A suspended Amazon account can drastically harm your business. Although, Amazon does provide you the chance to appeal, getting your account reinstated can be stressful and difficult. We take you through what to do if your account is suspended and offer some important advice on how to appeal.
Quick View
- Types of Amazon Account Suspension
- Reasons for Amazon Account Suspension
- Appealing your suspension
- Wrap Up
Types of Amazon Account Suspension
Account Suspension
Your access to your account is terminated if it is suspended. All of your company operations will consequently be put on hold. Contacting Amazon to find out the cause of the suspension is the first step in having your account reinstated. Usually, it happens as a result of an inadvertent policy violation, but there might not always be a valid explanation. However, You have to approach them first and plan a course of action to reclaim access to your account after that.
Account Deactivation
Outright suspension and this are quite similar and often happen when the questioned account is linked to a suspended account. It can be the consequence of a breach of policy or an error on Amazon’s side. Your Amazon seller account may be deactivated if you create multiple accounts, but do not worry if your account gets deactivated. Simply get in touch with Amazon to find out the reason for the deactivation, then submit an appeal within 90 days.
Account Denial
Your account gets denied only after it has been suspended and your request to have it reinstated has been declined. No seller wants to deal with this type of suspension but if you find yourself in this situation, do not give up. Instead, plan a more effective course of action and try again.
Account Ban
This is the most serious kind of suspension since there is no possibility of reinstatement. If your account is banned, you will not be allowed to sell on Amazon anymore.
Reasons for Amazon Account Suspension
You will receive an email notification if your Amazon account is suspended, and you will not be able to sell on Amazon until the suspension is removed. Account suspensions occur when you either fall short of Amazon’s performance requirements for sellers or violate one of their selling policies.
Item Not As Described
Before you list your item, double-verify the item’s condition, model number (if applicable), color, UPC code, ASIN, and quantity. If a buyer complains about your product, Amazon can suspend your account. At first, they will close your listing and if it happens more than once, Amazon will suspend your account.
Poor Seller Performance
Amazon places a high focus on quality, which is why they have been so successful and customers continue to have trust in them.
Amazon tracks the success of its sellers using several metrics and performance indicators. Late shipments, order cancellation rates, order failure rates, and unfavorable reviews are just a few examples of these metrics. It is suggested that sellers keep their order defect rate below 1%.
Copyright Infringement
When selling on Amazon, copyrights and trademarks play a significant role. You face the danger of having your Amazon account suspended if you sell counterfeit items, use false trademarks, or infringe other sellers’ copyrights.
Additionally, you risk getting in trouble if you produce promotional material that violates the intellectual property of another seller.
Sending Hazmat to FBA
Amazon forbids hazmat items and does not keep them in their facilities. Any seller sending hazardous materials to FBA will have their listing instantly closed, and all of their stock will be destroyed by Amazon. Amazon will give you one warning, but breaking this rule twice will definitely result in the suspension of your Amazon Seller account.
Getting Paid Reviews
Asking for reviews from Facebook groups or any other review provider business is not appropriate. This is a big NO, and when Amazon finds out, those reviews will be removed. There are some sellers who have got their accounts suspended already.
Having Multiple Accounts
It is forbidden for sellers to open more than one account under one name or the same household. If you need an additional account for any reason, you must inform Amazon of your requirement and obtain their permission.
Price Fixing
Sometimes it might be upsetting to see a competitor seller drop their pricing in order to win the buy box. All of the sellers on that listing end up losing money as a result but you are not allowed to send a message to any seller to fix the price. Otherwise, the next thing you hear would be “Amazon Seller account suspended.”
Contacting Customers Outside Amazon
Customers’ emails are always hidden by Amazon, and they encourage sellers only to use Amazon emails for communication. Some retailers provide inserts with their products and request reviews, sell them add-ons, or direct customers to their own websites. Amazon does not like this and as a result, they may suspend your account.
Appealing your suspension
A suspension appeal may be submitted in only five easy steps, therefore it is not difficult to complete. Making a plan of action is the most crucial and time-consuming step in the appeal process, but everything else can be completed in a short amount of time.
Send an appeal to Amazon by following the procedures listed below:
- Understand the rationale behind Amazon suspending your account.
- Produce a plan of action (POA). If you want to increase your chances of being reinstated, you might need to learn how to write an Amazon POA.
- Go to Seller Central and click “Performance Alerts” from the “Performance” tab after creating your POA.
- Then, on the email you received notifying you that your Amazon account has been suspended, click on Appeal. You will have a few options for sending your appeal, pick your preferred one.
- Enter your Plan of Action and your contact information so that the relevant authorities can get in touch with you if they need further information.
- Click the “Submit” button.
- Wait for your appeal to be reviewed by the Amazon Seller Performance team.
You will need to wait for Amazon’s verdict after filing your suspension appeal. They will either decide to end the suspension or reject your appeal. You must exercise patience because it might take them weeks or even months to respond.
Wrap Up
The best way to avoid being suspended on Amazon is to be fully aware of the regulations and to abide by them. Amazon itself is the ideal place to start learning. You can find all the information you need to prevent suspensions on the Seller Code of Conduct page on Amazon. After that, check your metrics’ current status on the Performance > Account Health page.
Has your account been suspended or has a suppressed ASIN been issued to you? Comment below and share what you did to get reinstated.