Suspended seller account and withheld funds: what can be done today
Nextica Law & Tax defends marketplace sellers when the channel closes: the plan of action and internal appeals against account suspension, the claim for withheld funds, use of the rights that Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 gives business users against the platform —a statement of reasons and an internal complaint-handling system— and of the complaint mechanism in art. 20 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 on digital services.
With the account suspended you bill zero from today, and the money from your last sales is still inside. Both have deadlines, and the clock is running.
What's included
1. Reading the real reason for the suspension in the notification, which is almost never the one the seller assumes, and the deadline it opens.
2. Gathering the evidence before writing anything
supplier invoices, batch traceability, product compliance documentation and account metrics.
3. Drafting the action plan in the structure the platform requires
root cause, corrective measures already taken, and preventive measures with dates.
4. Filing and following the internal escalations, with a record of every submission and every reply.
5. Claiming the withheld funds in parallel, which is a separate procedure from the account one and has its own clock.
6. The out-of-court dispute route the European platform rules provide, once the internal procedure is exhausted.
7. A contingency plan while it lasts
alternative channels, customer communication and a decision on the stock sitting in the platform's warehouse.
WITH THE ACCOUNT SUSPENDED YOU INVOICE ZERO FROM TODAY
And the two things to solve —the account and the money— have different deadlines and different procedures.
Answering the wrong reason
the action plan is rejected when it tackles a problem other than the one in the notification. Reading the real reason before writing is what separates reactivation in days from weeks of message exchanges.
An action plan with no root cause and no evidence
the platform asks for a specific structure —what happened, what has already been corrected, and what will be done so it does not happen again— and a text promising to improve with no documents behind it meets none of the three.
Letting the out-of-court route pass
the European platform rules provide complaint mechanisms and require certain decisions to be reasoned. Exhausting only the internal form closes doors that are still open.
Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 and Regulation (EU) 2022/2065Frequently asked questions
Does the platform have to explain why it suspends me?
Yes. Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 requires online intermediation services to give business users a statement of reasons for a restriction, suspension or termination, and to operate an internal complaint-handling system. That does not guarantee reinstatement, but it turns an opaque decision into a contestable one: with the reasons in writing you can answer point by point, which is what the plan of action is about.
Can I recover the money the platform is holding?
It is claimed, and the route depends on the reason for the hold and on what the channel's terms say. The first step is to document the balance, the sales behind it and the notice of the hold; then internal routes are exhausted and, if there is no answer, the claim is brought through the appropriate channel. What does not work is letting months pass hoping it unlocks by itself.
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