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Last updated on June 6th, 2023
Written by Ken Zhou
You might hear news of seller account suspensions or deactivations on Amazon. Amazon account suspensions and deactivations are part of the platform's goal of giving users a trustworthy shopping experience.
As an Amazon seller, having your account deactivated or suspended can be a nightmare. Not only can it lead to loss of income, it can also damage your reputation and make it difficult to start selling again on the platform.
There are many reasons why Amazon may choose to deactivate or suspend an account. The Amazon team tracks suspicious activities and swiftly acts on reports made against both seller and buyer accounts. The ecommerce platform is continually working on services and features to address issues and implement zero tolerance on fraudulent reviews and customer feedback, too much negative feedback, counterfeit products, false advertising, and more.
But there are steps you can take to prevent these from happening in the first place. In this article, we will discuss what Amazon account deactivation or suspension mean and explain the Amazon Health Rating to keep your account in good standing.
Account suspension refers to a floating condition of seller accounts. In terms of contracts and accounts, an account suspension refers to a temporary state wherein you are prohibited from performing as you normally do—falling out of favor but not yet doomed.
An Amazon seller account suspension occurs when sellers are suspected of violating the regulations or business policies. With a suspended account, selling privileges are taken from sellers. Account suspension also results in inaccessible funds.
These conditions are temporary as you need to reach out to Amazon within 90 days of receiving the suspension notice. In this notice, you will know the reason for your suspension. Some of the reasons are as follows:
Once you are informed of the specific violation, you’ll need to submit an appeal letter complete with these details:
If your appeal is accepted, your Amazon seller account suspension will be lifted and your account will be reinstated. You’ll be free to start selling again on Amazon.
A deactivated account is a complete shutdown—meaning no activity can be performed. It can also include removing any information and assets stored in the account. Amazon account deactivation not only stops a seller from selling on the platform but also removes the product listings you've worked hard on.
Deactivation, like account suspension, can be appealed. If successful, you will get your account reinstated. But you'll need a strong plan of action and additional documentation. Because of the complexity, it's best to have an agency help you convince Amazon that you're a trustworthy seller.
These are both major hassles. That's why you should prioritize keeping your Amazon seller performance excellent to avoid these issues.
But what is done is done. Still, there's hope! Whether it is truly a case of negligence or a malicious act by others to target your brand, you can reach out to Amazon through an appeal letter. Get your account reinstated and get your selling privileges back by contesting the suspension or deactivation with this short guide.
If your account is active and only one or two of your listings are deactivated, check them carefully for the policies they violated, if any. You can then appeal for your removed listings by following the steps below:
Reactivating your account (or products, for that matter) takes time and patience. But, if you have enough proof to show Amazon was erring on the side of caution, or if your plan of action is clear and realistic, your seller account will be reinstated in due time.
An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure—this adage still rings true. You need to be responsible for your seller account's health and monitor your seller performance often.
The Health page is divided into three sections: Customer Service Performance, Product Policy Compliance, and Shipping Performance. Here, you'll be able to view where you're doing good, if you’re at risk of getting your account deactivated, or are in the critical stage and are about to get your account suspended.
In response to Amazon sellers' concerns and questions, Amazon released the Account Health Rating system to help you monitor your account health.
Amazon Account Health Rating or AHR was rolled out all over the world at the start of 2023. This new feature helps sellers keep track of their account health by warning them of any violations of the rules, and if there’s a risk of their account being deactivated.
It's a color-coded feature that measures your seller performance based on your adherence and compliance with Amazon's policies. It scores you from 0–1000 in real-time, and it takes into account the size and scale of your business before any points are awarded or deducted.
Listed below are the key points of how AHR works:
AHR is a point system and deductions are based on the degree of the policies violated. These violations are ranked according to the severity and can be considered critical, high, medium, or low.
Repeat offenses will result in the violation points increasing with each repeat. And there is a maximum number of repeat policy violations per rule. For example, infringement has a maximum of five repeats, while selling prohibited items only gets two.
The AHR takes into account your business size and rates accordingly. A given example by Amazon is when you only have ten orders and one needs attention. Your AHR will not drop despite the issue being 10% of your store.
Please note that even with a “healthy” seller account, Amazon can and will immediately deactivate your account on grounds of suspected fraud, illegal, or otherwise harmful activity.
Suspensions and deactivated accounts and listings are measures taken by Amazon to ensure the safety of all its users. Unfortunately, this means one wrong move or false report can cost you. Appealing and reinstating your account requires a prompt and smart plan of action.
Thankfully, Amazon is finding new ways to address seller-related issues and concerns like the revamped Account Health Rating system. Despite this, Account Health is still primarily the responsibility of the brand, and it pays to have a reliable team backing your corner.
Seller Interactive's main strategy is suspension prevention. We work with you to keep your account healthy. But we also have different approaches depending on your concerns, including, but not limited to, helping you craft a compelling appeal letter.Let us help you. Book a call at [email protected] or call us at 1-800-820-3746 for fast and effective reinstatement of your seller account.
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