With profits exploding every year until now, 2022 has also been an incredible year in terms of Amazon sales. For Amazon sellers, the opportunity is a dream come true when you do it well -but only until you do it well. Once a mistake is done and under their radar, it’s a whole different story afterwards.
As the number of seller registrations increase on the E-retail giant, their policy changes become more and more swift to a point that a lot of sellers struggle to keep up.
Even when you play all fair and nice, there are still a number of external factors that can leave your business in the pit. Take for example a competitor reporting false complaints on your account or an angry customer unfairly deciding to make you a punching bag on a bad day or maybe a mistake from your supplier’s end that you didn’t know about.
The list is long but unfortunately it isn’t necessarily the one that Amazon’s buyer-centric seller performance monitoring system cares about for the most part.
The result?
Thousands of sellers are being hit with dreaded Amazon Account suspensions. And chances are, if you’re reading this blog here, you’re either looking to find a way out of this rut or are smart enough to prepare before-hand for prevention of a rainy day.
So let’s walk you through what you can do to restore access to get your business live again.
Understand the type of account suspension.
Hundreds of third-party businesses are suspended, rejected, or banned by Amazon on a daily basis. When that happens, it does look like a nightmare for sure, but more often than not, there are potential steps you can take for damage control.
If you do it properly, chances are that Amazon will give you a chance again
After all, we all learn from mistakes right?
The first thing to do is to know the type of strike your account has received. This will help you opt for the proper appeal strategy to get your account running again.
Types of Strike:
Suspended, Banned or Rejected – What’s the difference
- Suspended: You still have an opportunity to file an appeal. You’ll need to develop a plan.
- Rejected: Rejected signifies that although your appeal was turned down, you still have the option of submitting a new plan.
- Banned: The worst case of the three is being restricted. Amazon will no longer examine your emails and appeals
Once it’s done next comes figuring out the root cause of your suspension.
Why has Amazon removed your selling privileges?
After finding out the what, you now need to find the why behind your suspension. Head straight to check your Performance Notifications under Seller Account first.
Read the email carefully; it usually contains information you must watch out for.
A few common reasons for suspension are:
- Negative Feedback: Amazon considers greater than 1% Order Defect Rate and poor seller performance a core suspension factor resulting in quick deactivation of accounts. You need to remember one thing. They will ALWAYS listen to the buyer. So the happier the customer, the heavier your pockets will be. Focus on ensuring customer satisfaction to maintain great account ratings
- Intellectual Property Infringement Claims: This means that someone has complained to Amazon about you for infringement and IP violation, so they have enacted a preventive suspension until further investigation is done.
- Selling Restricted Products: Certain goods and product categories are regarded as restricted that you may either need special privileges to sell or can’t sell at all. Some restricted products are – alcohol, explosives, currency and coins, tobacco, etc There are stricter rules region-wise, such as sale permissibility, quality control and safety inspections, for such products and anything not upto the mark means suspension
- Policy Violations: They own the game so they dictate how it’s played. This is what most sellers struggle with the most, as it’s hard to keep up with the rate of change in the dynamics of Amazon’s marketplace.
You should also check for any policy warnings or performance dips that need fixing. Open up your seller information from the “Customer Metrics” section of your Amazon seller account. See if there are any common customer complaints or there is something wrong with your listings.
The key is to put your finger on the pulse of the problem.
After you have done that, what you need is a strong plan of action that will revive your account back. You can also use Mr.Jeff’s reinstatement service to maximize your chance of reinstatement by more than 70%. All you have to do is to relax and let us deal with the mess.
Appeal against your suspension – Perfect Plan Of Action
This is where you start communicating with Amazon to actively resolve your issue. Be thorough and precise about the steps you are going to take (or have taken already- it’s preferable) to rectify the problem.
Depending on your case, your plan of action should start by indicating the suspension’s cause(s) in your appeal.
Here are a few pointers to remember:
- Do accept responsibility and express regret for the harm caused to the user.
- Let Amazon know that you are dedicated to providing fantastic customer service and recognize that it is an honor to sell on their website.
- Never criticize Amazon’s method for determining product quality.
Remember that Amazon has its own list of what’s valid and what’s not (even though you may disagree at times) so labeling a suspension unfair won’t help your reinstatement strategy either.
You should focus on identifying the mistake’s root cause and finding a reasonable solution. If several issues led to the deactivation, each case must be dealt with separately.
Make sure your POA has the following elements to increase the chance of your appeal getting accepted by Amazon
- Problem Description: You should accurately describe the issue that prompted the penalty.
- Keep it simple and short and give them facts: Focus on policy matters, not performance metrics.
- Identify Root Causes: You must research the subject and identify the root cause of the issue. It also involves examining one’s errors. However, focusing on other Amazon mistakes is not constructive.
- Ensure that the Plan of Action against selling privileges suspension has all elements that led to the rest explicitly addressed.
Key Takeaway:
Being the e-commerce industry leader, Amazon works to create and uphold a specific standard for the marketplaces. And the bar is set relatively high so there can be a lot of potential reasons leading to suspension. Once suspended, the stress becomes nerve-wrecking for most sellers and the reinstatement process seems to take forever to get right.
If you’re suspended and finding reinstatement to be a dark tunnel, this article equips you with all information to better increase your chance. If you still need more help, we are always here at Mr.Jeff with our expert reinstatement service that has waved off the suspension worries from hundreds of Amazon store owners just like you. Fill up this form below to ask any questions you may have.