With over two billion monthly site visitors, Amazon leads the pack. The trend is not looking to change anytime soon.
With recent technological advancements and faster internet speeds, online business is booming with sales always improving. Sellers have however been on the receiving end of the much-dreaded account suspensions brought about by strict regulations. Many users have reported having their Amazon accounts suspended due to various reasons. An Amazon account suspension is one of the worst things that can happen to your online business.
What Next After Suspension?
Amazon account suspensions give many sellers nightmares. Most of them do not know what to do next. Worry no more; this blog post will give you a detailed guideline on how to protect your Amazon seller account and how to regain ownership of your suspended account. You can easily have your selling privileges restored by submitting an appeal. Besides explaining how to get your account reinstated, we will also tell you what to include in your corrective action plan to avoid repeating the same mistakes.
Each day, several innocent third party seller accounts get denied, suspended or even worse banned.
on how to get your banned account reinstated - and how you can easily and safely open a new Amazon account. So What’s the Difference?
When your account is suspended, you have a chance to appeal the decision. You, however, need to come up with a viable plan of action.
When your account is denied, it means that your appeal was rejected, but there’s still a chance for you to submit a revised plan of action.
When your account is banned, you have no chance to appeal. It means that your request has failed more than once and you are no longer an Amazon seller. Sending several emails to Amazon won’t change a thing as they will not read your emails. It’s the worst situation that can happen to your seller account.
Many sellers rush to open another account after getting a ban. What they probably do not know is that it is a breach of Amazon’s Terms and Conditions for a seller to open another account.
Three Reasons Why Amazon Selling Privileges Are Removed:
• When Amazon feels like your performance is not up to their standards. The online retail giant focuses on operating in a competitive marketplace with emphasis on exceptional customer service.
• When you violate Amazon’s selling policies. The stipulated Terms and Conditions are meant to be followed to the letter, failure to which you will lose selling privileges.
• When you sell a restricted product.
How to Know Why Your Account Is Suspended
Amazon gives you 17 days to submit an appeal. You can easily find out the reasons that led to the suspension by reading through your Performance Notifications within Seller Central. A link is provided in the suspension notice email.
If you are suspended, you will get a notification titled “Your Amazon.com selling privileges have been removed” with a comprehensive list of ASINs that the company considers to have violated their rules.
For performance related suspensions your notification will read something like this: “We have removed your Amazon selling privileges because of buyer complaints about the condition or description of items they received from you.”
Many sellers feel betrayed after receiving a suspension, and understandably so because they never saw it coming. To recover your account, Amazon expects you to craft a plan of action centered on the information confined within the notifications. For a successful appeal, you need to convince Amazon that you fully comprehend the reasons for your suspension and have faith in the plan they have for solving your issue and enhancing selling practices.
How to Best Avert Removal of Your Selling Privileges
You may be thinking to yourself “I am a seasoned seller on Amazon, my account is fine.” Only to find out later that your account has been suspended. Suspensions can happen to any merchant account; no one is immune. A good instance is that of Ryan Grant, an FBA Seller with remarkable seller metrics. Ryan did not give a response to four notifications pertaining blocked listings. The reason was simple; he did not plan to continue selling the products.
By ignoring these warnings and failure to respond led to his suspension.
Maybe he thought that by him being a big-time seller on the platform, he was untouchable. That is the first myth which many sellers perceive to be true. Amazon can suspend anyone. The second myth is thinking that if you are suspended twice, you are out.
Learn from Mistakes.
In life, it is wise to learn from other people’s mistakes. You cannot live long enough to learn from your mistakes. The same applies to business. Do not wait until it is too late for you to recover your account. Knowing the causes of suspensions will help you avoid making the same mistakes. Yesterday was the best time to prevent your account being suspended. Today is the second best day. Prevention is always better than cure.
Communication is essential. If Amazon has an issue with your account, like when your performance metrics go down by a wide margin, they usually communicate through a policy warning. They take their time to give you their reasons. Return the favor and fix the mess by openly telling them what you are doing to resolve the situation.
Below Are Five Seller General Practices You Need to Take into Consideration.
Rule 1: be very observant and aggressive. Request Amazon to put an annotation on your seller account to show that the ASIN was legitimate. Check your reports regularly. Be keen on your Imperfect Order, Product Returns and Negative Feedback you receive from clients. Also, keep a close eye on your messaging and A-Z claims. Pay attention to packaging and shipping. Ensure timely shipping and proper packaging to avoid complaints from customers. Delayed and late deliveries can mess up your account and Buy Box Percentage. Amazon has in recent times given more attention to customer satisfaction levels. To maintain a happy working relationship with Amazon, keep your clients happy and satisfied. Review your shipping, returns and refund policies regularly to avoid trouble.
Rule 2: download the official Amazon Seller App to interact with your customers quickly. Prompt responses mean more positive reviews. The app is available on both the Android and iOS platforms. Pay close attention to your listings. New products should be labeled as “new” and used ones “used.” Ensure your products are listed according to the appropriate condition category. Used items should be scrutinized to ensure that all parts are available and in good shape.
Rule 3: re-read your listings to double check for any probable red flags. Avoid selling generic items as private label. If you are selling private label, remember to inform Amazon and your potential customers what makes your merchandise different from similar goods on the site. When describing your product, be honest and accurate. Avoid giving false information just to please the buyer.
Rule 4: Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) sellers need to review, close and archive old listings. Merchant Fulfilled Sellers, on the other hand, should delete the listings. A good idea is switching to FBA to help minimize e-commerce fraud. Your product return and refund policy should be reasonable as they are part of the selling game. Remember customer is king. You may feel disappointed but just accept the return and issue the refund as required. Do not forget to ask for a positive feedback after issuing a refund. It is better than receiving negative reviews that will taunt the image and reputation of your business. Do not allow a few disgruntled clients destroy your seller feedback rating.
Rule 5: never sell counterfeit products. Be careful when dealing with purchasing cheap goods from liquidators like AliExpress and eBay. This may give rise to bogus claims. It will not end well with you.
Steps to Appealing Against Your Suspension
1. If your account is suspended, scrutinize your account thoroughly and pay close attention to ASINs that possess prior policy warning.
2. Identify the reason/s for your suspension.
3. If you are at fault, do the honorable thing by taking full responsibility. Acknowledge your mistakes.
4. Reassure Amazon that you are devoted to providing outstanding customer service and tell them that you understand it is a privilege to sell your products on their site.
5. Never disapprove the company’s product quality process.
Conclusion
Come up with an in-depth plan of action centered on your internal account findings to increase your odds of a successful appeal. Do not let the investigators ask for additional information as it will result in your appeal being delayed. Do it right the first time. Put extra effort in your initial submission because Amazon may not offer you the chance to submit a second revised plan. Identify the reason/s that you believe the buyers complained about the quality of your merchandise.
List solutions that state what you will do to resolve the issue and why it won’t happen again. Be brief and precise. Avoid sounding all defensive and emotional.