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Help, Prayer Needed!
Posted on September 27th, 2007 in Entrepreneur by Fred McKinnon
Hey Ya’ll,
I need your help. I need prayer. Prayer for grace and favor. I just got the following notice regarding my “amazon.com” seller account:
Hello from Amazon.com.
This message is to let you know that we have blocked your seller account and ended your listings. You may no longer sell on our site.
We took this action because it has come to our attention that your seller performance is significantly below our standards for sellers.
The feedback, claims and/or refunds submitted to your seller account profile indicate that a number of buyers have been dissatisfied with the service you have provided. As per our Participation Agreement, Amazon.com reserves the right to close accounts that fall significantly below our standards.
If you still have items to ship, please take appropriate steps to resolve your pending sales. Your Seller Account will remain accessible and you are encouraged to refund or ship pending orders.
Your funds are being reserved in your Amazon.com account for up to 90 days from the date of your final sale. After 90 days, the funds will be disbursed minus any A-to-Z Guarantee claims or chargebacks. It is possible to expedite the release of these funds by providing sufficient proof of delivery and/or shipment for your orders to payments-funds@amazon.com. The order number should be included for each order you are providing this information about. If you have further questions about your disbursement, please email payments-funds@amazon.com.
While we appreciate your interest, the closure of an account is a permanent action. Any subsequent accounts that are opened will be closed as well. Please note that we take such actions for the protection of all Amazon.com participants.
So … this has happened before. Once with Ebay because someone somehow hacked my account once. It took 6 months to get resolved. It also happened last year with Amazon … thankfully, they heard my appeal and re-opened my account within a week.
Here’s the lowdown, and why prayer and a plea for grace and favor on my behalf is critical:
I do e-business. It’s fun for me, but it’s necessary for me. It supplements my ministry income, and with a family my size, “supplement” is beyond necessary. I’m a great seller. I ship promptly and give incredible customer service. However, some things happened a couple of weeks ago that were beyond my control.
A 3rd party inventory source provider handles the “inventory feed” for about 2,000+ products that I sell on Amazon.Com. They erroneously pushed over 2000 products into my account one morning with a price of $1.85. Like, brand new $50 video games or software that would never cost $1.85. Items I don’t have … and certainly not at $1.85. It was a glitch. A mistake. A technical error. Within 30 – 40 minutes, I had over 200+ orders in my inbox.
I had no choice by to pull all listings and refund over 200+ orders. I then spent half the day personally emailing EVERY SINGLE CUSTOMER explaining what happened to them, and why we were forced to refund their order. The majority of customers were positive and wrote back with “yeah, I knew it was too good to be true, but thought I’d try it”. There were many who were very negative, leaving horrible feedback on our Seller Account – some even threatening lawsuits … over a $50 video game.
Long story short, Amazon has a policy (and a good one, I might add) where if the ratio of refunds to sales gets too high, it suggests that the customer service and/or product is not good. As a result of this huge technical glitch, my ratio of refunds to sales soared well above the acceptable threshold.
So, don’t be mad at Amazon. It’s just their policy. At the same time, I’ve just sent a detailed explanation and I’ve pleaded my case with them. This “fiasco” that happened a few weeks ago should be notated on my Seller Account with them because they were the first ones I contacted.
Please join me in prayer that God’s will would be done. I’ve written a blog like this before – last year, a similar thing happened. God showed His favor then, and I’m praying He’ll do the same now. The last couple of months of 2007 would be our highest ever, based on previous years of “holiday buying”, and we could really use the business.
Will you pray?
Fred
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16 Responses to “Help, Prayer Needed!”
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Got ya back bro!!!
Praying!
me too
DONE!
I’m there!
3:38 am here on the west coast…
the following had just hit me and I was just getting ready to put it in my journal, thought, well, maybe I should post it on my “blog”…so when I went to the “net” I saw you asking for prayer and thought maybe that’s why I was awake at 2:00 am.
