Anthony Famularo of Amazon Sellers’ Lawyer
Amazon sellers are faced with operating under uncertainty each and every day. The other day I stumbled across a survey from 2016 that painted a very disturbing image – over 60% of Amazon sellers live in fear of being suspended. As account suspensions become one of the more prevalent occurrences in the Amazon marketplace, you begin to think about what those numbers are like now. Sellers will need to look for someone who can help them during their time of need. But where does an Amazon seller turn to during their time of need?
To better understand the trials and tribulations of an Amazon seller, I sat down with Anthony Famularo, a partner at Rosenbaum Famularo, P.C., the law firm behind AmazonSellersLawyer.com, and asked him about the case he is working on and the issues sellers face.
Famularo is a managing attorney that has accumulated vital experience in handling intellectual property disputes and issues related to Amazon sellers. Alongside his partner, CJ Rosenbaum, Famularo is the guy to talk to concerning Amazon suspensions.
His most recent case was concerning a t-shirt retailer that was suspended after receiving several intellectual property complaints. However, this was not an ordinary case because there was a catch: Amazon had already resolved the complaints, yet somehow his client was still enduring the punishments from a previous “violation”.
As if enduring this situation the first time around wasn’t enough stress, the seller was now going through the motions yet again and the authoritarian repercussions started to follow shortly after. Famularo’s client saw their sales hit rock bottom and stay there for almost two weeks. His client also had to adapt to the imposed sanctions swiftly, making drastic decisions to keep the business afloat.
The seller was left with no other decision but to cut the hours of it’s employees. There is a legitimate fear that an impending layoff will be inevitable for the seller’s employees if profits remain nonexistent. Famularo noted that Amazon has clearly dropped the ball in this situation and his client is the subject of a grave error.
He said, “My client has sufficient proof that all the IP complaints listed in the suspension notification have been resolved. When my client submitted their appeal to Amazon, with supporting documents proving their innocence, they only received a response that they may not sell on Amazon.” Amazon has since not responded to any other appeals filed by his client or any attempts at cooperative correspondence.
In hindsight, Anthony Famularo exposed the bigger issue that Amazon sellers endure – constant adversity. Merely being a part of the apparel sector is enough to place unwanted attention on sellers and Amazon sellers that make their own clothing products are no exception. On the contrary, these entities are the most susceptible to receive frequent IP complaints. Similar to his client’s case, most of the complaints go on to be resolved but somehow remain perpetually open and subject to sporadic suspension.
Famularo mentioned that some of the most common complaints from Amazon sellers is the frustrating negligence of Amazon’s seller support. He said that timetables concerning response times can be between 1-3 days on average but then there are extenuating circumstances like these where a client doesn’t hear back for a week. If clients are being suspended for sanctions that were already rectified, the suspension notifications should include which intellectual property complaints are still issues.
For a digital conglomerate that has gained the title of “world’s largest company”, not being able to correctly process important documents or keep an up-to-date paper trail is a bad look. With all of its resources, Amazon should not have a problem with effectively managing a database of withdrawal and resolution emails.
Michael Joyce is a contributing writer at Amazon Sellers’s Lawyers, a burgeoning legal service that provides counsel for Amazon sellers affected by complaints, seller account suspensions and marketplace violations.