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The last exposé we did on Amazon KDP was back on 2023. Have things gotten any better there? NOPE! According to the complaints below, and all over the Internet, they’ve gotten FAR WORSE! Also, as you’ll see, not only does Amazon KDP have severe quality and customer service problems (some claim NO customer service!), but they are also continuing to terminate authors’ accounts, and are keeping those authors’ unpaid royalties!

In case you don’t have time to read all of the detailed complaints at the links below, here are some snippets:

“Amazon KDP stole my royalties – Authors beware!”

After Amazon KDP terminated her account: “I’ve lost twenty years of children’s books.”

“We published a picture book with them but the quality was awful.”

“I just went through my author’s copy of my paperback and it is literally falling apart. About every third page just falls out of the book as you turn the page…”

“Amazon KDP doesn’t give a damn about your creativity or your work.”

“Imagine my shock when I received an email stating my account had been terminated and my royalties would be withheld – an outright act of stealing!”

“I would advise anyone considering Amazon KDP to think twice.”

“They profit off our work, then shut down accounts without cause, keeping the money we’ve rightfully earned.”

“You could wake up one day and find your account gone, your income stolen, and no recourse available.”

“I worked hard publishing over 50 books. My account was terminated over one book and I could not get a straight answer as to why. Amazon kept my royalties…”

“(Amazon KDP) continued to try to charge my card for ads after my account was terminated.” (We saw a similar comments from another author as well.)

“Only if I could give a zero! Pathetic company.”

“Account terminated for no reason – Stolen royalties.”

“To top it off, they kept that entire month’s earnings. KDP is honestly the worst, most useless, and completely unprofessional.”

“There are hundreds who share this same experience with this company. Save yourself time and find another publishing company. KDP is the worst.”

“KDP will nuke your hard work over nothing. Beware before you waste your time.”

“I had so much headache with this site. Not worth it!!!”

“Do not waste all of your hard work on this site.”

“A case example of the worst customer service experience that should be studied by Harvard MBA students as lessons in what not to do.”

“I would give them zero stars if possible!”

“This is pure theft and scam.”

“I can not express enough how frustrated I am with KDP customer services.”

“They removed titles from terminated account of which I am the copyright holder, and continue to sell my books.”

“I’m finding out that many other self publishers are getting the same treatment. This is unfair and disrespectful.”

“Amazon simply does not give a S*** about small independent authors! Utterly disgusting customer service!”

“No help. 50 books ordered and they are all different shades.”

“I was denied access to my dashboard and any outstanding royalties.”

“Although my books remain live and generate sales, I have no access to my original KDP account, and my last royalty payment was on March 31, 2025.”

“For over a month, I’ve been caught in a bureaucratic maze—blocked from managing or transferring the books I wrote, published, and hold full rights to.”

“(Poor book printing quality by Amazon KDP) has cost time, resources, my book launch, emotional distress, an inability to provide quality work to those who have made an investment, and so much more to me as a first time author.”

“Just appalling.”

“The worse customer service ever.”

THERE ARE MANY MORE COMMENTS BELOW!

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Thinking about publishing your book through Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing)? You might want to look elsewhere after reading the quality and customer service issues, accusations of royalty theft, and numerous other complaints below. At BookLocker.com, we compete with Amazon KDP. However, we reject numerous manuscripts each year. When we do, we NEVER recommend authors use Amazon KDP. We tell them that is the LAST place they want to go!

Below are quotes from several websites that allow people to post complaints about companies. Also below are complaints posted directly to Amazon’s KDP author discussion forum on their site. All of them are definitely eye-opening! And, this is just a drop in the bucket. There are THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of complaints about Amazon KDP on a variety of websites.

On Trustpilot (Remember to NEVER trust 5-star reviews on Trustpilot!):

Amazon KDP Stole My Royalties – Authors Beware! – I am incredibly disappointed with Amazon KDP and their unethical treatment of authors. After dedicating countless hours and money to researching, writing, and publishing my books, Amazon suddenly terminated my account without warning or a valid explanation, leaving me without access to my earned royalties. KDP’s treatment of independent authors is nothing short of exploitative and unfair. They profit off our work, then shut down accounts without cause, keeping the money we’ve rightfully earned. If you’re an author considering publishing with Amazon, think twice—you could wake up one day and find your account gone, your income stolen, and no recourse available. – Dr. Tina

AMAZON KDP beware of  – AMAZON KDP beware of their deceptive practices. I had an account for two years, spent quite alot of money and time on their ads and never came out ahead. I do not know why i wasted my time. I worked hard publishing over 50 books. My account was terminated over one book and i could not get a straight answer as to why. Amazon kept my royalties, refused to respond to my inquires and continued to try to charge my card for ads after my account was terminated. I think they need to be investigated for fraud. I would never do business with them again in any form. – Jeannette Azar

