Amazon Seller Account Suspension

What is Amazon Seller Account Suspension

There are different levels or kinds of account suspension on Amazon.

1)???Account Suspended: -

If your Amazon Seller account is suspended, it means it is unserviceable. You will then need to get in touch with Amazon to ascertain the reasons behind it because you may have unintentionally done something wrong or sometimes there may not even be a substantial reason. However, once you find out the reasons, you must then propose a Plan of Action to Amazon to rectify the situation and have your account reinstated.

2)???Account Deactivated: -

If your Amazon Seller account is deactivated, you will be prohibited from continuing your selling activities. Here too, whether it’s a violation of policies or whether you think it’s a mistake on Amazon’s part, it is necessary to communicate with Amazon and you must ensure you file an appeal with them within 90 days. This usually occurs when one account is associated with another that has already been restricted from operating on Amazon.

?3)???Account Denial: -

The Denial kind is a tough spot to be in because it’s when you have already filed an appeal to Amazon for reinstatement, and it has been rejected. However, there is still some room for you to reform and resubmit your Plan of Action.

4)???Account Ban: -

This level of suspension doesn’t entail any provision for appeal. You will no longer be able to sell on Amazon and any appeal emails you send will also not even be read by Amazon.

Why Your Amazon Seller Account is Suspended

Here are some of the things that you should be avoided to prevent Amazon Seller Account being suspended.

1)???Item Not as Described: -

While creating your product listing make sure to double check condition of the item, model number (if applicable), color, UPC code, ASIN, quantity and read product listing before you list your item.

Amazon can suspend your account if customer complaints about your item. They will close your listing at first. If happened more than once Amazon will suspend your account.

Same goes for Private Label sellers, always double check what information you are entering in the product listing.

2)???Order Defect Rate / Poor Customer Service Score: -

If your order defect rate is more than 1 percent, then your account will go under review. Seller performance will review your account and most likely to get suspended.

Quality is the main priority of Amazon and this is the reason that they have been so successful and customers can retain their trust on this company.

If you are inspecting your shipments and not selling electronics or any other high risk products, you should be fine. If you need help with product inspection in China, you can reach out to Asia Inspection.

The performance target score of sellers are on the following metrics:

Order defect rate: <1%

Pre-fulfilment cancel rate: <2.5%

Late Shipment Rate: <4%

If any of the following metrics are not fulfilled, then Amazon considers a bad customer service performance and with a performance notification suspends the account. To further reactivate the account, a seller has to contact Amazon seller performance team via mail to get the selling rights back.

3)???Not Having Invoices: -

For some reason, Amazon loves to get invoices from their sellers. In many cases amazon will ask for invoices from you. Most common are lost shipment and proving authenticity of your product.

If customers’ complaints about authenticity of your product more than once, your listing will be shut down at once. On failure to provide invoices. you may receive a notification of “Amazon Seller Account Suspended.”

4)???Copyright Infringement Issues: -

Stealing another seller’s photos, selling trademark or patented products can easily put you in trouble.

I see many sellers stealing photos from google or Alibaba and not knowing that they can get their account suspended just for stealing.

Always hire someone from fiverr or upwork if don’t know how to do a patent search.

Yes, Amazon will give you a warning first but doing it more than is an invitation to account suspension.

5)???Sending Hazmat To Fba: -

Hazmat products are banned by amazon and they do not store them in their warehouses. If they find any seller sending Hazmat products to FBA, they will immediately close their listing and destroy all the inventory.

You will receive one warning from amazon but violating this policy twice will surely get your Amazon Seller account suspended.

Always check Hazmat product policies.

?6)???Getting Paid Reviews: -

Recently getting paid reviews from Facebook groups are in trend. But trust me this is not going to last forever. There are some sellers in my knowledge who have got their accounts suspended already.

Do not ask anyone for reviews from Facebook groups or any other review provider company. This is big NO and amazon will eventually find out and remove those reviews.

You can ask for honest reviews but you are not supposed to pay them back or any other incentives.

Some sellers are doing review exchanges with each other but this is also not going to last forever.

7)???Having Multiple Amazon Seller Accounts: -

Sellers are not supposed to open more than one account under one name or same household. In case if you need an extra account, you have to provide a valid reason to amazon and get permission for that.

Do not try outsmart amazon with ghost accounts, they can track IP address and MAC address of your device.

8)???Price Fixing: -

It could be frustrating sometimes when your competitor seller is reducing price and winning buy box. This ends up losing money for all sellers on that listing but never send message to any seller to fix price. Otherwise, the next thing you hear would be “Amazon Seller account suspended”

In this case, you can match price bear loss or wait until that seller runs out stock. Many sellers get frustrated and send messages to fix price.

