Amazon Reinstatement Service: What To Do When your Account is Suspended

All is well with your e-commerce business; sales are high, and your products are selling in respectable numbers. You wake up one fine morning, sipping that warm cup of coffee, and log in to your mail to find this message that mainly says: “Your Amazon account has been suspended”. Those shocking words are every Amazon seller’s worst nightmare. Businesses whose accounts get suspended are deeply affected as they not only start losing money the moment their account gets suspended, but they keep doing so until they act upon it. 

That is why it is important to know what to do when your Amazon seller account gets suspended. If you are in need of resolving it quickly, do check out this Amazon reinstatement service. The following article aims to educate you about the best ways to reinstate your account and the top reasons for account suspension so that you can prevent it from happening in the future.

What is an Amazon reinstatement service?

Before understanding what account reinstatement means, let us first comprehend what account suspension is. The latter occurs when the selling privileges of an Amazon seller are removed if Amazon has grounds to believe that the seller has violated its policies. Reinstatement of a suspended account is the process to get the seller’s account back up and running. Account suspensions can be classified mainly into two categories, as described below: 

• Listing suspension - occurs when a certain product listing gets suspended for a particular reason (more on the list of reasons later)
• Account suspension – occurs when the entire seller account has been blocked or suspended, resulting in a loss of sellers’ rights on Amazon’s platform. That means the seller will not be allowed to sell anything during this suspension period until the problem has been addressed, and the account has been reinstated. 

The major drawback of an account suspension is that all the costs associated with the seller's products, such as supplier fees, storage costs, employee salaries, etc. will continue to drain your capital resources until the issue is resolved.

How to reinstate your suspended account?

Take a deep breath when you find out that your account has been suspended as one of the first things to do is not to panic but figure out why your account got suspended. It’s a crucial first step in the process of reinstating your account, and hence it is advised to spend time to understand what exactly went wrong. Emotions may get in the way and push you to rush through this step. Hence, most businesses succeed in the reinstatement process when they hire an Amazon specialist who is an expert in offering an Amazon reinstatement service.

The next important step is to submit what is called a Plan of Action (POA). It is basically a letter of appeal that states how you plan to resolve this issue. Amazon will then review your appeal letter to judge whether or not to lift the suspension. Need we say how crucial the POA is. The following template of a successful POA should help you in drafting one:

1. Introduction

Provide a brief explanation of who you are, what your business seller name is, what you are selling on Amazon, and the reason your account got suspended.

2. Description

Give a detailed description of the suspension issue(s), providing details of how you identified the root cause of the issue and why it occurred. 

3. Action Plan

Even if you feel that you are innocent, take full responsibility for the issue and describe the actionable steps you plan on taking (and the steps you have already taken since the suspension period). Provide an in-depth explanation of the long term changes being made by you or your team members to prevent the issue from occurring again in the future.

4. Conclusion

The concluding paragraph should reiterate briefly the steps you plan on taking to resolve the issue, after which you should request politely to have your seller rights reinstated as soon as possible.

The outline mentioned above should give you a clear idea of how to write your POA. Check out this link to know more about writing a Plan of Action. There are some key guidelines to keep in mind, as well: 

• Keep it brief: You don’t need a long story to prove your case. The Amazon Seller Performance team would appreciate it if you were to the point and conveyed your points in a clear and concise manner.
• Don’t play defense: Earlier, we mentioned that even if you felt you were accused wrongly, you should take full responsibility for the issue. It’s mainly because you would be better off this way as it is the fastest way to get your account reinstated. Opt for an Amazon suspension plan to help you phrase your POA better.
• Be neutral: Granted, it might seem difficult to not write a heartfelt Plan of Action as it is your business after all. The recommended tone, however, would be to sound as factual and objective as possible about your action plan and keep emotions aside. 

After its completion, the POA should be submitted to Amazon Seller Performance to be reviewed. You will find an Appeal button in the suspension notice you received in Seller Central. A form will appear where you will have to provide details of your POA and contact details. After you submit the form, the Amazon team will respond to you. Expect a response within 48 hours, but there are cases where you would get a response around 1-2 months or even more. Stay positive and be patient; they’ll respond to you after they have made their decision on your suspension status.

Top Reasons for an Account suspension

The following points are the most common reasons that lead to an account suspension:

• Multiple accounts held by the same person
• Product listing is reported as a fake or counterfeit product
• Product listing violates Amazon's Marketplace Items Condition Guidelines. e.g. used items which are sold as new
• Safety complaints from customers
• High negative Customer Experience Rating (NCX)

• Expired items
• Selling restricted/prohibited Items
• Order Defect Rate (ODR) is too high
• Other policy violations

The above-mentioned causes for suspensions are not the only reasons as there could be external factors out of your control that could trigger an account suspension. However, it is important to keep your account updated in terms of performance, steer clear of unethical practices, address any complaints quickly, and aim to continuously improve your metrics.

Final thoughts

Big and small businesses on Amazon are equally likely to be hit with a penalty. It is recommended that Amazon sellers purchase an Amazon protection plan such as this Amazon reinstatement service. It’s almost similar to buying yourself an insurance plan where you do not have to worry much about any potential harm to your e-commerce business. Such a service will have a team of Amazon experts who will actively monitor your channel and report potential account suspension triggers to you for immediate rectification. They will also assist in drafting the ideal Plan of Action and Appeal Letter to give you the best chance for reinstating quickly. 

If you wish to know more about how to reinstate your suspended account or any other Amazon-related services, you could have a quick chat with an Amazon specialist at Seller Interactive. Schedule a call with one of our experts by contacting us at [email protected] to get your queries answered quickly.