Amazon sellers are wondering where their Amazon payments are after Monday’s disbursements didn’t show up in their bank accounts. Some sellers we spoke to were not only concerned about the impact of 2 weeks’ worth of missing payments, but they also expressed frustration over Amazon’s silence on the matter.
An Amazon merchant explained, “It would be nice if Amazon would be a little more transparent about what the problem is and when sellers who are missing their payments will see them. A couple days late may not seem like a big deal, but unlike eBay when you get your money right away, sellers on Amazon tend to plan their bill payments and inventory purchases around the dates they expect to be paid. If suddenly that changes, it can have quite an impact.”
The issue is affecting sellers who are set up to receive payments every 2 weeks (some sellers receive payments more frequently). In this seller’s case, he said Amazon sent its usual notice on Saturday stating the payment had been sent, but on Monday morning, the money had not been deposited into his account. “I’ve been selling on Amazon for 2 years and a payment has never been late. Seller Support has not been able to provide me with an ACH trace number (which usually is available) yet they claim everything is fine and I should just wait a few more days.”
Another seller said he just happened to check his account and noticed the funds were not in his account. In response to his inquiry about the missing funds, he received a response from Amazon support stating, “We are experiencing a technical issue which may prevent you from receiving your scheduled disbursement. We apologize for the inconvenience this causes. Though I know our technical staff is currently working to resolve this issue, we are not able to provide an estimated resolution time. We appreciate your patience and understanding while we work to resolve this technical issue as quickly as possible.”
“But here is what is really shocking,” he said, “They have no idea when it will be fixed.”
A third seller told EcommerceBytes that he had to move some money around from another account. But, he said, “I know for some, payroll, inventory bills are due, etc., is causing quite a problem.”
“To me, what is frustrating, is the lack of transparency,” he added. “For a couple of months, Amazon has flooded us with “customer service” surveys. Now, when a real life situation hits, they put their head in the sand, and acts like it never happened. I understand that “3-5″ business days is what you should expect, but, that is nowhere near the norm. The one thing you don’t mess with in business, is people’s money, and that is what Amazon is doing, and they act like it is no big deal.”
Amazon sellers in the UK experienced a similar incident in 2012, when it apparently took Amazon UK 5 days to get funds into sellers’ bank accounts.
US sellers are discussing the current crisis on the Amazon.com discussion boards. One seller explained he received the following message from Amazon about the issue: “I’ve researched your disbursement and found that it is still within the normal bank processing period of 3 to 5 business days (excluding holidays and weekends). Sometimes a bank takes the full five business days to process a deposit.”
Another seller, referencing how Amazon was handing the issue, wrote, “That is what is bothering me the most. The fact that there is clearly an Amazon-wide problem with payouts but they are telling us each individually that there is no problem. I see the other threads with Amazon support responding to them, but for some reason this one is being ignored.”
Late on Tuesday evening, Amazon sellers updated EcommerceBytes. One seller said they were “finally being told there was indeed a problem with the bank and that payments from the 15th through today are finally being sent out.”
“My ACH trace number just appeared on my account so I presume I will have my payment tomorrow,” he said.
Update: Amazon spokesperson Erik Fairleigh responded to our inquiry: “We experienced a processing error that caused the delay that has now been corrected. We have confirmed payments are now being disbursed into seller accounts as scheduled.”
