Amazon Suspension 101: What You Should Know Before Writing Your Amazon Suspension Appeal Letter

Amazon gives you a strong chance to boost your sales and increase your online exposure, especially during the pandemic. However, things may be detrimental to your business if Amazon suddenly decides to revoke your selling privileges. There are a lot of unknown factors as to why Amazon suspends a seller account. When this happens, you’ll be left wondering where to seek help to get your business up and running again.

Well, the first thing you should do is relax and put those worries aside. 

Whether you’re trying to work through an Amazon account suspension or you’re just curious about the right protocols to get enough Amazon suspension help, you’ve come to the right place.

This article will show you the best practices in dealing with Amazon account suspensions, as well as the best way to write an Amazon suspension appeal letter. 

Two types of Amazon suspension

Account Suspension - It is the complete shutdown of your Amazon seller account. It means that your account has lost all its seller privileges across the Amazon platform. 

Listing Suspension - It happens when Amazon has suspended only particular listings from your account for unknown reasons.

Why is your Amazon account suspended?

Amazon should provide you the complete details regarding your account suspension, but their explanation can sometimes be vague or too technical. And as a seller, even just for the starting ones, knowing what went wrong on your part is essential. 

Below are just some of the possible reasons why Amazon has suspended your account.

Low performance

Given their credibility and seller advocacies, Amazon has strict and specific rules to follow, even with seller performance. After all, their goal is to make sales processing more convenient for all customers worldwide. 

While you should always maintain a healthy Amazon seller account, the underlying factors below show that there are still unavoidable circumstances that can affect your seller performance.

• More than 1% of order deflections
• Too many order cancellations
• Late shipment. Sellers can get suspended if they exceed the 4% late shipment rating.
• You’re not delivering things on time. You may talk to an Amazon suspension attorney to defend you on this one.
• Your customers are not happy with you. It can be due to late responses to customer queries, high refund ratings, or they’re just simply dissatisfied with your services and efforts.
• You may not be aware of this, but customer refunds also play a role in your seller performance. Do you sometimes ask, “How long does it take for Amazon to refund their customers?”

Amazon policy violations

Knowing the Amazon standards and policies is the first thing to do before creating your seller account. You have to take note of all your product details and make sure that you follow their rules before setting your page to public. In this way, it would be a lot easier to avoid possible suspension if you keep those rules in mind. 

Seeking the advice of Amazon suspension attorneys is important if you want further knowledge on even the most complex policies and technicalities of Amazon, especially when writing your Amazon suspension appeal letter. 

Presence of prohibited items on your page

There are some products that may be sold legally everywhere else, but not on Amazon. 

Some of these include:

• Alcohol
• Animals and other animal-related products
• Cosmetics and other personal care items
• Currency and gift cards
• Dietary supplements, especially those that are not FDA-approved
• Drugs and drug-related paraphernalia (including tobacco)
• Gambling-related items
• Laser-based items
• Pesticides and other compounds
• Plants and other organic things
• Service plans and warranties

It is often difficult for people to distinguish between products in some categories. Getting an Amazon specialist can help in reminding you about the products to avoid selling on the platform.

3 things to include in your Amazon suspension appeal letter

If Amazon thinks that any of the three examples mentioned above apply to your account, then you are already violating their Terms of Service. Chances are, you’ll get lots of dreaded emails saying that your account or listings have been suspended. 

Well, there’s still hope. The first step is to submit an Amazon seller suspension appeal letter. It must have what Amazon calls a “POA” or what would be your Plan of Action in the coming days.

The root cause of your suspension

Start strong with your Amazon suspension appeal letter and indicate the root cause of your account suspension. Make sure you concisely explain the issue.

It may look easy but it’s actually pretty difficult for some. Remember that before you became a seller, you were also a consumer looking for a product that addresses your needs, so try to look at the issue with an open mind, and also look at it from Amazon’s perspective.

You must also avoid becoming defensive when writing your suspension letter appeal, and don’t make it look like the suspension was Amazon’s fault. Keep in mind that Amazon is already an established eCommerce website, so they have a lot of systems that they believe would make them even more successful. 

At the end of the day, your goal is to show them that you understand where Amazon is coming from, and you’re here to help them solve the problem. 

Your action plan

Now that you know what you think may be the root cause of your suspension, you must now explain how you plan to address it.

Were you able to send your apologies or refunds to your disappointed customers? Did you put an additional policy in place to avoid future issues? 

Please keep in mind that it’s better to provide solutions to problems even before Amazon steps in and takes matters into their hands. Be sure to give your best effort when you send an Amazon suspension appeal letter so you’ll have proof that you are trying to manage the situation.

Your next steps

Since you’ve already implemented your action plans, it’s also important to inform Amazon that you’re taking extra care to avoid further mishaps. You must assure them that you’re doing the best that you can to maintain your eCommerce business.

The primary thing is that you need to put steps in place to make sure that the problem won’t happen again. 

Final thoughts

Overall, the key to avoiding an Amazon account suspension is to remain vigilant and knowledgeable about the complexities of Amazon. When writing your appeal, it must also show that you are accountable and willing to take full responsibility for the problem. If you must, include the three things mentioned above to indicate that you are more aware and are taking extra care of your business, and Amazon itself. 

However, things may get worse if the Amazon team denies your appeal. It means that there is a high possibility that your seller account may no longer be considered for an appeal for a second time. If they give you a second chance, make sure you follow and double-check the Amazon guidelines and policies. You may seek advice from companies that focus on Amazon marketing services like Seller Interactive, so you can know how to open an Amazon account after suspension.

Hopefully, this will enlighten you regarding the things you can do to increase the chances of a successful Amazon suspension appeal.