9)???Contacting Customers Outside Amazon Platform: -

Amazon always hide emails of their customers and they encourage sellers to communicate only through amazon emails. Do not try to send any message outside amazon. Customer’s phone number is provided but that is only for shipping purposes.

Some sellers add inserts with their product and ask for reviews or sell them add on or they direct customers to their own website. Amazon does not like this and can suspend your account.

?10)? Fulfillment By Merchant Problems: -

If you are not using FBA, then you do have more things to look at

LATE SHIPMENTS

SHIPMENT NOT RECEIVED

CANCELLING ORDERS

REFUNDS AND RETURNS

These are some of the examples which you need to keep in mind while selling as a merchant. Sometimes dishonest buyers can file a claim to get money back but they do not understand that how much seller is dependent on this. That claim can end up costing you your seller account.

11)? Amazon Seller Account Hackers: -

Many Amazon seller account suspensions are often the result of hacking of the seller account. There has been an increase in cases where seller accounts are hacked & bank account information is changed, and funds are transferred to the hacker’s account. In such cases, Amazon suspends the account on their own if they notice the suspicious activity and puts the fund on hold. This is done so that the seller does not suffer any payment loss and once the issue of hacking is resolved, the suspension is removed from the account, and the seller is given the selling rights again.

12)???Sale Of Restricted Products: -

Amazon restricts the sales of a certain type of products in the marketplace. Amazon’s policy states that “The sale of illegal, unsafe, or other restricted products listed on these pages, including products available only by prescription, is strictly prohibited.” Amazon has also provided a list of the restricted items which cannot be sold on the marketplace. Also, sellers participating in FBA should review the FBA product restriction page which shows the list of products which are not eligible for FBA selling.

Link: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/help.html?itemID=200164330&language=en-US&ref=mpbc_200277040_cont_200164330

Note: The above link has taken from Amazon for reference purpose.

13)???Inauthentic Complaints: -

Inauthentic complaints are the most common type of account suspension faced by Amazon sellers. As told by Amazon, they take product authenticity complaints very seriously and so when some buyers make baseless complaints about their purchase, Amazon often suspends the seller account with one or more claims of buyers without any prior intimation to the seller.

14)???Invalid Credit Card: -

There are a lot of instances where your account is suspended because of the Credit card issues. Some of the problems faced related to the credit card are:

-????????Update the credit card information

-????????Payment failure or Invalid card

After receiving performance notification for updating your card information or to enter new card information Amazon suspends the account till they receive the information for the same.

15)???Taxation Changes: -

Sellers should be aware of the constantly changing taxation policies. These policies differ country wise and if sellers are not alert, their accounts can get suspended. Recently in Germany, it is mandatory for VAT registered businesses to provide further confirmation to marketplaces such as Amazon. German authorities have made a clear statement that every account will be reviewed to spot any early registration date.

Note: Since Jan 1st, 2019 it’s mandatory for all businesses in Germany to register for VAT.

16)????Entering False Information: -

The biggest reason for the Amazon account suspension is entering false information. Sometimes new sellers enter incorrect information while creating their seller account on Amazon. It may include a fake name, shipping address, or wrong billing address. There are multiple ways to verify whether the provided information is authentic or counterfeit.

Amazon can verify the given information with the help of your credit or debit card. Amazon cross-verifies your name, shipping, & billing address with your credit or debit card information when you enter your billing details. If your data is mismatched or something is found suspicious, Amazon will probably suspend your account. Amazon does this to prevent online fraud & ensure customer trust.

?17)??Different Ip Addresses Login: -

When you log in to your Amazon account in different places, you use separate IP addresses. So, there may be a possibility that Amazon will assume your account has been hacked. In this case, Amazon can suspend or deactivate your account.

18)???Poor Conversation & Delay Responses: -

Poor conversation and delayed responses can also harm your seller account. Providing poor customer service can lead to warnings & frequently doing that makes your account suspended. Talking in an argumentative manner with customers & not being able to convert conversation into sales shows that you are not responding well.

19)????Selling Without Certifications: -

Some items on Amazon need proper licenses & certifications to sell it online, including medicines, chemicals & many more. Moreover, selling these items without any legislation letter or certificate leads to account suspension.

You can appeal to Amazon to reactivate your account by providing the related legislative certificates if it happens to your account.

20)????Promotional Phrases & Links:-

Adding any promotional phrases or links in your product listing is prohibited on Amazon. Don’t include any promotional term, for example, No 1 Seller on Amazon, Best Seller on Amazon, etc., in your images or product description.