I lost almost $960 in seller account fees over 2 years. I lost $70 in shipping under-charges. I sold 3 adapters on Amazon in 2+ years. (I sell that many on eBay in one day!) I canceled my last sale and bailed on Amazon, and here’s why!
Creating My Seller Account on Amazon
It started in 2021, when Lone Pine Technology created a seller account on Amazon. It was a long and tedious process as if we were buying a new home. Certainly nothing like listing on eBay or other online marketplaces.
During this time, I had to purchase GTIN numbers for my products and other things required just to sell on Amazon. I had to send them proof that I did so, and wait for their “confirmation” which took a few weeks more.
If it wasn’t one thing it delaying me, it was another:
I had sent them replies and answers, verification documents, bank statements, and more many times over and over again for days.
Then they tell me, “Oh, you can’t upload them here, you need to do it here instead!”
So, I did. Same bullshit replies with “copy-and-paste” responses, no real customer service. Obviously, I was dealing with AI and not a human rep.
Getting a Product Listed on Amazon
I tried listing items off and on for 2 years while they charged me around $40 a month just to have a seller account.
I rarely got a live human to help me, or anything other than a “copy-and-paste” reply that often didn’t even address the situation.
Finally, I threatened to bail, and I got a phone call from them and some real help, and finally got my account approved. But only for a few months until it expired and I had to upload the current documents to prove who I was all over again, so back to step one.
So, Where are My Products?
When I finally get “verified” by Amazon as a business again, now it’s time to list my products. I get one product listed successfully after server attempts that took me approx. 2 weeks. But, now I can’t find it on Amazon anywhere, what’s going on?
I asked “support” and once again, nothing but copy-and-paste bullshit replies that obviously had nothing to do with my problem.
Finally, I reach someone who replies tell me that my product is in the wrong “browser
This took them several days to fix, maybe even a week or two. Finally, I could search and find my product on Amazon. Now I could simply duplicate my listing so that I know it’s right and edit it to match my other model information for my other products, right?
Getting My First Order!
Needless to say, we were all very excited to see my first Amazon order come through! But wait, it wasn’t from Amazon.com, it was from Amazon Canada, and Amazon charged them a whopping $5 for shipping, which actually costs me $30+ to Canada. There goes all of my profit from that sale.
A pleasant lady from Amazon Canada told me how I could fix that issue by going with FBA, fulfillment by Amazon, but I wasn’t ready to do that yet, so I looked for other options and found a shipping template for each product which I edited with my shipping rates accordingly.
“Oh look, another sale.” This time they chose Expedited Shipping, and Amazon only charged them $12.00 when I have to pay $35+ for that service. Lost my ass yet again!
But wait, where is my money from the last sale?
Where is My Money?
MY FUNDS ARE BEING HELD BY AMAZON!
That’s right, I had finally made a couple of sales on Amazon, but they just decided to hang onto my money, you know, to make sure there is money there in case of chargebacks, fraud, etc. They call it “Account Level Reserve!”
Oh, the old PayPal trick, gotcha!
So, if you don’t trust me as a seller, why am I trusting you?
So, let me get this straight… I’ve paid you for 2+ years for a “Seller Account”, I’ve finally sold 2 items on Amazon, each for which you kept like a $35 fee, and now you’re going to hold the money also? I’m not a bank, I’m a business! No thanks! I’m not playing those games!
The Reality
Our QADAPT pipe adapters for Starlink were listed on Amazon for $129.95 & $179.95, in order to help cover Amazon’s selling fees. At that time, the same products were on my website at www.lonepinetechnology.com for just $109.95 & $159.95.
If you order by 2pm MST, the QADAPT series of adapters and many other things will ship out that same or next business day. And we ship our QADAPT pipe adapters via USPS Priority Mail or USPS International Priority Mail most of the time.
You do not save $$ on Amazon. Businesses like mine charge more on Amazon than we do on our own sites or dealer sites typically just to be able to cover the associated costs.
But, You Can't Cancel... Not yet!
Their latest trick? You can’t just click a few buttons and answer a few questions. They send you in several circles first.
Plus, they don’t even let you cancel your seller account if they owe you money that they won’t give you!
So, I’m betting I’ll have to pay for another few months of seller fees just to wait until they release my funds for the 2 adapters that I did finally sell on Amazon.
So to summarize, I wasted a lot of my time, and a lot of my money with Amazon! I lost almost $960 in seller account fees over 2 years. I lost $70 in shipping under-charges. I sold 3 adapters on Amazon in 2+ years. (I sell that many on eBay in one day!) Now you know why I canceled my last sale and bailed on Amazon!