So you are a seller on Amazon UK and want to take them to County Court? This is part three of a guide for Amazon UK FBA or FBM sellers on taking Amazon to County Court. Part one is here: How to Sue Amazon UK as a Seller – Part 1
We discussed evidence collection and serving your “Notice Before Action” in part one. We discussed filing your claim in part two. Here we will discuss what happens next.
The first thing to remember is that the lawyers you are about to encounter are just doing their job. Don’t take anything personally, and don’t get angry or let frustration get the better of you. For you, this is deeply personal. It’s your stock, your money, and your business. For them, it’s not personal, it’s just another case. And their goal is to resolve it as easily and cheaply as possible.
Your advantage is that you have likely been dealing with this issue for months before taking legal action. You know your case inside out. They don’t. They will skim through it, looking for the easiest and least costly way to make it go away. This is one of your strongest assets in negotiations.
Now you get to meet Amazon’s cadre of corporate lawyers: Eversheds.
Taking Amazon to County Court: Without Prejudice
All communications from Eversheds will likely include the phrase “Without Prejudice Subject to Costs.” This means that anything they say in those emails or letters cannot be used as evidence in court, except when the issue of costs is being decided. They do this to ensure that any settlement discussions remain off the record, protecting their negotiating position if the case proceeds to a hearing.
However, you are not required to reciprocate. By keeping your communications open, without the “without prejudice” restriction, you retain the right to refer to your reasonable settlement offers in court if Amazon refuses to engage in good faith. This can work in your favour, as it would demonstrate to the judge that you made genuine attempts to resolve the matter before a hearing. Point this out early so they know your offers could be used later, which may push them to negotiate more seriously.
A simple line at the end of each email like “Please note that this correspondence and any attachments are sent on an open basis and may be relied upon in court if necessary” will suffice. This makes it clear that your communications are not protected by “without prejudice” rules. This ensures that if Amazon refuses to negotiate properly, a judge can see your reasonable attempts to resolve the dispute. Meanwhile, their “without prejudice” emails remain off-limits in court – giving you the advantage of transparency while keeping their tactics hidden.
Get a better understanding of Without Prejudice in the video below from Daniel ShenSmith, a UK barrister (subscribe to his channel).
What to Expect from Amazon’s Defence
Once you file your claim, Amazon’s legal team, Eversheds Sutherland (International) LLP, will submit an Acknowledgment of Service confirming they intend to defend in full. This is standard procedure and should not concern you.
Amazon then has 28 days from the date of service to file their defence. They will almost certainly submit it at the last possible moment, as you’ll find out they do with everything.
Once Amazon files its defence, you will receive a notification explaining that:
- The case has been taken offline because the defendant has filed a defence
- Future updates will be sent via email or post rather than appearing on the online portal
- Any further correspondence will now go through Eversheds Sutherland, Amazon’s solicitors
At this stage, nothing will happen immediately. It will take a few weeks before the next steps begin, as the court processes the defence and prepares the next phase. This is the window of opportunity to begin settlement discussions.
Taking Amazon to County Court: Amazon’s Defence Strategy
Amazon’s defence document will typically follow a predictable pattern designed to delay, complicate, and discourage claimants. Here’s what you can expect:
1. Wrong Entity Argument
Amazon will often introduce multiple Amazon entities into a long and mostly irrelevant preamble, including Amazon EU Sarl, Amazon Europe Core Sarl, Amazon Services Europe Sarl, Amazon UK Services Ltd, and Amazon Payments UK Ltd. This is intended to create confusion over which entity is responsible and set the stage for an argument that you have sued the wrong company. This is a common stalling tactic they are very well-known for, but one that can be successfully disputed if you have named the correct entity. If they don’t directly claim you have sued the wrong entity at this stage, then you have sued the correct one. The introduction of all these other entities, ostensibly to “assist the court” is just smoke and mirrors.
2. Denial of Liability
Amazon will deny every part of your claim at this stage. They will require you to prove every detail, including the number of withheld goods, the amount of any frozen money, the value of your losses, and any administrative costs you are claiming. Again, this is all quite standard. Deny, deny, deny is what they do out of the blocks. In fact, the word DENIED in bold capital letters will no doubt litter their document. Again, this is just bluster, smoke and mirrors. They probably have pre-written templates for this stuff.
