Disgraced Amazon Store Petitions to Vacate Arbitration Award

Amazon removed to the U.S. District Court for Southern New York a petition by Hong Kong-based Jiakeshu Technology to vacate an Aug. 4 arbitrator’s ruling that allowed Amazon to keep $50,000 in Jiakeshu’s sales proceeds after Amazon deactivated Jiakeshu’s third-party store for paying or incentivizing customers to submit positive reviews. Jiakeshu filed the petition Nov. 2 in New York Supreme Court in Manhattan. Jiakeshu admitted in the petition to “engaging in soliciting sponsored reviews from customers” but said it was guilty of “no more than a minor offense of sending gift card inserts to customers to solicit reviews.” Jiakeshu has been unsuccessful in getting Amazon to reinstate its store, and said Amazon has “no justification” for holding on to its sales proceeds. Chapter 2 of the Federal Arbitration Act “authorizes removal of a petition to vacate an arbitration award governed by the New York Convention,” said Amazon’s notice of removal Tuesday (docket 1:22-cv-10119). Efforts to reach Jiakeshu for comment Thursday were unsuccessful.