Amazon Seller’s Account Suspensions: What Every Attorney Needs to Know About Defense and Recovery

Paul Rafelson, Managing Attorney | Rafelson Law PLLC

Paul Rafelson is the Managing Attorney of Rafelson Law PLLC, an e-commerce law firm based in Boca Raton, Florida. His practice focuses on Amazon marketplace compliance and enforcement, trademark prosecution and enforcement, e-commerce mergers and acquisitions, and regulatory matters affecting online sellers. He has advised on over $1 billion in e-commerce transactions. Paul founded the Online Merchants Guild (OMG), a national trade association advocating for online sellers, and SellerBasics, a subscription Amazon account health plan built to absorb the relentless compliance and enforcement burdens sellers face on the platform.

• Education & Credentials

Paul holds a BS in Accounting from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a JD and MBA from Villanova University, and a Tax LL.M. from NYU School of Law.

• Recognition & Leadership

Paul’s written submissions to Congress made him the most cited outside resource in the House Judiciary Committee’s bipartisan antitrust investigation final report on Amazon. His commentary and analysis have appeared on CNN, Bloomberg, CNBC, and PBS Frontline.

• Professional Involvement

Paul founded the Online Merchants Guild (OMG), a national trade association advocating for online sellers, through which he has led legal challenges on behalf of the Amazon seller community against unfair business practices, including state enforcement actions where Amazon scapegoated sellers for pricing and sales tax decisions Amazon itself controlled. He also founded SellerBasics, a subscription Amazon account health plan built to absorb the compliance and enforcement burdens sellers face on the platform.

• Experience

Before launching his firm, Paul worked as in-house counsel at Microsoft, Walmart, and GE. He also sold on Amazon in the pre-FBA era, which gives him direct operational insight into the marketplace dynamics he now litigates. His practice focuses on Amazon marketplace compliance and enforcement, trademark prosecution and enforcement, e-commerce mergers and acquisitions, and regulatory matters affecting online sellers, with experience advising on over $1 billion in e-commerce transactions.

Joy Williams, Director | SellerBasics

Joy Williams is the Director of SellerBasics, the leading full-service Account Health Protection Plan specializing in providing comprehensive solutions for the challenges faced by online sellers. As part of the Amazon Service Provider Network (SPN), SellerBasics is a trusted partner recognized for its expertise in safeguarding seller accounts and ensuring compliance. Joy’s in-depth knowledge and expertise in navigating the complexities of the ecommerce marketplace allows her to understand the unique challenges faced by online sellers, such as account suspensions, managing policy violations, and providing tailored strategies to address them effectively.

• Education & Credentials

Joy’s professional grounding comes from decades of compliance work across multiple Fortune 500 companies, the foundation she now brings to safeguarding Amazon seller accounts at SellerBasics.

• Recognition & Leadership

Joy serves as Director of SellerBasics, recognized within the Amazon Service Provider Network (SPN) as a trusted partner for safeguarding seller accounts and ensuring compliance with Amazon policies.

• Professional Involvement

Through her role at SellerBasics, Joy works within the Amazon Service Provider Network (SPN), partnering with online sellers to address account suspensions, manage policy violations, and provide tailored strategies for ecommerce compliance.

• Experience

Prior to joining SellerBasics, Joy had decades of experience working in compliance for multiple Fortune 500 companies, as well as 13 years as a multi-platform ecommerce seller. Her in-depth knowledge of the ecommerce marketplace allows her to understand the unique challenges faced by online sellers, including account suspensions and policy violations, and to provide tailored strategies to address them effectively.

SESSION 1 – BSA Architecture and Section 3 Suspensions | 1:00pm – 1:30pm

Analyzes BSA Sections 2 and 3 as a system of discretionary enforcement, Section 3 sole-discretion suspensions, the plan of action workflow, the admission trap, and the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing as a doctrinal hook.

SESSION 2 – IP Enforcement Taxonomy at Amazon | 1:30pm – 2:00pm

Explores copyright DMCA, trademark retraction, utility patent APEX, design patent Brand Registry submission, counterfeit with test buy, inauthentic sourcing-documentation enforcement, MAP misuse, and Lanham Act material-difference doctrine, each with a distinct response playbook.

BREAK | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

SESSION 3 – Section 2 Held Funds and External Enforcement Triggers | 2:10pm – 2:40pm

Examines the 90-day withholding provision, March 31, 2025 FBA manufacturing-cost reimbursement shift, third-party agent attribution, vendor versus seller central distinctions, Schedule A federal TROs, and California Proposition 65 fund holds shaping damages exposure.

SESSION 4 – Arbitration Recovery Theories and Practitioner Triage | 2:40pm – 3:10pm

Breaks down the four-theory Section 2 attack — Walter Implement penalty rule, substantive unconscionability, WCPA treble damages, and IPI defense — alongside the conduct-screening rule and triage framework for plaintiff, defense, and in-house counsel.