If your storefront got shut down overnight, and your inventory vanished into a black hole of email chains and auto-responses, you’re not alone. Post-pandemic, international businesses, especially in China, poured into Amazon, looking for reach and speed. It worked, but there are strings attached.
The pandemic forced sellers to adapt fast. Physical stores dried up. Logistics got weird. So small-goods businesses looked for channels that could still move product. Amazon was the answer. It offered direct access to U.S. buyers, and sellers set up shop in waves.
Now, the marketplace is packed. Everyone sells similar stuff. Quality varies. Margins are thin. Some buyers don’t care—they’ll order three versions of the same product and complain about all of them. That complaint, no matter how ridiculous, could lock up your account for weeks.
How Amazon’s Rules Work (and Don’t)
To start selling on Amazon as a foreign business, you need to register a U.S. trademark with the USPTO. It’s a gatekeeping mechanism meant to prevent counterfeits and clone shops. But it’s also the only thing standing between your brand and a pile of lookalikes.
Amazon does very little vetting after that. The result? A market flooded with copycat products, inconsistent support, and a huge volume of seller disputes. Buyers complain. Amazon reacts without your input. Just cold silence and a blocked revenue stream.
Guilty First, Maybe Innocent Later
Amazon will often treat sellers as if they’ve already lost the case. The system freezes funds and suspends accounts. If you’ve shipped thousands of units and one buyer wants to return something after using it for two weeks, that complaint could flip the switch.
Worse, if a buyer’s actually trying to scam you with fake returns or bogus claims, Amazon rarely investigates before pulling the plug. The assumption is: the customer’s always right. The seller? Figure it out.
You Can Actually Fight Back
Here’s the part most sellers don’t realize: You can sue. Amazon’s HQ is in Washington State. That gives U.S. courts jurisdiction, even if your business is based in another country. Yes, people have already done this successfully.
You can bring a civil case for breach of contract, unfair business practices, and interference with business expectations. You just a structured argument about how Amazon broke its own rules or applied them in ways that blocked your business without cause.
The lawsuit forces Amazon to show its work. It also opens the door for injunctive relief—i.e., court orders to release frozen funds or reinstate accounts. Even if you don’t go to trial, the threat of litigation can reset the balance of power in your favor.
Why It’s Worth the Effort
Hiring counsel, filing a case, preparing documents costs money, but not filing can cost more. For high-volume sellers, losing access to Amazon is the death of the business. Sales vanish. Inventory rots. Employees get laid off. All because one review didn’t go your way.
Filing suit in Washington State gives you legal leverage Amazon can’t ignore. If your legal team understands both IP and e-commerce platforms (like us), they can press the right buttons fast.
Sapiens Law helps international sellers, take legal action when Amazon shuts them down unfairly. We handle IP, breach claims, and everything in between. You don’t have to let one complaint kill your store. Contact us to talk strategy.
