There are few things more detrimental to your Amazon business than an account suspension. With Amazon continuing to crack down this year by hitting millions of third-party sellers with suspensions, it’s crucial to understand not only how to avoid a suspension, but also how to move forward if it unfortunately happens to you.
Have you experienced a dreaded Amazon account suspension recently? Take a deep breath—there are steps to take to reactivate your account and keep the issue from happening again. Here is what you need to do if your Amazon seller account gets suspended:
To begin, you need to understand why your account was suspended in the first place. There are numerous reasons why a seller account might get suspended on Amazon, but the three most common are:
First of all, we should be clear that there’s a difference between an Amazon account suspension and a listing suppression. A suppressed listing simply does not meet the platform’s tough standards and is not showing up in search results. The good news here is that there is still plenty of time to be able to fix your listing and have it visible again. Generally, suppressions happen on a single product basis. If you’re looking to fix a suppressed listing, read our guide here.
An account suspension, on the other hand, pertains to your entire account. This is when Amazon feels your seller account has violated its terms and conditions. You cannot sell products and your existing listings will not show up on the platform until the suspension has been appealed and lifted.
Wondering how to reactivate a suspended Amazon seller account? The good news is that you can appeal your Amazon suspension. Start by carefully reading through your suspension notice to determine exactly what policy you supposedly violated. Then put together and submit a clear plan of action that takes responsibility for the problem and offers a detailed plan on how you will keep it from happening again.
Remember, you want Amazon to trust in the fact that you understand what you did wrong and are taking clear steps to rectify it. You’ll want to keep your plan specific yet brief, and try to avoid getting defensive, accusatory, or overly apologetic.
After you’ve submitted everything, you’ll need to wait until it is reviewed—which for many sellers is the hardest part. Unfortunately it can take days or even weeks to hear back.
After your first suspension, it is possible to move forward with business. Just make sure that you’re constantly reviewing your listings and Amazon’s policies to ensure they’re up to par. Take steps to always provide a consistent and positive customer experience. And never, ever attempt to sell a prohibited item on Amazon. If you can do these things, you’ll keep account suspensions from happening in the future.
Of course, you should always ensure you follow all Amazon listing requirements and adhere to policies as closely as possible. The more you do this, the less of a chance you have to get suspended. But there are a few other things you should take action on to keep a repeated suspension from happening.
For example, always pay attention to listings. Make sure they clearly convey what the customer needs to know before purchase, such as accurately labeling products as new or used. A positive customer experience is paramount to Amazon and repeated complaints can lead to problems with your account.
Also, remember to close and archive old listings if you’re an FBA seller, or delete them if you’re a merchant seller. And just keep in mind that, in Amazon’s eyes, the customer is always right. It’s always better to take a return or respond to a poor review positively than it is to deal with a suspension for poor performance on the platform.
Looking for help with case management, brand management, listing optimization, logistics, and more? SupplyKick can help. We’ll help you navigate Amazon’s complexities and make sure your brand is not at risk of getting suspended—while freeing up your time to focus on other aspects of your business.
When you work with a trusted third-party seller like us, you don’t even have to worry about account health or suspension because your products are sold directly through SupplyKick. We ensure end-to-end compliance, superior customer service, and top-notch performance to always stay in good standing with Amazon. Connect with us here.
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