Filing a Demand for Arbitration When Amazon Refuses to Release Your Money

Amazon owes our client $315,000.

So what am I talking about? It’s taking Amazon to arbitration when it refuses to release money to you.

Our client was selling face masks, a very profitable product during the coronavirus and also a product where the different sellers, including Amazon, are likely mixing up each other’s mess in their inventory. So what does a seller do if s/he is owed hundreds of thousands of dollars from Amazon and it refuses to release money?

Well, your only remedy under the terms of service, aka Business Solutions Agreement, the formal name of that contract, is to take Amazon to arbitration. You file a demand for arbitration with the American Arbitration Association, you pay the fees that coincide with the amount of money that Amazon owes you, and you follow a particular process.

If the case is $50,000 or less, it’s a lot faster and cheaper. If it’s over $50,000, it takes a little bit more time, but you’re also entitled to a lot more discovery to find out why Amazon claims it should be able to keep your money.

You then identify an arbitrator. You have conferences, there’s discovery, and eventually you have a hearing. These days, all the hearings are by video or telephone. Also, there’s always a significant chance of resolving the case, because Amazon will assign different people to look at it, their outside law firm, and we have seen that where Amazon is just totally wrong, they settle a lot of these cases.

So if you want to learn more about how to recoup your money, even if it’s in the hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars, contact us for a free consultation. You can speak with me on the phone. You can speak with my partner, Rob Segall, who is a remarkable lawyer, and Ashley is the senior paralegal with the firm in our arbitration practice. So if you have any questions or concerns, you can speak with me, Rob, or Ashley. We’ll do our best to answer your questions about why you ought to know that Amazon does not have the final say in these matters. You have another remedy, and it’s called arbitration.

CALL 1-877-9-SELLER FOR A FREE CONSULTATION