They deserve a big zero – Only if I could give a zero! Pathetic company. Their customer care doesn’t exist. We published a picture book with them but the quality was awful. – Y Allsop

Unhelpful and unprofessional!!! – They blocked my account a few times, and when I queried it, they’d apologise and tell me it was a mistake – only to suspend me again the same day for supposedly having issues with my keywords. Before I even had a chance to fix anything, they terminated my account completely. To top it off, they kept that entire month’s earnings. KDP is honestly the worst, most useless, and completely unprofessional. – Hannah

This company is the Absolute worst – I tried several times to verify my ID on the KDP website and after several failed attempts, I was told I had 13 days to comply. Then I was told later that same day my account was being terminated. There are hundreds who share this same experience with this company. Save yourself time and find another publishing company. KDP is the worst. – Andrew Mcglocking

Just got terminated by KDP for… – Just got terminated by KDP for “multiple accounts” with zero proof. Total BS. I’ve had my account for a while, no issues—until now. I write children’s books, and this is the treatment I get? Ridiculous. KDP will nuke your hard work over nothing. Beware before you waste your time. – Joseph Graziano

Kdp Amazon is supposed to be an easy… – Do not choose amazon if you are considering publishing your book, I had so much headache with this site. Not worth it!!! – Petes Varga Mark

Do not waste all of your hard work on this site – It is absolutely shocking that a company of this size has ZERO customer service! They locked me out of my retail account, and subsequently blocked my KDP, because I tried to change my debit card. They are still selling my book but I am unable to get into my account. When you try to get help they tell you to log into your account!!!! – Agatha P Daisy

Every time I call I get a worthless CSR – A case example of the worst customer service experience that should be studied by Harvard MBA students as lessons in what not to do. – Arthur Lazarus

I would give them zero stars if… – I would give them zero stars if possible! I’m a graphic novelist and went to publish my novel on KDP Amazon and it was like pulling teeth. Finally got it formatted and after 2 days Amazon blocked it. I own all copyrights and it’s my artwork and story. Avoid Amazon, Avoid kindle altogether. – e nordkvist

My Amazon KDP Account Was Terminated… – This has been emotionally draining. I’ve invested so much time and effort into publishing on KDP, and it feels like I’ve been locked out with no explanation and no fair review. – Ani Abigail

Theft of royalties, under sales reporting – My website tells me I have sales of 56000 and the kdp software also was confirming the same but when royalty report is generated suddenly 2/3 royalties have disappeared. This is pure theft and scam. – Vaibhav jain

Closed account without proper reason – I received an email a few weeks ago saying I would get paid so I logged into the account and realised I had sold 10x one of my notebooks back in february 25, I was so pleased. And then a week or so later account closure stating they would not pay me and removed all my books/notebooks from sale. – Steph

I can not express enough how frustrated… – I can not express enough how frustrated I am with KDP customer services. My account was blocked and deleted for no apparent reason in January and no matter how many times I have reached out, not a single person has helped me. I am beyond frustrated and can’t imagine how a company operates like this. If I could give them a 0/100 stars I would! – Natalie Drayton

Uploaded a new book a week ago – Uploaded a new book a week ago, should take less than 48 hours to be reviewed, but so far still under review, very unprofessional.
And now reading all the trustpilot reviews about closing down author’s accounts for no reason, stealing their products and commissions and no customer service? Wondering if I made a huge mistake uploading my book on kpd! – KimJ

Terminated for no reason – Terminated for no reason. Lied about notice sent or emailed. No phone. Misguided, or disgruntled reps of KDP hide behind contact forms and “resolve” or “close” cases through their inane email message portal. They removed titles from terminated account of which I am the copyright holder, and continue to sell my books. – Mike

What is going on at kdp? – I’ve published all my books on this platform for many years and today I get a email saying my account was terminated over one book that was published three years ago saying there was a violation of the terms and conditions which makes no sense and I’m finding out that many other self publishers are getting the same treatment. This is unfair and disrespectful. – Mark Dudley

Incompetent KDP Customer Service! – Despite my diligent efforts to resolve this issue, including over 25 emails and 15 phone calls, I am no closer to understanding the root cause of the delay, nor have I received any indication of when I can expect a resolution. Amazon simply does not give a S*** about small independent authors! Utterly disgusting customer service! – Nick

No help – The wrong coloring. No help with getting the refund for the books I ordered. No help. 50 books ordered and they are all different shades. – Caliatra Riesterer

Absolute scam and terrible customer service … – I don’t know why it’s so hard for amazon to have book customer service when they do billions of packages just fine but can’t figure out how to help authors? Literally have wasted over 2 hours for 5 different people not able to tell me why the book is printing differently than preview by wide margin and colors are terrible. – Pissed off

Better Business Bureau

There are countless detailed complaints about Amazon KDP on the Better Business Bureau website. Many of those are from authors whose accounts were closed, and who didn’t receive their royalties.

