it from Canada, right? This is an old trick that Americans use to buy cheaper drugs by ordering them from Canada. What if your child is sick and needs the prescription drug that very night? You still waiting for your mail-ordered drug from Canada to arrive?

Again, because Amazon has become an unstoppable monopoly that has replaced many retail chains, being banned from Amazon is a very severe punishment.

We used to break up monopolies, however, Amazon is not technically a monopoly at least I don’t think it is. It’s like a department store that mostly sells other company’s products and it has competition for online sales.

But you may remember, Walmart was first credited with killing small business in rural areas. It’s ironic that the original business by mail merchant Sears is going down the tubes, but it faces the challenge that all brick and mortar stores are facing, balancing their physical stores, against an online giant who expertly capitalized on a trend better than everyone else and has no physical stores. I myself am disgruntled with most physical businesses, understaffed, unhappy employees, poorly stocked, and if you don’t need it today, why run around town for half a day, you may not be able to find! Where online, you have instant access to the full array of product availability.

Now, could this be subject to anti-trust action? It may not be a typical monopoly, but may end up monopolizing online sales, but I don’t think it’s there yet, it’s just the biggest. My guess is yes, anti-trust action could be eventually taken against it, but it’s seems unlikely as long as the Prosperity Party remains in control of Congress in the US. Other countries may act against Amazon, but frankly their crime is doing it best.

The Amazon Effect, read more here: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...e-retail-tsunami-has-finally-arrived.2042424/

 

[Southern Dad]

Maybe you're right. But the OP clearly stated that he was banned. And he is not the first one I have heard gripe about this. I know several others (beyond these forums) that have complained of the same draconic treatment: Amazon permanently banned them because they were accused of being frauds/hacks/fake-reviewers, etc. Notice that I bolded the word accused, because that means someone is punished as a result of accusation or even just suspicious activity. If there is such thing as a recourse or even an appeal process here, then I'd view this issue more positively.

I highly doubt there is such an appeal process, where the accused can at least try to prove (argue their case) that they were innocent. Amazon is a for-profit corporation, not a democratic justice system. Hence, they have no obligation to provide fair treatment or even provide justice for their customers. They can ban at will. I'm sure it's even written in the fine print of their TOS.

Never heard of the "wiped" by Amazon thing. Is that fairly common? have not read any articles about it.

Most people who say that they are banned are actually wiped. There is an appeal process and it sometimes works. I didn't bother to appeal when I was wiped. The most common reason to actually receive a ban is multiple accounts. Here's an example of a wiped account. I can still purchase items but I can no longer review products, ask questions, or participate in the Amazon Spark program. They left the 31 followers and the 64 hearts that my account had but eliminated all my reviews and helpful views. Amazon's explanation was that I had purchases using gift cards which is suspicious. They are right, there were more than a dozen gift cards added to my account. Mostly by my children.

​

 

[Solomani]

Amazon's explanation was that I had purchases using gift cards which is suspicious. They are right, there were more than a dozen gift cards added to my account. Mostly by my children.

I don't get it. How does Amazon remotely consider it "suspicious" when a customer uses Amazon gift cards to make purchases. Isn't that the entire point of gift cards??!

My family members also have given me Amazon gift cards in the past when they couldn't think of a better Bday present for me, and sometimes I much prefer the AMZN gift card than whatever cheesy presents they normally would have given me.

 

[theluggage]

The Amazon banning is severe in the Modern (Digital) Era, especially in the USA where Amazon has destroyed and REPLACED dozens upon dozens of US retail chains.

...but then the big retail chains that are now being killed off by online shopping have themselves, over the previous few decades, destroyed and replaced thousands of smaller, independent high-street and specialist shops by piling it high and selling it cheap in out-of-town malls with easy parking. What goes around comes around.

