Amazon Seller Forums were abuzz with news of multiple seller accounts being suspended by Amazon with an automated response “Your Amazon.com seller account has been deactivated in accordance with section 3 of Amazon’s Business Solutions Agreement”. This is usually linked to ‘related accounts’ or ‘multiple accounts’ violations but was triggered by an algorithm tweak that flagged accounts in one sweep. 

Baffled and reeling with what just struck them, most sellers couldn’t figure out what the exact reason behind their suspension was.

Well, if you are one such seller or are wondering could your account be next, then let’s look at the remedial/pre-emptive action you could take to avoid such a situation.   

1. Multiple or related accounts: One of the most common reasons for account suspension is the use of multiple accounts or having related accounts where IP footprint tells Amazon that the same person/entity is operating multiple accounts. The situation worsens if the related account was suspended on account of policy violations. 

More often than not, the culprit is an old, dormant, forgotten seller account that has an invalid credit card linked to it. 

There are legit cases where the seller is operating multiple accounts as completely separate business entities. Such cases need to be pleaded in advance and prior approval needs to be taken from Amazon to avoid sudden revocation of selling privileges in one or all related accounts.  

2. Restricted Products: Amazon has detailed guidelines around products that are restricted for sale on their platforms. Sellers must ensure their products do not fall under the restricted list. 

Restricted products list:

3. Prior Category Approval: Certain products and categories require prior approval from Amazon. Once you obtain the required approval, your account is ungated for that category/product internally. The un-gating is usually done for a defined period and so you must appeal for re-approval in case it’s about to lapse

5. FBA related restrictions and regulations: Products participating in FBA also need to adhere to the FBA Product restriction guidelines. Products that are prohibited for inbound: 

6. State or Country specific violations: There are additional state or country-specific (for international selling) regulations for products and Amazon places the responsibility of compliance and adherence with the seller. If your products get flagged for any such violation then Amazon could suspend the listing, or the account itself, if the required action is not taken.

7. FDA approved guidelines: Any products that claim to be FDA approved should have the supporting certificates and documents. More guidelines around the usage of the FDA logo and images can be found here.

                        Check – Is It Really ‘FDA Approved’? and FDA Logo Policy

8. Suspensions due to missing Amazon performance targets: Performance metrics related suspensions are obvious, but most sellers don’t see it coming. Make sure you fully understand Amazon’s tolerance to performance-related shortfalls.

Monitoring performance metrics on Amazon is not a difficult task: just check the Performance tab in Seller Central. The Account Health dashboard summarizes your performance against Amazon’s defined selling standards and policies. If your account health is in the ‘Green’ zone, you are doing fine.

Some metrics that have a defined target are :

Amazon expects sellers to utilize these metrics to minimize order cancellations and defects while maximising on-time delivery and tracking information accuracy. These practices help boost customer experience, which eventually leads to happy customers, good feedback and more sales! However, any shortfalls require remedy and correction at your end.

9. Reviews and feedback: Soliciting reviews in exchange for money or free product and/or indulging in Blackhat practices like- multiple reviews from the same IP address and other such practices will eventually trigger Amazon to suspend your selling privileges. Do not try to outsmart Amazon’s bots. 

10. Diverting traffic to other sites: While Amazon’s selling fee may make you cringe and complain, and even make you want to divert all that traffic to your platform where you can significantly reduce your cost-of-selling, please refrain from doing so. Diverting shoppers from Amazon to other platforms does not bode well with them. You might be flagged and suspended when they find out.

11. Selling counterfeit or low-quality products on Amazon, intentionally or not, will land you in trouble. Amazon is spending millions of dollars to ensure its platforms remain fake and counterfeit free. 

Project Zero, a program launched by Amazon last year, proactively scans over 5 billion listings for counterfeits every day. Brands are also allowed access to flag listings that they see as fakes or copies of their product. 

Take additional care while vetting your suppliers and do regular audits of your inventory. Counterfeiting is punishable by law and will have lasting consequences for you and your company.