3. Challenging the Legal Basis of Your Claim
They will argue that your claim is legally weak, particularly if you are claiming for interest, out-of-pocket expenses or administrative time. If you are claiming for time spent dealing with their dire so-called support system, they will insist there is no legal basis for this unless properly justified under CPR 46.5 (litigant in person costs). Which it is. They will claim Statutory Interest doesn’t apply. It does.
4. Attempts to Complicate the Case
Expect their defence to contain irrelevant details about your seller account, your listings, their policies, or alleged compliance issues. They may claim that your listings breached their terms or that they were justified in withholding your stock or money. If they are withholding your stock, they will claim it is ‘securely held pending compliance review’ or something similarly vague. That sounds a lot better than just admitting, ‘We nicked it, guv!’ These arguments are designed to both belittle your argument and make the case seem more complex than it really is. If they are withholding your money or your stock, it’s a black-and-white issue, isn’t it? Keep that in mind.
5. Request to Strike Out Your Claim
Their defence may include a request for the court to strike out your claim, arguing that it has no legal basis. This is a standard tactic but is unlikely to succeed if your claim is properly prepared. No judge is going to read this until a hearing anyway, and that is months away – if ever. So again, this is just bluster and hot air.
How to Respond to Amazon’s Defence and Negotiate with Eversheds
To begin settlement discussions, and there is more on this in part four, respond to Eversheds in the same professional format they use. Their defence will have been served to you by email, and the sender will likely be a paralegal (if a modest size case), Take a moment to look them up on LinkedIn to get an idea of their experience level. Know your opponents. The person quietly cc’d, usually a more senior lawyer, is the real decision-maker here, so keep them copied in on all communications.
Your First Reply
Send a short and formal email with a PDF attachment replying to their defence. Use a subject line that follows their format:
Re: [Case number] | [Your Name] v Amazon EU Sarl [or correct entity] | Reply to Defence
Your email should be concise and to the point:
Dear [Paralegal’s Name],
Please find attached the Reply to Defence and relevant exhibits in relation to the above-mentioned claim.
If Amazon is not willing to [return our money] [return our stock], settle or cover the costs, we will move forward with the next stage of the litigation process. That said, as our requests are both fair and straightforward, we would prefer to resolve this matter amicably.
Please confirm whether you are open to discussing a settlement or if you require any further information.
Kind Regards,
[Your Name]
Addressing Key Points in Amazon’s Defence
Constructing your Reply to Defence should be done with ChatGPT, your little legal helper that we discussed in part two. Paste the link to this article in there to help it. Upload the defence document, write some key points and begin to refine your reply document with your twenty-quid-a-month legal assistant. Keep honing and adding information, guide it, keep it on point, fact check as you go (as it can make stuff up), and make it remove those damn em dashes and American spellings again and again. And before long, it will begin to take shape. Each time you do this it will get faster and easier. Paste it into Word, convert it to PDF.
Amazon’s defence will contain predictable arguments aimed at complicating the matter and delaying a resolution. Some of the key tactics from the defence document may include:
The Wrong Entity Argument
As mentioned, Amazon will often introduce multiple Amazon entities, including Amazon EU Sarl, Amazon Europe Core Sarl, Amazon Services Europe Sarl, Amazon UK Services Ltd, and Amazon Payments UK Ltd into the preamble of their defence. This is intended to create confusion over which entity is responsible and set the stage for an argument that you have sued the wrong company.
They will argue that X Amazon entity, for example, only provides support services and is not the contractual entity you should be claiming against. They may suggest that responsibility lies with Amazon EU Sarl or another entity.
How to Counter This:
- Your claim should be made against the correct contractual entity for the area of the problem as named in your Amazon Seller Agreement
- If Amazon is withholding funds or stock, reaffirm which entity is responsible for that function with evidence (emails, excerpt from the seller agreement)
- Include supporting evidence from Amazon’s own terms that confirm the correct entity’s obligations
- Courts take a substance over form approach, meaning if Amazon EU Sarl, for example, is controlling funds or inventory, they are the correct entity to sue regardless of what their defence argues
Amazon hopes you will drop the case or refile it incorrectly. Do not let them win this point.
The Denial of Liability
Amazon will deny liability for all claims unless you can strictly prove otherwise. They will argue that:
- They were justified in withholding your funds or stock under their policies
- You failed to follow the correct appeal process or support pathway before taking legal action
- The contract allows them to take these actions under broad discretionary terms
How to Counter This:
- Be clear that your claim is not about policy breaches but about Amazon unlawfully retaining your property or funds.
