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Comment by jcfields | Hacker News Reader

Amazon suspended my parents' seller account last August or September with no explanation. All listings removed, couldn't log in, no direct customer service number that connects you with someone who knows what's going on, and kept taking the monthly fee anyway. Finally, they closed it entirely (again without explanation) a month or two ago. They're still holding their inventory in their distribution centers, probably a few thousand dollars worth. I'm sure they'll charge storage and shipping fees to send it back, so it's almost certainly not worth bothering about given how thin their margins were in the first place. Yeah, it's not a great direction we're going in here. These companies just don't have enough incentive to care.

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The incentive to care (in the US at least) is called tort law. Punitive damages against a company the size of Amazon for what sounds to me like theft should be very large. I'm sure that a lawyer would be interested in taking up this case, based on the size of the potential settlement.

What are the chances a small seller will be financially able to litigate with Amazon? And even if they do and win, what are the chances they're in a better position than before, meaning it's not a Pyrrhic victory?

Edit. These are actual questions, the US legal system is very unkind with those without very deep pockets, having the highest litigation costs in the world.

I don't know the specifics and I'm no lawyer but for the amount involved, could Small Claims court be an option? No lawyers involved and if Amazon doesn't send a rep, there can be a default judgement.

There still exists the problem of collecting the judgement.

How are you going to force a large company to pay if they are already ignoring you?

Judgements are something more than just a Customer Service issue. There are ways to compel payment via the same court system once you have a judgement, and any additional fees you incur attempting to collect can be claimed as well making them pay the fee's

You still need to have the money to go through the whole thing in the first place. Because when they don’t pay your small claims court case you’re right back at the normal court trying to enforce the payment.

Yes and no

Going to a court to enforce a judgment is going to be orders of magnitudes cheaper than a tort litigation, and there are FAR FAR FAR less delay tatics the lawyer could impose

So I still do not believe that is a reason not to use the small claims process

Seems people just want to have a deafest attitude

There is almost no down side from making use of the Small Claims system, could you still end up not being paid sure... but they have ALOT better change of getting the money with a small claims judgement than with no judgment, and small claims is pretty strait forward and inexpensive

Further once you have the judgement the ability to get consignment legal services goes up substantially as well

Yeah a civil case is an adversarial procedure with the court as a neutral party that makes a decision. And the two parties are expected to square after.

But an enforcement case the court is no longer a neutral party. It's enforcing it's previous decision. An enforcement order has the backing of the state.

I have a friend that is a minor celebrity and has controversial opinions and thus has been sued a lot (mostly frivolous, one or two semi-legit) and he will straight up tell you: the winner is the person with the most money.

If one party has deep pockets and the other does not, the rich guy wins. He can drag things out in court forever making it cost more than the small guy has to keep going. In the end so much is subjective anyway, and the high priced lawyers will get their way.

Your Parents need to look in Small Claims Court, this is often the BEST way to fight a large company because they often will not even show up and if they do in most Small Claims court they can not send a Laywer it has a be a company rep, and the burden is lower

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