What to Do When You’re Deactivated from Amazon

When we notice deactivation on Amazon happen, it hits us with a cold, sinking feeling in the pit of our stomachs. We know the implications for you as a seller — your reputation, your livelihood, and your job security are all at hazard when your Amazon Account Suspended.

If you’re studying this post because you subscribe to our blog and you’re in good standing with Amazon — well done. Possibly take a few minutes to consider about weak areas in your listing-to-warehouse-to-customer-process that might put you at danger, then see if you could make any corrections.

If you’re reading this because you just got suspended from Amazon and Google brought you to our blog — take a deep breath. We’ll do best from our side to guide you through your next steps.

Follow the given Strategy during Deactivation

Step 1: Understand the rules you violate: Study your Amazon Account suspension notice precisely. Visit the Policies and Agreements page to know the letter of the law as it relates to your violation(s).  If you still have access to Support, initiate a ticket to get more details on your suspension.

Step 2: Determine how your business violates the rules: Once you recognize which rule you violated, it’s vital to find out exactly why. Ensure Seller Central performance and metrics. Assess your processes to recognize issues that buyers experienced. Verify your inventory for items that violate Amazon’s terms.

Step 3: Address the issues in a plan of action: In our knowledge, this is the most vital part of the process. Now that you’ve recognized why Amazon is taking action and what you did to invite that action, you’re ready to illustrate how you’ll avoid these issues in the future. This is like your plan of action. Since this is such a significant element of your appeal, we’ll elaborate below.

Step 4: Request an appeal from Amazon: Once you complete your plan of action, you’re ready to submit your appeal to the Seller Performance team. You can do so within Seller Central > Performance > Performance Notifications. Locate the suspension notice you’re appealing and tap the Appeal button for a vehicle to submit your plan of action. Afterward, wait for a decision to come from the Amazon team. They’ll generally contact you via email with a decision to either reinstate you or uphold your suspension.

Make an Effective Plan of Action

We wish this goes without saying, but you require to give your plan of action some serious thought. Just stating you’re sorry and that you’ll try to do better in the future won’t take you far with Amazon. You require to own up to your mistakes and create a plan to avoid them in the future. Our recommendations:

• Stay professional: Your plan of action isn’t the right forum to convey your annoyance or complaints. Genuine people at Amazon are reading and evaluating your appeal, so keep your request proficient — don’t take a sarcastic or challenging tone.
• Be exact: What specifically are you changing in your business to avoid the issue from happening again? Detail the entire thing. Then inquire yourself if there’s anything else you could possibly converse, and then include that also. Unclear statements make it look like you’re hiding something.
• Address how the fault occurred in the initial place: Your violation might have some explanatory circumstances that shed light on why it happened. Detail this for Amazon, but don’t end there. Show how you’ll avoid the same or similar circumstances in the future.
• See for other issues: Even though your deactivation was likely tied to one event or series of events, other issues in your seller history could also have contributed to a degraded seller standing. Review feedback from the past 12 months (a report is accessible in Seller Central), study all A-to-z claims and download all Order Defect Rate component issues (found under Seller Central > Performance > Customer Satisfaction > Performance over Time > Show order defect rate components > Download). Mention these issues in your plan of action as well.
• Quantify everything feasible: Use numbers and exact time frames, comprising dates where feasible. Avoid “many,” “a few,” “sometimes,” “several,” “occasionally” and other vague references that could specify that you don’t have a handle on the details.
• Illustrate an investment: If you’ve failed to obey with Amazon policy in the past, your existing staff and processes most possibly require an upgrade. Prove Amazon you’ve made an investment and how that will pay off with more compliance in the future.
• Make redundancy: Even within a well-meaning plan, there could still be single points of failure. Illustrate that you’ve considered through your plan of action and recognize areas where you have redundancy and checks and balances. Use different solutions to guarantee most coverage: technologies such as ChannelAdvisor, process improvements and manual reviews, like a schedule showing when and how often your team will review the steps of your new plan.
• Think Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA): For sellers with deactivations that resulted from shipping issues, using FBA is a great future strategy and one that Amazon looks at favorably.

Make clear in your mind to share your plan of action with your team. See if those in other areas of your organization (customer service, shipping, listing) can find fault — and get their buy-in for the next steps. If you’re reinstated, our team will be delivering on the expectations you’ve set with Amazon, so everyone requires to be on board.

Although you can submit numerous appeals, your excellent chance of success in addressing all concerns Amazon might have in your first appeal and plan. Take the time to get it right primarily and you must have the best chance of reinstatement.

Prepare for Reinstatement

Get your team prepared and ready for reinstatement. If Amazon reinstates you, this will be your final chance — you don’t want to fumble the ball. Also, make clear in your mind all your listings are deactivated when you submit your appeal. If you’re reinstated, inventory should be up to date so you can turn on your listings after you’re sure your stock levels are accurate.

When Things Don’t Go Your Way

Once you’ve submitted your appeal, you’ll be on pins and needles waiting for an answer. Unhappily, we’ve seen some appeals that haven’t led to reinstatement, even when these best methods and recommendations are followed. This is principally true for sellers who open a new Amazon account after their original account was suspended or sellers who constantly sell restricted products.

If you’ve appealed once and been discarded, you can submit additional appeals, but as mentioned above, they’re less possibly to be successful.  You might find that it’s best to complete your cycle of sorrow, find new motivation and look to the broader e-commerce landscape for other opportunities, which are abundant.