Amazon Seller Account Suspension? Right? Well, it doesn’t matter how it went down.
The Amazon account suspension has left you worried, and you are eager to find a way to resolve the issue, but can’t seem to find an appropriate source.
Getting back into your Amazon account can be challenging, however, our expert team can help you restore your Amazon account if it has been suspended.
The crucial thing is that one should be aware of such situations, well prepared to deal with them, and also know how to deal with them. Keeping that in mind, we have come up with a step-by-step guide to help you handle the situation on your end in a timely manner once you have your “Amazon account suspended”.
The following are the topics we will be discussing:
- Amazon account suspension – What does it mean?
- Types of Amazon account suspension?
- Different stages of Amazon account suspension
- Possible reasons for Amazon account suspension
- How do you proceed when you get your Amazon account suspended?
- How to avoid it?
- How long does an Amazon suspension last?
- What are your options for appealing your suspension?
- Element(s) of an effective appeal
- How can our team assist you?
- FAQs regarding Amazon account suspended.
Let’s begin with a scenario related to Amazon account suspension. Consider the case of a seller on Amazon who has a decent performance record. He logs into his account the next morning to browse through his emails when suddenly he receives an email that catches him by surprise.
Short and simple, the email body simply conveys the following message:
“Your Amazon account has been suspended”.
There is no doubt that the suspension of an Amazon account will cause sellers a lot of stress, frustration, as well as financial strain because they stand to lose money.
This is bad news, but now what? Is it time for you to pack up and leave this astounding world of online retail?
No, it isn’t the end. It is possible for you to resolve the Amazon account suspension on your own by following the guide we will be sharing in this article or you can seek professional help, which will save you a tremendous amount of time and get you back on track.
Aside from that, being prepared for an unforeseen Amazon account suspension plays a significant role in the success of an Amazon marketing campaign. So without any further ado, let’s dig into it.
What Does Amazon Account Suspension Mean?
One of a seller’s greatest fears is possibly having their Amazon account suspended. Simply put, an Amazon account suspension means that your selling privileges on Amazon are revoked.
An Amazon account suspension takes place when Amazon suspends the selling rights of an Amazon seller if it believes the seller violated the company’s terms & conditions.
While this process is in progress, Amazon shoppers will not be able to view your product listings. In essence, your Amazon account ends to exist, but do not despair, as you can file an appeal for the suspension to be lifted, bringing your account back to life.
Sellers are always notified when their accounts are suspended by Amazon. Depending on which type of suspension your account has been placed under, your appeal can be planned based on that.
Normally, sellers are subject to deal with 2 different kinds of account suspensions from Amazon under different circumstances.
The two types of suspensions are as follows:
- Account suspension: An account suspension can be quite severe, leading to the closure of a seller’s Amazon account, which in turn disables their selling capabilities within this marketplace.
- Listing suspension: Listing suspension takes place when one or more of the product listings associated with a seller are taken down for whatever reason.
When your account is suspended, one of the devastating consequences is that you are still responsible for your storage costs, supplier fees, or even your employees’ wages.
Despite the fact that your accounts cannot be used for sale during this period, on top of Amazon’s Fulfillment by Amazon, you’ll still be responsible for the cost of warehouse operations as long as the problem persists.
Types of Amazon Account Suspension
The suspension of an Amazon account can take different forms. The main four are as follows:
- Suspended
- Deactivated
- Denied
- Banned
Amazon Account Suspended
When an account is suspended on Amazon, it can no longer be used. After that, you must contact Amazon in order to figure out what went wrong, as there may be an unintentional slip-up or sometimes no valid reason for the issue. When you discover the reason for the problem, however, it is imperative that you come up with a plan of action that you can take with Amazon so that you can resolve the issue and get your account back up and running.
Amazon Account Deactivated
Upon deactivation of your Amazon seller account, you will no longer be able to sell on Amazon. In this case as well, whether it be an infraction of its policy or an honest mistake by Amazon, communication between the two must occur and a 90-day appeal procedure must be followed.
This happens when two accounts are linked to one that was previously prohibited from using the Amazon services.
