The claim amount is as high as $15 million! I received a notice of claim, claiming that the product I sold caused personal injury. Why do ordinary products also lead to personal injury claims?

Banggu Old People

Anonymous user

Case 1: Personal injury claim of up to $15 million

Our store’s payments were frozen in December, but the account was still able to sell normally. Amazon’s reason was that it needed to maintain sufficient funds to deal with the compensation sought by the plaintiff against the Amazon platform.

The current situation is that Amazon was sued for $5 million and our store was sued for $10 million. You read that right. We couldn't believe the amount. After communicating with the lawyer representing Amazon, we learned that the plaintiff's lawyer did not explain the specific injuries or provide any evidence. (Later, we checked chatgpt and found that the amount of the lawsuit can be filled in at will. Generally, the court will not review it during the prosecution stage.)
 
The product was purchased in December 2020 and was damaged while in use in August 2021.
 
The day before yesterday, we received a court document requiring us to respond to the lawsuit, but we need to find an American lawyer to respond, and we cannot respond individually.
 
Currently, I have two questions:
1. We would like to ask if anyone has encountered similar cases of personal injury and how they were resolved?
2. Does anyone have any lawyers who have handled this type of personal injury? Can you recommend one to me?
 
There are only 13 days left and I need to respond to the other party's lawsuit, so time is very urgent. I hope everyone can help me.

"Wonderful Reply"

Anonymous user

Agree from: Jolin90, Ordinary Life, Mango Flavored Rabbit

I also encountered this situation this year. The funds for the orders placed in 2020 were frozen at the beginning of 2023. There are currently 150,000 US dollars in the account, and the other party wants 500,000 US dollars. Some time ago, the lawyer said that Amazon has ruled on the specific amount. In your case, the first thing to do is to see whether your order is within the insurance period. The second is to see whether your product really causes injury to customers (product liability personal injury). The third is your store funds and plans for the store. The hourly fee of American lawyers is around 500-1,000 US dollars. The 15 million is just something the other party’s lawyer asked for casually, because in addition to your side, the other party’s lawyer also wants compensation from the platform, and the more they can get, the better. The other party’s lawyer will not provide his client’s medical documents. These are all private. Your lawyer may take a look at them when you negotiate later, but he will not show them to us.

Anonymous user

Agree from: Jolin90

We were also sued last year for tens of thousands of dollars. The other party hired a lawyer to send an email directly, and the account was not frozen. At that time, I had already bought insurance and contacted Ping An customer service directly. They contacted the US team to handle this matter. After a few months (roughly), I thought the buyer gave up the claim because no email was sent. Later, Ping An customer service called and said that the matter was resolved and the other party’s claim conditions were not met, so it was fine. I was also worried to death at the time. So if the product has any hidden dangers, no matter how big or small, it is recommended to buy insurance for more than a thousand dollars to have peace of mind.

Anonymous user

Thank you for the invitation. It's a pity that I don't have much experience in this area.
We have also encountered cases where customers' pets were injured or their property suffered losses. At first, the customers were very angry and demanded a high amount of compensation. As a small business, it was difficult for us to meet their demands.

The approach we take is to first figure out how the problem was caused, and determine who is primarily responsible, whether it was caused by improper use or product quality issues. If the main cause is indeed us, we should communicate well with the customer, use empathy to understand the difficulties and problems caused to him, calm him down, and then make appropriate compensation based on our actual situation. The details can be discussed with the customer, and most of the time the compensation will not be too high if handled well.

However, if you really cannot come to an agreement, you may have to go through formal legal procedures, so you can consult local legal resources and be prepared for both situations.

Case 2: Why a towel led to a personal injury claim

I received a claim email from Sedgwick yesterday. There is also an A to Z claim on the Amazon site.
 
There is a claim about property damage or personal injury, but my product is just an ordinary towel, and it is not clear what problems occurred during the buyer's use.
 

(I also suspect that it was a prank by a competitor. I looked at the date of the order, which happened to be the period when this product was gaining popularity. The buyer's name also looked a bit strange. There was nothing written in the note left for the claim on the site. As shown below)
 

 
I had never encountered this problem before, so I looked for related cases online, but there were relatively few. The results of related cases were not very optimistic, and Amazon's nature always favors buyers.
 