12. Non-adherence to listing guidelines: Not following listing and/or condition (Used or New) guidelines would typically lead to a product being suppressed or suspended. However, it isn’t unheard of that an account was suspended for listing related violations. Some common violations are having some text or logo included on the product main image, promising things that are not a part of the product offering, etc.  

Ensure complete adherence to Amazon’s listing guidelines to avoid a sticky situation with the listing quality and compliance gatekeepers. 

13. Price gouging: Amazon lists this under the Code of Conduct Suspension, and it is owing to Amazon Marketplace Fair Pricing violations. This is Amazon’s way of handling ‘price gouging’. This is a phenomenon whereby the sellers hike up their prices to benefit from a sudden increase in the product demand. The problem here is that this sudden increase in demand may have resulted from a natural disaster. For instance, during COVID 19, the prices of products like masks and sanitizers were jacked up by the sellers. Even Seller users, it seems, have been caught up in a wave of suspensions following COVID-19. Unfortunately, it never occurred to them to check their prices.

Traders selling medicines, survival kits, blankets, packaged food and water, etc. who increase their prices when a calamity happens are most likely to be suspended by Amazon. This is because it would appear as if they’re trying to profit from the unfortunate plight of calamity victims.

Whatever be the cause, Price is always the seller’s responsibility. To Amazon, any sudden change in market conditions should be well notified and price hikes should be suppressed. In the event of such a happening, it is not unusual for Amazon to suspend a seller’s account down.

These are the tenets of fair pricing policy:

Pricing practices that harm customer trust include, but are not limited to:

While all these rules and policies might seem a bit too much to keep up with, having smart systems, check & balances can help. Staying on top of your seller metrics, scheduling regular reports, and taking action on any potential red-flags and warnings will go a long way in keeping a healthy seller account. 

How to recover a suspended seller account?

Panic mode is “on” since your Amazon account just got suspended. Sit back, relax, take a deep breath. The account just lost can be recovered. Continue reading and I shall help you understand what and do about your suspended account.

First try and pinpoint the root reason for the suspension. Check your Performance feedback with the Seller Central (Seller Central>Performance> Performance Notifications> location suspension notice). Check your mails from Amazon in this regard to zero down on the root cause.

The next step is to appeal your case with a detailed explanation to Amazon:

Case I: If your account suspension was due to not meeting Amazon’s performance targets, you have to come up with a corrective blueprint. Same goes for any policy or customer complaints related suspensions

Case II: If the suspension is due to trademark or copyright related violations, State your case in the appeal and offer (if you must) to immediately remove the disputed product from Amazon’s platforms. Also, clearly state that you will not be relisting them.

Case III: There have been cases when competitors have filed rivalry complaints against one another which have led to account suspensions. Amazon considers these complaints pretty seriously, and such a frivolous charge may result in damages to the complainant.

Having decided upon a course of action, file in your Plan of Action addressing all the concerns. The next move should be filing your Plan of Action, identifying the reason that buyers complained about the specifications of your products and also showcase the solutions as to why it won’t happen ever again.

For instance, if you’re a seller who has been suspended for inappropriate packaging or shipping issues, you may want to include that you’re moving to FBA to solve the issue.

Once you’re ready to submit your appeal for reactivation, head over to https://sellercentral.amazon.com/performance/notifications , the Performance Notification section within Seller Central and click the “Appeal” button. After that you can submit your Plan of Action in the portal.

The important thing here is take quick and well thought out action and to not let the situation worsen Ensure that the appeal is thorough and addresses all concerns – present or future. Amazon has very stringent guidelines to protect sellers and buyers alike; that’s how it is the most thriving online marketplace. So take it as an occupational (business) hazard if you do end up getting suspended. Try and work with them rather than going against them. Backed-up by all this information, you now know how to avoid or even recover from a suspension.

The bottom line is to stay in the good books of Amazon by staying customer centric. Happy selling! 

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