Vendor behavior on Amazon marketplace

Hi everyone!

So, I was trying to buy something nice for myself on [Amazon.jp](https://Amazon.jp) (marketplace) the other day.

Nothing unusual or problematic, just a nice beauty product in order to pamper myself. I complete the payment via credit card and everything seemed fine. The shipment was due today, but somehow the package was never shipped by the seller.

When I opened my email, the seller, a Japan-based beauty company, in all seriousness asks for my ID and tells me, they will hold back my order until they get it and they will cancel my order if they don’t get it by a specific date. The reason the company gave me for asking for my ID is, that “the price of the item I’ve ordered is high”, which is – in my humble opinion – BS, because it is under 5 man, which is a fairly normal price for what I’ve ordered. Also, I’m a grown-up and I paid for it, so what does the company I buy from care unless there is an issue with my credit card which there isn’t.

I am beyond angry and, would this specific product not be so hard to obtain in Japan for a reasonable price, would have canceled the order by myself by now.

Did any of you ever experience something like that? What could be the reason? And what are my options?

I have a Japanese address, but my credit card was issued abroad. Until this time, there never was a single problem with it and there has not been a problem with the orders I’ve placed since that one.

Your insights will be greatly appreciated.

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EDIT: The isssue was resolved. Thanks to everybody for their opinions and suggestions.

I contacted the vendor directly asking for an explanation and telling them that I found their request to be very unusual (read: “inappropriate”; I worded it more mildly, but I think they got the message). Also, I wrote them that I knew just as well as they do that the price of the product cannot be the real reason they are asking for my ID.

Instead of providing me with an explanation, they just shipped the product. I have a tracking number and hope I will receive my special little gift in the desired condition.

Since there were no issues with the payment, there was no language barrier and they never provided me with an explanation I will continue to believe that the way they handled this order had to do with some kind of bias.

I’m thinking of leaving them a mediocre review, but depending on how the rest will be handled I may not bother to do so either. I will not buy from them though in the future.

I may update if anything else (undesirable) happens in the context of this order, but I hope this will not be necessary.

Again, thank you all for reading and commenting.

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Edit 2: Just a small detail, but a nice one. So, I’ve contacted said company overally twice, the second answer I got ten minutes ago. The first time, their answer was an uninspired two-liner written in the sort of curt Japanese that may not be directly rude, but kind of is if you know how costumers usually are being talked to.

Just now, I got a small essay written in very polite keigo, apologizing – thrice – for any sort of inconvenience that might have been caused by their handling of my order and telling me that “it was because I was a first-time costumer with them and the price of the item is high”.

I don’t know what to make of that (seems like a lame excuse though), but given the fact that now they used appropriate language with me I’m more confident that there should not be any further issues with this order.

Thanks again to you all for reading.

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Edit 3: Unless something totally unexpected happens this will be my last update on this matter.

I received my product in the desired condition and decided against taking this to Amazon or even leaving a comment. In the end, my parcel was merely one day delayed after the vendor backed down from their unreasonable request as I called them out, so there was no immediate reason to go nuclear. I have not forgiven them though and will not buy from them again.

Thank you for all your perspectives. It helped me to understand the situation better.

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