Part of the problem with places like Toys'R'Us is that they'd turned into big warehouses with aisles stacked with boxes of the same mass-market products, maybe a few unboxed and on display, and mostly non-expert staff. Their only real added value over shopping online was that you could get something today, rather than tomorrow (but maybe pay a premium).

I think that, if you look at the recent failures in depth, you'll see that although online shopping may have contributed to the coup-de-grace, there were other factors.

Meanwhile, the internet has created other opportunities - I wonder how many smaller outfits owe their continued existence to online sales (either from their own website or through Amazon Marketplace, eBay etc.)?

 

[Cobalt50]

Amazon reviews are a crapshoot. I read them and then try to average them out in my mind. Sometimes one thing gets mentioned many times and I tend to trust that. I bought an ABC watch and I looked at the reviews. Many people said the buttons stop working and the band breaks after a year. They were right. But a lot of negative reviews were from people who couldn't figure out how to work the watch.

 

[Southern Dad]

I don't get it. How does Amazon remotely consider it "suspicious" when a customer uses Amazon gift cards to make purchases. Isn't that the entire point of gift cards??!

My family members also have given me Amazon gift cards in the past when they couldn't think of a better Bday present for me, and sometimes I much prefer the AMZN gift card than whatever cheesy presents they normally would have given me.

The explanation that I was given is that sometimes sellers will give an Amazon gift card to a customer to purchase their product then review it. Of course, they will not say what purchase/review caused them to wipe the account. We had more than a dozen gift cards added to the account right before a purchase. This apparently got the account flagged. Certain products are more likely to get flagged, too. We narrowed it down to either a cell phone case that my daughter bought or a pop socket. Both were bought right after a gift card was put on the account and both were reviewed. My account had hundreds of reviews from 2007 until 2018. There were hundreds of helpful votes. I was a high ranked reviewer, under 1000.

Several others that review similar products to what I did got wiped. My area was home automation and smart gadgets. A couple appealed and got their accounts back. I moved to other places to do reviews. I am working on a YouTube format soon.

 

[Solomani]

The explanation that I was given is that sometimes sellers will give an Amazon gift card to a customer to purchase their product then review it. Of course, they will not say what purchase/review caused them to wipe the account. We had more than a dozen gift cards added to the account right before a purchase. This apparently got the account flagged. Certain products are more likely to get flagged, too. We narrowed it down to either a cell phone case that my daughter bought or a pop socket. Both were bought right after a gift card was put on the account and both were reviewed. My account had hundreds of reviews from 2007 until 2018. There were hundreds of helpful votes. I was a high ranked reviewer, under 1000.

Several others that review similar products to what I did got wiped. My area was home automation and smart gadgets. A couple appealed and got their accounts back. I moved to other places to do reviews. I am working on a YouTube format soon.

Ahh, well good that you didn't get banned permanently. Just a wipe. But still, I think you and many others just got swept up by an Amazon "super-crackdown" on a rampant problem. Yes, fake reviews are a problem, but not too much of a problem for discerning customers who KNOW how to sift through truly helpful reviews versus fawning useless cheerleader reviews (the fakes).

I still appreciate the people who write fair and concise reviews, because it influences what I buy. But as for myself…. I used to write helpful reviews myself, but I won't do it any longer. There is no incentive for doing it, only a dis-incentive (i.e. the risk of being punished by Amazon).

 

[davidg4781]

The Amazon banning is severe in the Modern (Digital) Era, especially in the USA where Amazon has destroyed and REPLACED dozens upon dozens of US retail chains. Toys R Us? Dead. Buy new toys for your kids at Amazon (and used ones from eBay). Sears? Dead. Order your washing machines from Amazon because AMZN is now an authorized Whirpool and Maytag and Samsung washer/dryer dealer. Lowe's Hardware? Struggling, gonna be like Sears soon. Buy your hardware from Amazon, it's cheaper to buy a chainsaw from Amazon anyways.
<snip>

Almost all of those places are gone because they didn't react to the changing times. Kids don't play with toys as much anymore. Give them an iPod Touch and most are satisfied. But what did I see in Toys R Us years ago? Shelves full of dusty old toys, grim looking stores that haven't been updated this decade, workers just standing around with nothing to do, and a dirty diaper in the Tyco kiddie cars. Same with Sears. They at least looked nice and bright but with the same outdated clothes and strategy. I tried buying some tools online. Such a hassle. It was easier and less expensive to buy from eBay.

