How do I find out why Amazon flagged me for dropshipping?
Hey all. I'm really struggling here and would really appreciate some help.
7 months ago I was deactivated for dropshipping. I didn't dropship. I shipped all my inventory from a single warehouse using shipping labels purchased from Veeqo (Owned by Amazon). My warehouse (3PL) is very experienced, and they confirmed that all products were shipped in unbranded brown boxes with no packing slips or invoices and with me as the seller of record.
However, Amazon is obviously very convinced, for some reason, that I did dropship. How do I find out what that reason is?
I did a deep investigation into every order that I sold FBM 90 days before the deactivation, and I can't figure out why my account was flagged as being a dropshipper. Almost all of the products were purchased directly from the brand themselves, or from a major distributor, so there's no way that they would be shipped in something like a Walmart or Home Depot box.
Looking at my FBM orders, I think the most realistic reason Amazon thinks that I dropshipped is if a competitor bought my product and told Amazon that it came in a Walmart or Home Depot box. I have no evidence for this and I'm not saying that's what happened, but I can't think of any other reason why I would be flagged for dropshipping, or why Amazon wouldn't be accepting the documents I've been providing.
I've shipped over 5000 units FBM with my 3PL and I trust them. They know not to send FBM orders in boxes from a retailer like Walmart or Home Depot. I'm 100% positive about that. The deactivation was in December, peak Q4, so there is a small possibility that an invoice from my supplier was left in a box as an oversight. If that is what happened, I'll absolutely take responsibility. I just need to know if that happened or not.
I don't know what the root cause of the deactivation is, and I don't know how to find that out, so I don't know how to create a Plan of Action. I can't create corrective actions and preventative measures if I don't know what the root cause is, and I've tried everything I can to find the root cause and have been unsuccessful.
I don't want to sound like I'm not willing to take accountability - I absolutely am. I just honest to god don't know what I did wrong.
TLDR - I don't know why Amazon flagged me for dropshipping and I don't know how to find out why they think I dropshipped, so I don't know how to prove that I didn't.
Any help would be DEEPLY appreciated.
Thanks!
How do I find out why Amazon flagged me for dropshipping?
Hey all. I'm really struggling here and would really appreciate some help.
7 months ago I was deactivated for dropshipping. I didn't dropship. I shipped all my inventory from a single warehouse using shipping labels purchased from Veeqo (Owned by Amazon). My warehouse (3PL) is very experienced, and they confirmed that all products were shipped in unbranded brown boxes with no packing slips or invoices and with me as the seller of record.
However, Amazon is obviously very convinced, for some reason, that I did dropship. How do I find out what that reason is?
I did a deep investigation into every order that I sold FBM 90 days before the deactivation, and I can't figure out why my account was flagged as being a dropshipper. Almost all of the products were purchased directly from the brand themselves, or from a major distributor, so there's no way that they would be shipped in something like a Walmart or Home Depot box.
Looking at my FBM orders, I think the most realistic reason Amazon thinks that I dropshipped is if a competitor bought my product and told Amazon that it came in a Walmart or Home Depot box. I have no evidence for this and I'm not saying that's what happened, but I can't think of any other reason why I would be flagged for dropshipping, or why Amazon wouldn't be accepting the documents I've been providing.
I've shipped over 5000 units FBM with my 3PL and I trust them. They know not to send FBM orders in boxes from a retailer like Walmart or Home Depot. I'm 100% positive about that. The deactivation was in December, peak Q4, so there is a small possibility that an invoice from my supplier was left in a box as an oversight. If that is what happened, I'll absolutely take responsibility. I just need to know if that happened or not.
I don't know what the root cause of the deactivation is, and I don't know how to find that out, so I don't know how to create a Plan of Action. I can't create corrective actions and preventative measures if I don't know what the root cause is, and I've tried everything I can to find the root cause and have been unsuccessful.
I don't want to sound like I'm not willing to take accountability - I absolutely am. I just honest to god don't know what I did wrong.
TLDR - I don't know why Amazon flagged me for dropshipping and I don't know how to find out why they think I dropshipped, so I don't know how to prove that I didn't.
Any help would be DEEPLY appreciated.
Thanks!
1 reply
Seller_LVZcgxAgZ2xBv
Kind of surprised that you didn't post your story in January. Did you only recently notice? Or was something else going on over the past 7 months?
I've seen others latch onto the "flagged for dropshipping because Home Depot box" reasoning but I'm not convinced that this is a common scenario, even if Amazon's own staff sometimes cite it. Here's why I think it's unlikely:
- Your 3PL won't be buying retail boxes from Home Depot or Staples, too expensive.
- Most customers won't care what is printed on the box, or bother reporting it.
- Competitors know they are risking account problems if they get caught making this claim, and if it was so easy Amazon would see a surge of such claims.
Start looking at how you have set things up for Amazon, which might make them suspicious:
- Change of address for you or the 3PL
- 3PL operating from multiple warehouses, and the wrong origin address was used in the system for some of your shipments
- VAs running your account, and you don't know who their other customers are or the methods they use
- 3rd party software integrations that may cause problems, for instance with the 3PL or sketchy marketing apps
- 3PL working with other clients who have been flagged for dropshipping
- Unusual handling of returns
