Funds Held by Amazon Payments UK Limited — The FCA and FOS Route
UK sellers whose funds are held by Amazon Payments UK Limited (APUK) have an escalation route US sellers do not have: a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. APUK is a regulated entity, structurally separate from Amazon’s marketplace enforcement side.
This is the least-known escalation path in Amazon enforcement, and for the right case it works when Seller Central has gone silent.
Why UK Sellers Get Bounced Between Two Amazons
Enforcement and payments are different entities. Seller Performance says the funds are not their decision. Payments says the deactivation was not theirs. Both are, structurally, telling the truth.
Once you understand you are dealing with two organisations, the strategy changes: you stop asking one to answer for the other.
The Route, In Order
1. Internal complaint to APUK first. Regulatory escalation requires you to have exhausted the firm’s own process. Skipping this gets you rejected on procedure, not merits.
2. Deadlock letter, or the expiry of the response period.
3. Complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
What FOS Can and Cannot Do
FOS looks at the conduct of the regulated payments entity. It does not reinstate your selling account. If your goal is your listings back, this is the wrong tool. If your goal is your money, it may be the only one left.
Honest Limits
This route is slow, it is not guaranteed, and it does not fit every case. If your funds hold is a direct consequence of an enforcement decision rather than payments conduct, expect a harder time.
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Preparing an APUK Complaint
Keep a clear written record of every interaction with APUK before you escalate. FOS will want to see that you gave APUK a genuine opportunity to resolve the issue internally first, with specific dates and the substance of each exchange.
A complaint to APUK, followed correctly by a complaint to FOS, is a slower process than a standard Seller Central appeal. Sellers pursuing this route should treat it as a parallel track alongside any reinstatement appeal, not a replacement for one.
Eligibility for FOS Complaints
FOS generally handles complaints from individuals and small businesses meeting specific eligibility criteria. Most individual Amazon sellers and small seller businesses qualify, but eligibility should be confirmed directly with FOS before investing significant time in the process.
How Long an APUK Complaint Takes
An APUK complaint is not fast. Internal review at APUK takes time, and if the case proceeds to a fos complaint, that adds further weeks to months depending on complexity and FOS caseload. Sellers considering this route should plan around a slow timeline, not a quick one, and continue pursuing any faster routes in parallel where they remain open.
What Evidence an FOS Complaint Needs
A strong fos complaint is built on documentation: dates of every APUK interaction, the substance of what was said, copies of correspondence, and a clear account of the financial impact. Vague or undocumented complaints are far less likely to succeed than ones built on a specific, dated record.
APUK Complaint vs. Reinstatement Appeal — Different Goals
An apuk complaint addresses your money. It does not address your suspended listings or deactivated account. If you need both outcomes, the reinstatement appeal and the apuk complaint need to run as genuinely separate tracks, each pursued on its own merits and its own timeline.
When We Recommend This Route
We recommend an apuk complaint when internal appeals have been exhausted, the amount held justifies the time investment, and the underlying dispute is genuinely about APUK’s conduct rather than a Seller Performance enforcement decision. Where those conditions are not met, we say so before you start the process.