The company I work for is caught up in this change, but the folks at the top are ahead of the curve. Sure, Amazon is disrupting the retail industry, but you can either be ahead of the wave, ride the wave, or get swallowed by it.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

The answer is simple. Buy broadly, not just amazon.com. That is tougher than it used to be, but I find myself seeing if I can get things elsewhere. Amazon used to be the number one option on price—not anymore. They also used to be really good on reliability. Not anymore—too many third party vendors that suck. Prime shipping? Five days if you order on Friday.

 

[dk001]

The answer is simple. Buy broadly, not just amazon.com. That is tougher than it used to be, but I find myself seeing if I can get things elsewhere. Amazon used to be the number one option on price—not anymore. They also used to be really good on reliability. Not anymore—too many third party vendors that suck. Prime shipping? Five days if you order on Friday.

Where do you live?
I use Amazon as just another shopping / comparison point. The only time I see > than 2 days for Prime is if delivery is to a small town, some 3rd party suppliers, or large items. Even those frequently are 2-3 days.

 

[thepixelpusher]

The Amazon banning is severe in the Modern (Digital) Era, especially in the USA where Amazon has destroyed and REPLACED dozens upon dozens of US retail chains. Toys R Us? Dead. Buy new toys for your kids at Amazon (and used ones from eBay). Sears? Dead. Order your washing machines from Amazon because AMZN is now an authorized Whirpool and Maytag and Samsung washer/dryer dealer. Lowe's Hardware? Struggling, gonna be like Sears soon. Buy your hardware from Amazon, it's cheaper to buy a chainsaw from Amazon anyways.

And God help you when Amazon will soon destroy and shut down several Pharmacy retail chains. Amazon has already jumped into this. Once the convenient retail chains like Walgreens and Rite-Aid and CVS go extinct, because Amazon dominates the prescription drug industry in the coming years, God help you if you are still banned from Amazon. Where the heck do you get your prescription drugs if you need it right away? Oh right, you gonna save some money and mail-order it from Canada, right? This is an old trick that Americans use to buy cheaper drugs by ordering them from Canada. What if your child is sick and needs the prescription drug that very night? You still waiting for your mail-ordered drug from Canada to arrive?

Again, because Amazon has become an unstoppable monopoly that has replaced many retail chains, being banned from Amazon is a very severe punishment.

The Amazon Social Justice Warriors have run amok and have been given the fascist power of Hitler to ban those they disagree with. What's next...Amazon gas chambers!!???

 

[developer13245]

I went into an Amazon "Brick and Mortar" store and tried to buy a book with cash. Their reaction makes me suspect we will see gas chambers soon!

Just stop buying stuff from Amazon.

 

[thepixelpusher]

I went into an Amazon "Brick and Mortar" store and tried to buy a book with cash. Their reaction makes me suspect we will see gas chambers soon!

Just stop buying stuff from Amazon.

Amazon has physical stores!??

 

[Solomani]

Amazon has physical stores!??

They may have a couple near their West Coast headquarters. They already own, lease, or co-opt many physical warehouses and storage pickup depots (called Amazon lockers) throughout the USA. So why is it hard to believe they have a few stores already?

They also now own the Whole Foods Market grocery chain, so technically those are Amazon-owned retail/grocery stores.

 

[Southern Dad]

Amazon has one store called Amazon Go. There are no cashiers, no cash registers, and they do not accept any form of payment. Your Amazon account is charged.