Amazon Account Denial
This sort of denial is harder to fight, as it occurs after you have submitted a reinstatement request or appeal to Amazon, which has been denied. Even so, you still have time to make changes and submit again a detailed plan of action.
Amazon Account Ban
There is no appeal process for suspensions at this level, as there are no appeal rights. Amazon will immediately remove your ability to sell, as well as any letters of appeal that you may send to Amazon following the suspension won’t be read by Amazon either.
A Stage-by-Stage Breakdown of Amazon Account Suspension
There are very rare cases where Amazon does not take such drastic measures regarding the suspension of an account. Suspension of an account happens in 3 stages in the following order:
Stage #1 – Suspension-
It is possible that if you are fortunate, for example, if you commit a less serious offense, you may receive a warning at the very least, detailing the offending ASIN(s) and the reasons why the warning was issued. Luckily, you can get your suspension lifted if you send a suspension appeal letter to Amazon as soon as possible.
Stage #2 – Denial-
In this case, Amazon will respond to your appeal in the event that it fails to satisfy them. Retry your attempt, taking care to ensure the email outlines your plan of action.
Stage #3 – Banned-
As long as you follow the same plan of action Amazon rejected, you will be permanently banned from Amazon’s marketplace. Furthermore, a ban may also occur if you shoot Amazon an angry email or use an emotional tone when writing an appeal letter to Amazon.
Possible Reasons For Amazon Account Suspension
Reason #1-
You have violated Amazon’s terms of service-
The policies set forth by Amazon are followed to ensure a fair, safe, and secure shopping experience for its customers. Account suspension will result when any of these policies are violated.
As part of these rules, you must represent yourself effectively, adhere to your purchase or sale commitments, do not have more than one seller’s account, do not violate the intellectual property rights of another seller, as well as many more.
Therefore, becoming familiar with the rules that are in place is imperative so as to avoid unintentional infractions.
Reason #2 –
Poor performance as a seller-
It is a well-known fact that Amazon is infatuated with the shoppers, which is why they go the extra mile to ensure that every seller fulfills the shoppers’ needs to the best of their ability, and without compromising their commercial interests.
Failure to meet Amazon’s performance standards can result in the suspension of sellers on Amazon, who are evaluated using the following metrics:
- Order Defect Rate (ODR) – is a metric that measures the number of orders that fail to meet requirements and ends with a negative review, with A-to-Z Guarantee claims, or a service card chargeback. It is Amazon’s recommendation for sellers to keep an ODR of less than 1% so as not to be suspended.
- Pre-fulfillment Rate – is a measurement that represents how many cancellations are carried out by the seller prior to shipment compared to the total volume of orders during the specified time period. Inadequate inventory management can result in high cancellation rates prior to fulfillment. It is recommended by Amazon that sellers avoid suspension by maintaining a cancellation rate of less than 2.5%.
- Late Shipment Rate – is a measurement that represents order volumes confirmed to ship after a particular shipping date divided by all the orders placed over the relevant period. A large number of late deliveries which aren’t backed up with a shipping date aren’t trackable.
Reason #3 –
You have more than one Amazon seller account-
Having more than one account is not allowed for a seller that sells the same type of goods, as it is considered a violation of policy.
If you wish to do so, you must submit an approval request to Amazon via email, otherwise you risk having your Amazon account suspended.
The second thing you need to remember is that you shouldn’t set up a new seller account as soon as your account has been suspended. We understand, as sellers, your eagerness to sell on Amazon again, yet creating a new Amazon account would be problematic in regards to reactivating the old one.
Likewise, Amazon will suspend a new account as soon as they become aware of it, which is why it is best to avoid doing this.
Reason #4 –
Illegal or prohibited goods
In the event you’re selling fake, illegal or prohibited goods, products that are deceptively claimed to be new but are in fact old or used, or even sell prohibited items, Amazon has legal grounds to terminate your account.
Even if you don’t sell these goods or otherwise are not guilty of the offence, it is possible to lose (suspended) your account when Amazon believes you are selling counterfeit products.