- Show the steps you took to recover your stock or money and that Amazon failed to resolve the matter
- If they are relying on vague policy wording, question whether those terms override basic contractual rights or UK consumer and commercial laws
Attempts to Muddy the Waters
Amazon’s defence will contain a lot of irrelevant information. They may bring up details about your seller account, listing history, or policy violations, even if these have nothing to do with your claim. The purpose is to make the case seem more complicated than it is and make you feel like you have no chance of success.
How to Counter This:
- Keep the focus on the specific issue you are suing over
- Do not get drawn into discussing past seller account issues if they are irrelevant
- Remind them that the case is about withheld money or stock and that unrelated matters should not be used to complicate the issue
Are They Willing to Settle?
Although Amazon will formally deny your claim in its defence, they may include a line stating they are engaged in settlement discussions. If they have not yet contacted you about settlement, they are about to.
This does not mean they will immediately offer a fair resolution. They won’t. But if they mention settlement in the defence, it signals they are willing to negotiate. This tells you your case is strong.
Amazon’s strategy when they do start to negotiate is typically to:
- Deny liability while keeping settlement discussions open
- Delay as long as possible to test whether you will give up
- Make a low offer to settle, expecting you to gratefully roll over
Taking Amazon to County Court: Why You Have the Upper Hand
Amazon does not want to go to court if they can avoid it, especially if they know your claim is both valid and well-prepared. More importantly, they do not want a public case that could set a precedent for other sellers. They also want to avoid negative media attention.
The last thing Amazon wants is a Daily Mail headline like ‘Amazon Seller Sues Amazon Over Stolen Stock’ or ‘Amazon Destroys Small Business by Withholding Funds’. They also do not want to set searchable legal precedents that future litigants can use against them. Their best way out is to settle out of court quietly, and they know it.
But you are a long way from that yet.
How to Structure Your Reply to Defence
Your Reply to Defence should be formatted in a way that mirrors their own legal style. Based on the strategy in the Reply to Defence document, here’s how you should structure it:
- Introduction
- Acknowledge receipt of Amazon’s defence
- Reaffirm that you have named the correct Amazon entity if that is an issue
- Addressing the Wrong Entity Argument
- Reiterate why X Amazon entity is responsible
- Include supporting evidence such as emails or terms from the Amazon Seller Agreement
- Remind them that you asked them to confirm the correct entity in your NBA – they didn’t
- Countering Their Claims
- If Amazon argues the product was suspended for compliance reasons, clarify that the claim is about the withholding of stock, not the suspension
- If Amazon argues they have acted within their rights, reference the Seller Agreement terms that support your position
- Demonstrating Your Efforts to Resolve the Issue
- List your seller support cases and attempts to retrieve the stock
- Highlight Amazon’s failure to provide a resolution
- Settlement Offer
- Indicate that you are willing to engage in settlement discussions
- Suggest a reasonable resolution (i.e., the total value of your claim at this stage) while making it clear you are more than happy to proceed to hearing if necessary
What Happens Next?
If Eversheds engages in discussions, expect them to start with a derisory settlement offer. If they have frozen your money, they may return it at this stage. If they are withholding your stock, they may reactivate the listing they suspended in order that you can create a removal order. They may offer you just your court fee back at this stage as a settlement.
You are under no obligation to accept their first offer. We recommend you don’t. A first offer is just that – a starting point. This is a negotiation. If your claim is about withheld stock and they have unlocked it, immediately create a removal order and check how much actually gets returned before continuing negotiations. Chances are it will arrive from numerous FBA warehouses, over many weeks and many small parcels. And they will lose some of it by misdelivering it anyway.
Here is the takeaway from this now: if they make you any kind of offer to settle, however ridiculous it might initially be, that means they intend to settle. All you have to do now is settle on a number.
In part four, we will cover how to handle their counteroffers, when to push back, and how to deal with the next step in the court process: the Directions Questionnaire.
>>Click here to read part four: Taking Amazon to Small Claims Court as a UK Seller – Part 4<<
Disclaimer: The author is not a solicitor or barrister. This guide is based on personal experience and is provided for informational purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice. If you are unsure about any aspect of your claim, you should seek professional legal assistance.