Some of Amazon’s third-party sellers in Germany have accused the U.S. giant of failing to transfer them the money they are owed—and they’re worried about the impact of their businesses in the lead-up to Black Friday. Reports suggest merchants in other European countries are also affected.
The problem, reported by the Federal Association of Online Merchants (BVOH), appears to have arisen over the last week. The trade group said Tuesday that more and more of its members were complaining that they were not able to get their money from Amazon. The e-commerce giant is supposed to pay out third-party sellers within 14 days, but many merchants have not been able to withdraw their money from those accounts since 30 October, the BVOH said.
Meanwhile, it added, Amazon continues to insist that the merchants continue selling and shipping items through its platform. With Black Friday looming on 26 November, that’s a big issue.
According to a report in Die Welt, some payments resumed on Tuesday morning, but only the most recent payments came through. The newspaper quoted an e-commerce expert who suggested the number was likely in the thousands.
“We are working to resolve this matter quickly for the small percentage of sellers affected,” Amazon said in a statement.
Wolfgang Wentzel, the BVOH’s legal adviser, told Fortune on Wednesday that some merchants were now receiving a third of what they were owed, but only if—like Amazon (AMZN)—they hold accounts with Deutsche Bank. Everyone else is getting nothing, he said.
The BVOH said Amazon had told some merchants that it was having technical problems. “Logistical and technical functions are supposed to be a core capability of Amazon,” said Wentzel.
Wentzel also said he had heard of similar problems hitting third-party sellers in the U.K. Die Welt reported that some merchants in France and Italy are also affected.
This article was updated to include Amazon’s statement and to correct a couple of factual errors derived from the BVOH’s original statement, which has now been updated: Amazon no longer promises to pay out those earning more than €50,000 a day within a day, and it is not the case that Amazon was freezing merchants’ accounts instead of paying them.
