My amazon got hacked

EntrepreneurCure said:

Course of Actions :

Request further information via email regarding the exact orders with the invalid gift cards. This gives you the opportunity to dispute them.

- You can email this request but your going to get a generic response, so you may want to call them and ask them to send you over copies of your transaction history or let them know you optimize Amazon with your products due to the security offered with the payments. You ( as the business) look to Amazon to provide you with immediate notification if the gift cards or payment options selected by the customer is insufficient to depict their ability to satisfy the cost of the goods/ service. If the payments required more than 7 days for verification then you would have adjusted the shipment time for your products to reflect that due to circumstances like this.

- Request to deal with one person as your account manager so that you are able to submit a formal dispute - this makes it easy for you to stay on top of what needs to be done to regain your account.

- If you sell a product or a service, consider just setting up a temporary site or a website in place of it with your username or the company name listed on Amazon and research payment options like Amazon or Square.

If you need more help I'm always here

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i reply to the email i got from them that say my amazon account closed with message like "i was victim of hacker who make all this illegal things and i lose the control of the account "

does they will response on me and recover my account again?

do i have to wait until them reply to me ?

and about what you say , sorry i dont got it as im just amazon affiliate newbie .

can you help me please make it simple "step by step " what i have to do 1st , then ...blabla

thanks for your help

elhosary said:

i reply to the email i got from them that say my amazon account closed with message like "i was victim of hacker who make all this illegal things and i lose the control of the account "

does they will response on me and recover my account again?

do i have to wait until them reply to me ?

and about what you say , sorry i dont got it as im just amazon affiliate newbie .

can you help me please make it simple "step by step " what i have to do 1st , then ...blabla

thanks for your help

Click to expand...

i reply to the email i got from them that say my amazon account closed with message like "i was victim of hacker who make all this illegal things and i lose the control of the account "


Suggestion:

- You indicating you were a victim of a hacker will prompt them to look into it further, you have to really take the helm in this one. This is what I suggest you send them:


To Whom It May Concern,

I have been a loyal account holder of your wonderful company for more than one year. I have had the pleasure of providing customers with a fantastic product with the assurance and peace of mind that Amazon upheld a strict adherence to payment standards when it came to each transaction.

Sadly I was let down.

The actions of customers providing insufficient payment information, my account information being compromised and no notification of payment issues has left me the victim in this circumstance. As a business owner, I realize that it's important to take the proper precautions to protect my reputation and uphold my faith in business with your company. I would like to request a list of the transactions in question ( I would like to pull from my own personal records to take the next course of action against the customer's involved in this payment issue) as well as a chance to work with an account manager.

I realize this may leave my account locked until such time as the investigation is over but I'd like to file a formal dispute in an attempt to regain the trust that has been tarnished with your company and myself.

Thank you


-- It is important that you make Amazon realize that you want to work with them to remedy the transactions or go over each one of them to dispute them. That is the only way you can actually regain their trust enough to get your account reopened. This may include them taking legal action against the customer whom provided the insufficient information. It's not about a hacker, you are a business, you need to approach them with that same professionalism.


does they will response on me and recover my account again?

Will they open your account again? That is actually dependent on you going over the transactions and making sure you come off as the business owner trying to fix the issue.


do i have to wait until them reply to me ?


Yes you have to wait for them to reply. Again you can always call them.


and about what you say , sorry i dont got it as im just amazon affiliate newbie .

can you help me please make it simple "step by step " what i have to do 1st , then ...blabla

thanks for your help.

Steps again:

- Email them back asking to go over the transactions they state are insufficient or false.

- Wait for them to email you back

- Review the transactions when they respond and ask to have your account reopened.

If you did anything illegal, then prepare to not have your account but you need to redo your responses to them.

I am confused.. you are an affiliate newbie with $4000+ in the account? Do you have a website that you are selling through as an affiliate or are you a seller with listings? So are you transacting within Amazon regularly or just directing traffic there?

Motherdex said:

I am confused.. you are an affiliate newbie with $4000+ in the account? Do you have a website that you are selling through as an affiliate or are you a seller with listings? So are you transacting within Amazon regularly or just directing traffic there?

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It sounds fishy but in the same sense I think it's important to help those who may have the same issue.

Basically in Amazon's eyes the account looks fraudulent because:

- The amount of money that is in the account in the first month, not saying you can't have that much but if it's an influx over a short period of time and the legit payments vs returned payment ratio is not right they will close the account.

- New accounts under the age of 90 days often go through random checks to prevent issues like this. The affiliate accounts are often heavily monitored because of the amount of scamming done during the holiday season.

- The approach - instead of indicating being hacked as the key point, it's important to have them go back and look at the transactions one by one to discern where the issue may have come in. If there was one or two gift cards or payment issues they may take action against the customer and restore the account. BUT if they see that there are a bunch of fraudulent payments running through the account they will ban the account and you can pretty much kiss any chance of working with Amazon again goodbye.

This is the key reason it's important to work WITH them to find out the issue if you truly are a victim versus assuming they are going to buy the hacker excuse.