I may drag out of bed but I’m never sorry to be awakened as I know God is wanting me up for a reason and I pray and intercede, not always knowing for what or whom, but not a problem right… because I join with the Son and come before the Father and the Holy Spirit knows what is needed.
The top song you’ll recognize…(though I may have the words or phrases out of order. I try to write as things come to me in the night (or morning!).
Below that is from one of my songs I had previously written
The very bottom is a sort of what a petition/praise song?
I wrote it just now after I started posting (or better I should say the Holy Spirit wrote it though that seems to make people think I’m crazy!)
But that’s okay. I know in whom I have believed, and He is able…
d
3:24 am 9/28/07
Walk on through the storm
With your head held high
And don’t be afraid of the dark
At the end of the road
There’s a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark
Walk on through the wind
Walk on through the rain
And you’ll never walk alone
You’ll never walk alone
Walk on…walk on, with hope in your heart
And you’ll never walk alone
You’ll never walk alone
(next words/music by Donna Raye Hutchison DeVerna)
Well, I’d been praying all night long
When I heard a voice so strong
Wafting the air I heard You, Lord
And I knew that You were singing my song
What a precious gift to me, Jesus
On a gentle breeze
All that’s good and perfect, Lord
I want to thank You, now, for hearing my pleas
I know that You came from heaven
A baby so meek and mild
You thought on a plan for me, Lord
Before I was even a little child
written 4:00 am 9/28/07
Oh, Holy Father, forgive us now our sins…
And help us now as we come to you with this letter…
Oh, Holy Father, I know we plead with You time and again…
Of course we call on You, Lord, hoping you’ll make it all better
But first, Lord, we praise Your name…
You’re every day the same…
We love You for who You are
No matter how you answer
We seek Your face as we draw nigh
Proclaim Your glory, lift You high
More than anything else we desire
We desire to love You
As our petitions before you fly
Please let this essence fill the sky
And let the fragance of our joy in You
Be magnified…be magnified…
Be magnified
We magnify Your name
You’re every day the same
Your glory we proclaim
Be magnifed….be magnified
Be magnified
Father, surround and cover Fred and his family with your favor. Fix this mess Lord as only you can. You are the great mess fixer. Let Fred’s enemies be at peace with him, and let the ones who can make this go away take up his case and cause and make it happen because Fred belongs to you. Thank you Lord for your hand and finger in his business. Breath on every area and clean all the cobwebs away. Thank you so much Lord for your care for Fred and his family.
Christy
Your Mom and I will absolutely join you and others in diligent prayer that the mercies of God – new every morning – will encompass you and your family. Furthermore, we will pray and believe for the favor of God in this situation. This is the work of the enemy! Jesus says that the enemy does not come except to steal, to kill and to destroy, but that He comes to give life and life abundantly! God’s word says that when the thief is caught he must repay seven times! We pray in faith for a seven-times reimbursement on what the enemy seeks to steal!
Father, I pray now for favor on behalf of Fred. You have promised that You would restore what the canker worm has destroyed, and I call now upon that promise to restore what has been taken. Let it be so in Jesus’ holy name.
Amen
Praying right now bro.
When I was in college I found a site selling $300 Palm PDA’s for $10. I bought 10 of them promptly. I then received the “This was an error” email. I was a little disappointed, but I understood that technical glitches happen and didn’t make anything of it. Those people who complained are lame.
Fred,
I agree completely with Billy! If anything, the company that pushed those items into your account are the ones who deserve the bad comments, etc. I hope that they “roger up” and get your account in good standing; however, stuff happens.
I’m praying for ya bro. It’ll get worked out soon, one way or another.
Of course, I’ll pray. I pray for quick resolution to your situation. And I pray God will bless you abundantly in your business efforts.
Of course!
btw, what’s a “canker worm”?
[...] PRAYER ANSWERED – I’m back online with Amazon.Com – thanks for all the prayers from this previous prayer request last week. 2: MileStoneWorship.Com blogged about the recent Worship Interludes podcast with [...]
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