ComplaintsBoard.com

Authors: beware. – Once your books are trapped in KDP’s back-end system, escape is nearly impossible. – As a published author and small-press publisher, I am appalled by how Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) system treats independent authors. For over a month, I’ve been caught in a bureaucratic maze—blocked from managing or transferring the books I wrote, published, and hold full rights to. – Jeff Mark P.

Amazon KDP’s Author Forum

– Below are excerpts from the complaints. Click on each link to read each one in its entirety.

Print Production Discrepancy/ Poor Quality and Customer Service – The second order had only three books correctly printed, and 22 of the books were not. KDP has reneged on the original emails sent from Senior Analysts/ Supervisors regarding this matter. Now they are not taking responsibility for the lack of quality control that was not carried out with the fulfillment center. This has costs time, resources, my book launch, emotional distress, an inability to provide quality work to those who have made an investment, and so much more to me as a first time author. – KDPMember:KDNRQba00cb796e 

FURIOUS AT KDP INEPTNESS – SO, I have edited my book which has been live for a few years. The 2nd edition Kindle version has been live for a few weeks, but I have held off letting the paperback go live until I have read and checked the AUTHOR PROOF COPIES which have been ordered but what they are sending me is the badly printed 1st addition….$29 wasted. Their mistake. Tried to contact customer service…and they terminated the call. I know it’s not the call handler’s fault. AMAZON, I want my $27.49 refunded for YOUR MISTAKE and the correct 2nd edition AUTHOR PROOF copy sent ASAP. – KDPMember:FW6FQ59cbdd6cd8

Quality control issues – I just went through my “author’s copy” of my paperback and it is literally falling apart. It was printed in Las Vegas if that helps. About every third page just falls out of the book as you turn the page…and there has been NO aggressive page turning. Who needs to hear this? What can be done? Anyone buying this book would be furious and guess who that anger will be aimed at. Just appalling. – KDPMember:ZBIFQ191e22eeb7

Please help! – Calling KDPSAM, my account has been accidentally terminated after twenty years selling children’s books on Amazon. My account was closed in error. I’ve lost twenty years of children’s books. I haven’t even received an email explaining why, so I can appeal. – Mark Andrew Watson

There are THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS more complaints on their forum!

PissedConsumer.org

Amazon KDP Terminated Me Over Nonsense — Here’s the Truth – Let me be real: Amazon KDP doesn’t give a damn about your creativity or your work. Their customer service? Useless. You;re just a number to them and unless you’re making them money, you’re disposable. – Joseph G Qpx .

TERMINATED ACCOUNT – STOLEN ROYALTIES – DO NOT USE KDP! – I always heard the horror stories about authors losing their KDP accounts, but I felt safe because I meticulously followed all the rules and guidelines. Imagine my shock when I received an email stating my account had been terminated and my royalties would be withheld – an outright act of stealing! – Dont use K .

Account terminated for no reason – Stolen royalties – I am extremely frustrated with my experience using Amazon KDP, as my account was inexplicably terminated with no clear explanation provided, just a template email filled with jargon that made no sense whatsoever. To add insult to injury, they have withheld my royalties, which feels like nothing less than a fancy way of stealing my hard-earned money. It’s disheartening to invest time and effort into your work only to have it taken away without justification or proper communication. I would advise anyone considering Amazon KDP to think twice. – Felissa Jnm

Horrible service, unreachable – I’ve never experienced more unprofessional from such a large company in my life.. The worse customer service ever. – Carolle Ljo

There are LOTS more complaints about them on PissedConsumer.org as well!

RELATED

• And, Even More SCATHING Complaints about Amazon KDP!
• And, Even MORE Complaints about Amazon KDP!
• MORE AMAZON KDP COMPLAINTS! – Why Complain When You Can DO Something About It?
• Amazon KDP Terminates ANOTHER Author’s Account, AND Keeps Her Royalties!
• Authors Are Moving to BookLocker After Amazon KDP Randomly Terminated Their Accounts
• MORE AMAZON KDP COMPLAINTS! Poor print quality, incorrect sales reporting, dismissive customer service reps, and more!

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