How to Get Suspended Amazon Account Back?

Has your Amazon Account been suspended recently?

People are used to buying it blindly from Amazon because they know that Amazon will always bend over back to keep them glad. It goes without saying that if the customer comes first, this automatically puts sellers afterward in line (or last).

In other words, if there was ever a challenge that forced Amazon to select between a customer and an Amazon seller, the Amazon seller will taste the dust almost every single time.

Thus, back to the issue at hand, Your Amazon seller account’s suspension. This post is meant to be a complete guide to suspensions. I’ll primarily lay out the different “types” of suspensions for you.

Then, I’ll break down a step-by-step approach to confidently getting your account reinstated. Once that is done, I’ll cover things you can do to attempt and stay on Amazon’s good side moving forward, so you can reduce the risk of further issues. This post will also refer to real-life circumstances where a seller got suspended and was able to get their account reinstated.

Alright, then. Let’s begin.

Suspended, Denied or Banned!!!

With Amazon, these terms aren’t actually used interchangeably. Each one is a special case and is used in a particular situation.

Suspended

This is the primary “step” among those three terms. When you get suspended, it means that Amazon has canceled your ability to sell on the platform. Your current listings are not openly visible and you clearly cannot publish new ones. When you’re informed of a suspension, you’re usually given an extensive reason and are allowed to “appeal” the decision.

Denied

This takes place after you submit an appeal to a suspension. It essentially means that you failed to persuade the Amazon Seller Performance Team (we’ll call it ASPT) rep that you knew the problem, have taken liability for it and have taken or are planning to take corrective measures to make sure it does not takes place again. This is not the end of the road, though, as you’re permitted to submit multiple appeals.

Banned

This is generally believed the end of the road and it takes place after submitting numerous appeals that constantly fail to win the ASPT over. In this situation, they generally send you a strong-worded “bye bye” email that ends in something along the lines of “We may not respond to further emails about this matter.” which really is just a well-mannered method of saying that they’re done wasting time with you.

Step 1: Investigating the Reasons behind the Suspension

There are four main categories for the causes that could lead to an account suspension:

• Poor Performance.
• “Seller Code of Conduct” Violation.
• Amazon Restricted-Product Rules Violation.
• The “Unspoken Rules”.
• Let’s crack them down.

Poor Performance

Amazon tracks three main criteria in this area and offers suggestions as to what your numbers must look like to prevent suspensions or at least analysis. No good can ever come from the Seller Performance team snooping around inside your account, even if they don’t choose to suspend you.

Thus the three criteria are,

• Order Defect Rate (below 1%).
• Late Shipment Rate (below 4%).
• Pre-fulfillment Cancellation Rate (below 2.5%)

These are clearly all percentages. The initial one Order Defect Rate “ODR”, relates to the percentage of the chargeback, negative ratings (1 and 2 stars) or A-Z guarantee claims. High ODR percentages generally signify product quality issues or a description-item mismatch. For example, claiming features that don’t exist or don’t function as explained, or raising the buyer’s expectations in the description and images then under-delivering on the promises.

The Late Shipment Rate “LSR” is considered by dividing the number of shipments that are confirmed to be “shipped” after their ship date by the total number of orders. Amazon customers are familiar to super fast shipping, particularly with Amazon Prime’s one and two-day shipping options spoiling them. Items that are confirmed shipped after their ship date also cannot be tracked, which can cause a lot of customer sorrow. This is why Amazon does not negotiate on this.

A relatively simple way to solve this issue if you’re struggling with it is to use FBA or Fulfillment by Amazon so that you save yourself the annoyance of fulfilling the orders yourself and leave it completely to Amazon.

Ultimately, the Prefulfilment Cancellation Rate “PCR”. This is measured by dividing the number of orders canceled by the seller before confirming shipment by the number of total orders in that period. Order cancellations are annoying because customers generally “set and forget” Amazon orders and just wait for delivery.

Cancellations can be very much awkward because the customer may require to re-order from another seller, plus the added nuisance of the time taken for the refund to reflect on their card, and the time they devastated ordering from you.

The Seller Code of Conduct

Amazon’s selling policies & seller’s code of conduct are 7 principles (as of writing this) that all sellers must adhere to. The principles are deliberately very wide to cover a lot of situations, so it’s safe to say that there are thousands of “unspoken” rules that could lead to a suspension.

Among the 7 principles, as per the Amazon help article, are “adhere to all applicable laws and stand by all Amazon policies”, “keep your account information current”, “never misrepresent yourself”, “act practically at all times”.

