Not upheld: wrongful restriction of funds / account suspension complaint against Amazon Payments UK Limited

Decision detail

Summary

G, a seller on Amazon, complained that APUK wrongly withheld funds in its seller account since September 2025. APUK stated that AEU had determined G's account involved fraudulent activity regarding product authenticity and required documentation that G had not provided. The ombudsman found that APUK's withholding of funds was permitted under the Selling on Amazon User Agreement section 2.7, which allows restriction of account access when disputes exist involving the account. Since an unresolved dispute existed between G and AEU, APUK was entitled to withhold funds. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

APUK's actions were assessed against the Selling on Amazon User Agreement, specifically section 2.7 which grants APUK broad discretion to restrict transactions when disputes exist involving the account. The ombudsman found that a dispute existed between G and AEU concerning product authenticity and transactions, and therefore APUK was entitled to withhold funds pending resolution of that dispute. The ombudsman noted that AEU, not APUK, set the requirements and that AEU's actions fall outside FOS jurisdiction, so only APUK's actions as a payment services provider could be assessed.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website