The Sedgwick found in the search is cooperating with Amazon, and the external party is responsible for the claims.
 
My US site has very little sales, and I haven't bought insurance. It's not easy to sell small, and if the other party asks for too much, I'm worried that I won't be able to keep up. I've seen some cases where people directly abandoned their stores, but I only have this one account, so I'm a little panicked.
 
The site is still under review, and there is no new email from Sedgwick. If this problem is not solved now, I dare not send goods to other sites. I wonder if any of you here have similar situations. I would be grateful for your suggestions~

"Wonderful Reply"

dam onzang - Former Amazon global store seller support, 3 years of official operation experience + 7 years of store management experience

Support from: Enthusiastic citizen Chen Xiansen 1205, Rosieee, Guan Xiaojian Gloria, Yang Feiyu, Matawang

Amazon has always been buyer-centric. When a buyer complains about your product quality, the chances of winning are very low. For example, if a buyer insists that he has allergies and physical damage from using your towels, the current negotiation of compensation should still be a preliminary punishment. In serious cases, it is still a product recall. Not only will the buyer be compensated, but the seller's account will also be frozen, and the funds will be used to refund past orders. So it is better to evaluate the value of your store's goods and whether it is worth negotiating compensation.

If your store has not been insured yet, it means that its monthly sales have not reached 10,000 US dollars, and the average customer spending is more than ten US dollars, and the sales volume is not much. Maybe your store is new, and the initial volume is not large whether it is self-delivery or FBA. This volume is unlikely to be a prank by peers. Evaluate the value of the goods and the backend balance yourself, and decide whether to negotiate a solution. You can also ask a lawyer about the cost, or abandon the store and prepare new information for registration (the waiting time in the middle is longer) to minimize the loss as much as possible. Before the problem is solved, it is recommended to withdraw money in time and control replenishment. It is common for Amazon products or stores to be abnormal. It is inevitable to walk on multiple legs. Don't count on a certain site or Amazon's single platform.

If your store has been insured, the sales volume is more than 10,000 US dollars, and the number of orders is also a little bit, if you choose the insurance with deductible, if the compensation is too low, it will not be paid, and if it is too high, it will be effective. It depends on the specific content of your insurance. But for a store that has bought insurance, it stands to reason that 1,000 US dollars is not a lot, but it is definitely not too much. It is nothing to admit a small loss. At least try to insure the products and the store as much as possible. If your insurance does not include deductibles, it is even simpler. Contact your insurance and Sedgwick to negotiate and communicate, and handle it to the satisfaction of the buyer, and try to insure the products and the store as much as possible.

We have a customer who has made repeated purchases. The last time he placed an order for 30 items, he only refunded the money without giving any reason. We couldn’t contact the buyer for various reasons, the customer service refused to compensate, and the product did not meet the compensation conditions: wrong store request, abnormal account status, or the sales contract did not meet the compensation conditions for these issues. Isn’t that pure nonsense? It doesn’t matter. We don’t lack such a repeat customer. In short, there will always be weird buyers, but if he finds a loophole or insists that it is harmful to himself, it is difficult for the platform to define it. It’s a personal choice whether to spend a small amount of money to achieve a big thing or to stop the loss in time, but it doesn’t prevent you from asking and trying multiple options.

Xiao Tang works hard - Amazon cross-border~

Agree with: xandone, 爱吃烤肉, Adam002, device, Newjeans more »

Don't panic. Amazon will investigate the claim. If the claim is untrue and there is no actual evidence, it will be withdrawn later. You can wait.

Anonymous user

Agree with: Summer's Summer

Don't worry, Amazon will cancel the buyer's claim. Don't worry about it. Just check your emails more often. You will receive a cancellation email in more than half a month.

Anonymous user

This was probably done by a colleague. We have tried to claim compensation before, claiming that the claim was for eye injury.

sellerweare

This is just your peers messing with you, really, look at which competitor is the most suspicious and prepare to fight back