As you can see, these “principles” are too large that they sound like the type of advice your parents give you during elementary school. That is a tad scary because it gives Amazon a lot of authority and flexibility with their “banning options”.

Amazon Restricted-Product Rules Violation

Amazon currently has above 35-restricted product categories. Selling in each of these categories may have its own division of rules, similar to a pre-approval requirement from Amazon. Violating these rules is an exact cause for account suspension.

Step 1: The Unspoken Rules

By now it must already be clear to you which of the rules you had violated that is the reason for your suspension. You could piece together information from the emails they delivered you as well as your notifications in seller central and the content this blog post has covered so far.

You might be inquiring yourself, though, even if I get reinstated, with these very large rules, what’s to stop me from getting suspended again? There’s a section about this later in this post. Although, there is a single principle that must really help you stay on Amazon’s good side. In one sentence:

How can I make (and keep) the customer delighted?

Consider customers as Amazon’s boss. There’s a cause why they’re so successful. If customers are Amazon’s boss and Amazon is your boss (you as in the seller), then the customer is theoretically your boss too.

In other words, as long as you keep the customer glad (preferably ecstatic), you’ll hardly ever face any issues with Amazon, with some exceptions of course, such as selling trademarked products. But, as long as, with every business decision you make, you’re thinking: is this in the best interest of customers? If your answer is yes, your connection with Amazon will have a really better chance of being a “happily ever after”.

Step 2: Digging Into the Reasons behind the Causes

The significant task at hand now is to recognize what actually caused the reasons for the suspension, alias “the reasons behind the reasons”.

For example, if it’s product quality issues, were the complaints coming in since you initiated the product or have they just recently appeared? Maybe the issue is with a specific bad batch of products, or the supplier is having quality control issues, or maybe the items got spoiled somehow in a way from the seller to your destination.

Are your shipments continually getting delayed? Recognize the problem with your store employees, shipping carriers or fulfillment centers. Try to be as exact as possible when getting to the roots of the problem.

Step 3: Plan of Action (The Holy Grail)

Know the key points to write a successful Plan of Action:

• Clearly clarify the causes of the suspension to show that you understand the violation.
• Take liability and do not make excuses, criticize Amazon or deflect blame.
• Recognize the reasons for the problems and clarify the steps taken to correct and avoid these issues from occurring again in an action plan.
• Try to guide clear from broad terms and estimations such as “often”, “sometimes”, “a little”…etc. Give them real numbers, dates, and facts that show you’ve made the attempt and that you’re in the left, right and center of what’s going on.
• Do not answer in a hurry and do not compose sob stories or start pointing fingers at anyone (consumer, Amazon, other sellers…etc). Be short, be expert, and stick to the facts. The final thing you want to do is to get all cocky, hard, and sarcastic or be a drama queen on Amazon.
• Make clear that you address all violations. Go through your account and see older notices/warnings you may have missed or neglected. Make sure you get them resolved and documented if they aren’t. You really don’t wish to go back and forth numerous times with Amazon; it greatly enhances your probability of reinstatement if you get it right the first time.

Thus what kind of template can you use? Somewhat like this can work:

• Greetings and introductory paragraph thanking them for the chance to appeal, acknowledging and taking liability for the issues and problems caused to the customers and apologizing for these issues.
• Recognizing the common reason for the suspension, and then listing the issues you’ve recognized in your business (as per step 2) that you believe have contributed to the suspension, preferably in bullet-pointed format.
• A line declaring that the actions you’re taking to correct those issues are as follows and also probably adding those issues in the bullet-point format right below that line.
• Thanking them for their time and thought, then your signature.
• Depending on the actions you’ve taken to correct the issue, you may wish to include a comprehensive plan at the end of your letter. For example, information about exact changes to internal processes and guidelines.

Once you’re completed, login to seller central and browse to your suspension notification, then tap “Appeal Decision” to submit your appeal. Seller Performance declares they can take up to 48 hours to answer to your appeal, but they hardly ever stick to that deadline nowadays possibly because of the sheer volume of appeals they get on a daily basis.

Be tolerant and never send them consecutive emails/appeals without inquiring back. If you do this, you hazard getting the dreaded “we’re done with you, bye bye” email. In that situation, your chances for getting the suspension lifted are almost entirely gone.

What Not to Do After a Suspension

So the above clarifies what to do when you get suspended. This post wouldn’t be inclusive without telling you what NOT to do, though.

Amazon is always holding all the cards and they recognize it. Do one of these things or more, and you danger messing up your possibilities of ever getting back on the platform for good.