EntrepreneurCure said:

It sounds fishy but in the same sense I think it's important to help those who may have the same issue.

Basically in Amazon's eyes the account looks fraudulent because:

- The amount of money that is in the account in the first month, not saying you can't have that much but if it's an influx over a short period of time and the legit payments vs returned payment ratio is not right they will close the account.

- New accounts under the age of 90 days often go through random checks to prevent issues like this. The affiliate accounts are often heavily monitored because of the amount of scamming done during the holiday season.

- The approach - instead of indicating being hacked as the key point, it's important to have them go back and look at the transactions one by one to discern where the issue may have come in. If there was one or two gift cards or payment issues they may take action against the customer and restore the account. BUT if they see that there are a bunch of fraudulent payments running through the account they will ban the account and you can pretty much kiss any chance of working with Amazon again goodbye.

This is the key reason it's important to work WITH them to find out the issue if you truly are a victim versus assuming they are going to buy the hacker excuse.

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I agree about helping... I was just confused on the transaction part but I get what you are saying if an affiliate account has a bunch of problematic transaction they may think the affiliate is gaming the system some way (how it would work I am not sure)... I just didn't think of that. The transactions and the $ amount screamed seller account/drop shipping or something of that nature but I get it now.... I think

Motherdex said:

I agree about helping... I was just confused on the transaction part but I get what you are saying if an affiliate account has a bunch of problematic transaction they may think the affiliate is gaming the system some way (how it would work I am not sure)... I just didn't think of that. The transactions and the $ amount screamed seller account/drop shipping or something of that nature but I get it now.... I think

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You hit the nail on the head

Example :

I'm selling a box of marshmallows for $5.00

Its a new account

- A buyer comes in and buys 4 orders using my link.

I can't control if the customer is a fraudster or if this person has other intentions but Amazon is looking at me ( business ) whether its a link or product as the liaison for the quality of customers I bring. They realize I have no control over who clicks on a link but they look at your account more closely if you are new or if you have an overwhelming number of fraudulent payments going through using your link.

Things To Consider:

- Truth - Consider using a different program or affiliate system if you intend on scamming anyone for payments. Pulling more than $4,000 worth of payments in a short time screams fraud to any company especially with the influx of fraud going around this time of year. With bots and paid traffic, they are monitoring this for your benefit to consider if they can put you in better-paying programs in the future. They are also getting a base view of the amount of traffic you generate ( if your using a link).

- Worth - Ask yourself losing a legit Amazon account is worth it. You can get $8,000 worth of fraud payments coming in, in their eyes whether it's $8 or $8,000 they hold you accountable to a specific degree. Is it really worth losing out on having their affiliate program? You can set up 10 websites over the course of a year or one major website over the course of a year, with quality link placement that can bring you in a ton of money but you can lose it just as quickly trying to make a quick buck. Amazon has the tendency to not just take your balance back to $0 ( meaning any real traffic or money you would have made is now gone) but they will block you out completely.

- Consider The Future - With Xmas around the corner, money to be made, Cyber deals and more, this is the worst time to lose access to your account. You can clear over $2,000 in affiliate income a day during this time a year, most marketers make more. It's not worth losing your account over a dumb action.

Ways to Optimize Your Account:

- Hire Writers - If you have an Amazon account, consider hiring writers to do guest posting or post placements with links ( affiliate links) for you. You can also set up your own site that will allow you to focus on a specific niche to place more than just Amazon links but other ad options. ( This also works for your benefit in the long run because you can charge for advertising or offer link exchange program).

- Pinterest and more - Consider having a graphic designer create custom pictures that links back to either your site or to the amazon link ( product). Don't just approach it one way, appeal to the " VISUAL" customer.

- Hire A Marketer - Hire someone to cover all of your bases with articles, social marketing, and more. Consider going into a contract with trackable links ( google shortner , etc) so everything remains transparent and offer payments at the end of the month of based on reaching specific payment threshold.

If you need recommendations for writers, marketers or other info I'm always here.

Motherdex said:

I am confused.. you are an affiliate newbie with $4000+ in the account? Do you have a website that you are selling through as an affiliate or are you a seller with listings? So are you transacting within Amazon regularly or just directing traffic there?

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the $4000 in the account is the net money for 3 months (Aug , Sep and October)

yes i have site , im selling product with my reviews on the site and my traffic all are organic

elhosary said:

the $4000 in the account is the net money for 3 months (Aug , Sep and October)

yes i have site , im selling product with my reviews on the site and my traffic all are organic

Click to expand...

Gotcha.. thanks for the clarification. Obviously Amazon previously reviewed your site and found the content okay (when you had your first sale) so something happened recently to change that. I don't understand the hacking part still and how it related to Amazon shutting your account down.

This happened to me. Couldn't login one day. Panic set in. Tried everything. So I just contacted there help desk. They said the password had not changed but sent me a password reset. I reset the password and was back in. It was a glitch on their end that they were not being honest about. Glad to see you sorted it.