There are many resources available on the internet where you can review the list of their restricted products.
How do you proceed when you get your Amazon Seller Account Suspension?
It’s important to remember that Amazon is the largest e-commerce company in the world, so you must treat them as such. Swearing, blaming others, sending photos of children with sorrowful faces, or requesting a graveyard battle does not work.
The moment you receive an email from Amazon notifying you of your account suspension, the first thing you should do is submit to Amazon what is known as a “Plan of Action (POA)”.
For those of you who are wondering what’s Plan of action, allow me to explain it in a few words.
A plan of action resembles a letter of appeal submitted by email to Amazon Seller Performance. Amazon provides sellers with 90 days to respond via email. The submission of an appeal does not ensure the reinstatement of seller privileges, but Amazon promises to carefully consider each appeal. It is imperative for sellers to give their initial submission a lot of thought since it is not guaranteed that they will be permitted to make a second amendment.
What you need to do to appeal your suspension
If you are suspended from Amazon even after you have done your best, carefully review your accounts and take note of ASIN(s) that have previously been warned.
Take the time to carefully review the notice of suspension to determine which of the rules you violated, such as checking Amazon’s policies and agreements, as well as checking the metrics in your seller central account. In order to find out more about your suspension, you might consider opening a support ticket for further details.
As part of your action plan, make sure to include:
- What caused your product listings to be complained about.
- To fix the issue, what is your immediate rectification plan.
- Your long-term planning for preventing future problems.
As soon as your plan of action is submitted, Amazon may reach out to you, seeking additional info or the information you have already provided. Although it sounds like a tedious process, there is a belief that an artificial intelligence system filters search appeals according to specific key phrases before they are forwarded to an Amazon employee.
For that reason, if Amazon actual agent asks you the same question, you’ll likely need to reword it so that you can provide additional documentation to support your claim.
Let me be clear with that again – it is in no way guaranteed that your first appeal will be considered by Amazon. As a matter of fact, trying different things during the appeal process can only slow down the appeal process, as Amazon seller performance is focused on communication with you only and will not respond well to criticism of their procedures.
How to create a meaningful plan of action (POA)
There is no rigid formula to outline the steps you will take to resolve the problem, as the steps you take will vary depending on the specific problem you are facing.
That being said, here are some general tips you should consider as you list the actions for your appeal:
Don’t be vague –
Your appeal should be direct, addressing the issues concisely and fully so that all relevant details are covered. Put together a solution plan that specifies exactly what you will do to solve the issue.
Keep it short –
Stick to the KISS principle, which is keep it short and simple principle in your appeal writing. Thousands of accounts are suspended every day by the seller performance team, and the team has a very limited amount of time to consider each appeal. Therefore, a better approach is to devote some time to composing an effective appeal.
Keep emotions at bay –
It may be hard to refrain from writing a heartfelt plan of action letter of apology, especially when you receive an email asking you to explain the suspension. Nevertheless, you should rise above your emotions, writing a persuasive appeal that includes concrete steps you intend to take.
Do not retaliate –
You would be better served by acknowledging the mistakes you have been accused of rather than attempting to prove that you are the victim of a wrongful accusation. An effective way to restore your account involves highlighting the problem as well as the key steps you intend to take in your plan of action (POA).
Ensure that you are prepared to receive a response from them following the submission of your plan. Amazon promises sellers that they will get a response within 48 hours of their decision, however there is a possibility of few complicated cases taking up to two months to receive feedback.
You should wait for them to respond rather than bombarding them with emails, as it may unnecessarily damage your case.
The consequences of being banned from Amazon can be grave, which is why you should be aware of its strict policies and refrain from unethical behavior. In such delicate situations, it would be advisable to seek assistance from an Amazon seller account suspension expert who possesses better knowledge and experience to draft the best plan of Action to get you back on track as quickly as possible.
How Can We Help You?
Our team of professionals is a group of proficient individuals who have helped many clients transition successfully from a suspended Amazon account to a up and running Amazon account.
We are capable of writing a comprehensive plan of action that will work in your account suspension case.