Opening a new account

The final thing you wish to do is open a new account once your account is suspended. Amazon is smart and has a large number of different ways to track you and link your old account with the new one. This action may also kill your possibility of getting your appeal approved on the old account.

Even if you do manage to get a new account set up with fully different personal details and a fresh laptop/IP/user, you’ll be looking over your shoulder for the rest of your life, literally! That’s no way to make a sustainable business. At least that’s how I see it.

Warn, blame, criticize or be rude in any way

Some sellers may select to get attorneys involved and have them contact Seller Performance on their behalf. This will usually delay the process and may occasionally prompt Seller Performance to stop responding to emails until the seller personally gets in touch with them.

It may be an excellent idea to get attorneys involved with infringement suspensions though, as if the attorney can get the complaining party to withdraw the claim, this can then be conversed by the seller to Seller Performance and hopefully reach a positive outcome.

Being rude to Seller Performance can also be a reason for delays and difficulties in the appeals process. This must be clear but a lot of sellers get so frustrated and let their emotions get the best of them. If you get suspended, take your time to chill down and focus on writing an efficient appeal. It’s possibly not a good idea to begin writing the appeal the moment you get hit with the suspension notice.

Emailing seller support or submitting multiple appeals

Seller Performance often doesn’t answer with any evidence when receiving a seller’s appeal. This could lead to some sellers becoming anxious and deciding to email them numerous times. This can cause further delays and is not suitable.

Furthermore, it’s significant to note that the Seller Performance team is the only team that handles suspensions and has any power on what happens to your account from that point onwards. Typical seller support will generally be of no help.

Actually, they may do more harm than good by giving false advice. They’re a separate team from Seller Performance and can give the smallest help in this situation.

Don’t change, produce or edit any requested documents

Again this really goes without saying but you may get yourself liable to do some “modifications” to documents requested by Amazon to make them “look better” or “fit” what Amazon wishes.

This is commonly a bad idea. Consider that Seller Performance does this on a daily basis. It’s their bread and butter, so informing whether an invoice or document was manipulated in any way or not is not that much of a challenge for them.

The dangers greatly outweigh the profits in this regard, especially because manipulating documents, if caught, add an extra “forged/manipulated” strike to your seller account that makes your case considerably harder to resolve.

It’s better to stick to the fact here and declare how you’ll resolve the issues in questions moving forward. For instance, if you’re drop shipping, you can say that you’ll be buying stock and using a fulfillment service or Amazon FBA. It would help if you comprise facts about how you’d go about doing this or anything that would show your significance to Amazon.

Instructions to Avoid Amazon Future Suspension:

At this point, you’ve hopefully followed the information in this article and have either gotten your account back or are waiting too. If you’re still waiting, I feel the ache and wish you the best of luck in getting reinstated.

It doesn’t finish here, though. There are numerous things you can do to keep your account in good standing once you get it back on its feet. Here are some instant tips:

• Accept Amazon’s approach. Always, put your customer first, even if it means you’ll have to pay off them out of pocket at times. Your profits will more than pay costs for this and you must write it off as a regular and expected business expense.
• Keep excellent customer support. If a package is going to be postponed, get in front of the issue and converse it with the customer rather than waiting for them to get in touch, or worse, filing a complaint with Amazon. Always stay on top of issues and answer proficiently and patiently. Simply model after what Amazon does and you’ll be well.
• Moreover, find a good inventory management system, or select to use Amazon FBA. Either way, you have to be strict with inventory management otherwise you danger messing up performance fundamentals and getting your account suspended.
• The Amazon Seller app is useful because you’ll get and study notifications quicker, and hence be able to act on them faster as well.
• Amazon policies change commonly. It’s an intimidating task, but try to always make sure your listings and selling practices obey. “Sorry I didn’t recognize” or “I forgot to update” is not really a satisfactory excuse to Amazon.
• Stay on a peak of your performance reports. Identify issues and “negative trends” early on and act promptly. Don’t wait for a suspension to remind you to take action.

The result

An Amazon Seller suspension is an agonizing experience, especially if it’s the basis of the income that you depend on to support yourself and your family. Pain, annoyance, and doubt are all common emotions a seller may go through when this happens.

Because of this, more regularly than not, sellers will act out of sentiment and mess things up further. It’s the best thing that you’re reading this right now, it possibly means you’re ready to act wisely and are researching what to do.

Forget all the emotions and all the distrustful stances you wish to take and just persuade yourself that it’s all your fault, even if you believe it isn’t. Then, make up your appeal and convince Amazon that you’ll make things appropriate.

That’s it. Looking ahead to seeing your listings back up and running on the Amazon marketplace!