“What do I do now?” That’s what everyone wonders about when their Amazon account gets suspended. But not many think of the reason or issue behind the account suspension, instead, try to remove the suspension and get on with it.
It is important that you understand the reason first and you’ll be able to figure out the solution easily to avoid it happening again in the future. Read the blog to know the common reasons for Amazon account suspension and how you can prevent your account from getting suspended in the future.
Why is my Amazon account suspended?
There are several reasons why your Amazon account is suspended.
Not complying with Amazon’s terms
One of the first and foremost rules that any Amazon seller must follow when signing up as a seller is to read the terms thoroughly. The store’s terms can vary depending on the location; hence you must go through it well.
Failing to comply with the terms simply can result in your account getting suspended.
Having multiple accounts with the same credentials
Owning more than one account and having the same credentials across can lead to the suspension of all the accounts. Even if you don’t own but there are other accounts with the same business name as yours, can also result in getting your account suspended.
Inaccurate product listings
Amazon can suspend your account if you do not adhere to the listing policies, or fail to provide accurate variations or attributes. It can also be due to misleading information or links to external payment portals.
In case customers complain about the product not being exactly as given in the listing, the listing can get flagged or suspended.
Inauthentic or counterfeit products
This is the #1 reason why most accounts get suspended. If Amazon determines that you have been selling fake or counterfeit products, your account will be suspended immediately.
Amazon firmly believes in creating a reputable customer experience, hence aggressively removing any inauthentic products or listings that can damage the experience.
Simply said, when customers do not get a positive experience from a product, Amazon prevents the seller from selling the same products further.
Ignoring Amazon’s warnings
When Amazon sends you a warning about negative performance on your metrics, it is important to heed attention to it. Ignoring it could take away the opportunity to improvise so that you can stay ahead of the trends or resolve the issue before it blows up.
These warnings are sent by Amazon’s Seller Performance Team to let you know of negative changes in your selling performance. Back then, these notifications were considered as a prior warning to your Amazon account or listing getting suspended.
The warnings could be about
- Suppressed listings from Amazon Search results
- Approval for Categories
- Issues/Changes in Banking information
- Pricing issues
- Policy violations
- Seller account suspension
How to check your account seller performance on Amazon?
Go to ‘Account Health’ on the Seller Central homepage and you will find the performance metrics based on -
- Order defect rate
- Cancellation rate
- Late shipment rate
- On-time delivery
- Contact response time
It’s best to check your account twice a day for Amazon Seller Central Performance Notifications and immediately resolve them before any potential issue happens that could lead to account suspension.
High negative feedback rate
If you receive a lot of complaints or negative feedback regarding your product, Amazon may flag or suspend your account.
Customers can provide negative reviews or feedback about your product if the quality is not up to the mark or misleading information is provided about it to trick them into buying the product.
To avoid your account getting suspended, check the quality of your products and ensure that the product matches the description you are providing. Write a detailed description including the variations of the product so that it can be helpful for the customers.
Restricted images/content on the product page
Amazon doesn’t allow certain image content on product pages which include -
- Pornographic and offensive materials
- Jewel cases, promotional stickers, cellophane
- Nudity or sexually suggestive images. Leotards, underwear, and swimwear for kids and babies cannot depict human models
- Any sort of Amazon logos, trademarks, badges, variations, modifications, or anything similar to such badges.
If your product page has any image or content prohibited by Amazon, then it could face suspension.
Expired/Used Products sold as new
If you are selling expired or used products and tagged them as new, then your seller account can get suspended for the same.
Always make sure to check the expiry date of the product before selling as well as provide the right tags if they are new or used products.
Restricted or gated category products
Amazon prohibits certain brands and categories from being sold on the platform to avoid the risk of counterfeit products from these brands/categories.
The restricted categories on Amazon include:
- Grocery & Gourmet Foods
- Music
- Lighting
- Sports & Nutrition
- Watches
- Gardening & Watering
- Automotive
- OTC Medication
- Haircare & Beauty
- Baby Topicals
- Toys & Games
- Pet supplies
- Medical supplies & Equipment
- Pet Care & Food
- Power Tools
- Audio Visual
- Personal Safety & Household
And more.
The restricted brands include popular and well-known ones like Nike, Adidas, Bath & Body, etc.
Although these brands and categories are restricted from selling on Amazon, one advantage of selling them is that they have low competition yet sell fast.
So, if you want to sell them, make sure the products are not counterfeit and that you have the necessary documents to sell.
That is not enough. You need to get Amazon’s approval as well.
With the help of ungating services like The Funnel Guru, you can ungate the products/categories/brands immediately and easily get approval to sell on Amazon.
How to reactivate Amazon account after suspension?
Stay calm, first.
Do your research thoroughly for potential reasons why your account could have been suspended. Double-check the email sent by Amazon or any sort of previous warnings and notifications if received, for reasons.
You can also review your account health, and check the performance metrics as well as customer correspondence to see if there’s any reason that might have influenced the account suspension.
Once you have identified the cause for your account suspension, you need to send an appeal to Amazon to reinstate the account.
There is no particular format to writing an appeal to Amazon, but the most important thing is to be concise & clear since Amazon gets a lot of requests every day.
- Address the reasons for suspension in your appeal, and acknowledge where you went wrong.
- Make sure to let them know that you are going to resolve the issue and that you’ll see that the same issue doesn’t happen again in the future.
- Create an action plan of immediate solutions in your appeal and make sure to implement them, so that your account becomes active again soon.
How to avoid getting account suspended by Amazon?
- Read and adhere to all Amazon’s terms thoroughly.
- Sell authentic quality products/goods.
- Check your account health, performance metrics, and listings consistently; Improvise accordingly.
- Provide accurate and complete details.
- Build healthy and strong customer relationships.
Final Note
Every Amazon seller fears getting their account suspended and they are not prepared well enough to get their account back. Check these common reasons for Amazon account suspension and follow the solutions provided to get your account back.
To avoid getting your account suspended, make sure to follow Amazon’s terms diligently as well as work on improving your sales and your account performance consistently.
For more tips and information on account suspension and recovery, check out amz blog.