OakLeaf Systems: Second Rejection of OakLeaf’s Microsoft Store Account by the Seller Dashboard Team

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Second Rejection of OakLeaf’s Microsoft Store Account by the Seller Dashboard Team

Update 9/21/2013: See my OakLeaf’s Microsoft Store Account Finally Approved by the Seller Dashboard Team post of 9/21/2013 for the resolution of the Windows Store seller account issue.

Update 9/18/2013: At 12:18 PM PDT, I received the third, identical “Microsoft Seller Dashboard: Changes recommended for your account” message from what appears to be an autoresponder.

In 2012, I applied for a Windows Store developer account for OakLeaf Systems, which is my sole proprietorship, in conjunction with my Windows Azure Mobile Services Preview Walkthrough–Part 4: Customizing the Windows Store App’s UI post of September 15, 2012.

On 9/12/2013, almost a year later (to the day), I received a message titled “Confirmation of cancellation of Windows Store developer account annual registration” from MSFT *DEVELOPER billing@microsoft.com, which contained the following:

Dear Roger Jennings,

This mail is confirmation that your subscription to Windows Store developer account annual registration has been cancelled on Friday, September 13, 2013.

To reach Customer Support, go to https://commerce.microsoft.com, select 'help', click 'Getting help' and then click 'Contact Customer Support'.

Thank you for using Microsoft Online Services.

Microsoft Customer Support

Note: Please do not respond to this message.

To receive notifications at a different email address, sign in to your account at https://commerce.microsoft.com, select 'profile', then click 'edit profile', change the 'Email', and click 'Save'.
For more information on online safety visit http://www.microsoft.com/phishing.

Microsoft respects your privacy, to learn more, please read our online privacy statement at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=74170
Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052
2929 N Central Avenue
Suite 1400
Phoenix, AZ 85012

Form: 22

I received no prior warning that cancelation was imminent.

Before I had a chance to reply, I received the following “Microsoft Seller Dashboard: Changes recommended for your account” message from Microsoft’s Seller Dashboard Team. This was the first message about problems with my account since I applied for it. Following is the message body:

Changes recommended for your account

We have reviewed your account in the Microsoft Seller Dashboard, and in its current form, your account is not approved.
In order to be approved, please follow these steps to make the recommended changes:

Sign in to the Seller Dashboard with your Microsoft account.

Click the ACCOUNT tab.

Under manage, your account status appears next to STATUS.

Click download report, edit your account to make the changes, and then click SUBMIT FOR APPROVAL.

Sincerely,
Seller Dashboard Team
Note: This message was sent from an unmonitored email address. Please do not reply to this message. If you have questions or need help, please see Seller Dashboard Help.

Step 1 of the instructions opened the following page:

Clicking the Update Account Information link opened the following page, the top part of which is shown here:

Clicking the View Report link under the Changes Requested displayed the following error message:

So I followed the instructions, returned to the preceding page and clicked the blue Edit Account button to open this page:

And clicked Next as requested:

I made a few minor edits and clicked Submit as instructed.

There was no indication of what items caused the Seller Dashboard Team’s concern in the preceding screens.

On 9/14/2013 I received this “Microsoft Seller Dashboard: Account Changes Under Review” message from Microsoft’s Seller Dashboard Team:

Account changes under review

Thank you for updating your account in the Microsoft Seller Dashboard. Your account is under review, and you will be notified if it is approved, or if there are recommended changes for account approval.
While your account is under review, you can:

Add and edit apps.

Add or update payout information. If you want to list your apps for purchase, you need to provide payout information. If you want to list your apps as free, then payout information is not required.

For more information, see Add Apps in the Microsoft Seller Dashboard. Please note that while your account is under review, you will not be able to make changes to your account.
Sincerely,
Seller Dashboard Team
Note: This message was sent from an unmonitored email address. Please do not reply to this message. If you have questions or need help, please see Seller Dashboard Help.

On 9/16/2013 I received a “Microsoft Seller Dashboard: Changes recommended for your account” message that was identical to the first one. Following the same steps, I remained unable to find any indication of what was wrong, so I resubmitted the original version.

Approximately an hour later, I received a second “Microsoft Seller Dashboard: Account Changes Under Review” message.

Update 9/18/2013: At 12:18 PM PDT, I received the third, identical “Microsoft Seller Dashboard: Changes recommended for your account” message from what appears to be an autoresponder.

I will update this post for subsequent events, as they occur.

To paraphrase Casey Jones, “This is a helluva way to run a ~~railroad~~ program intended to induce developers to support a struggling software platform.”