Amazon is a giant playing field of sellers, both good and bad. Unfortunately, there are times when the Amazon sellers, who think they are following Amazon’s guidelines to a T, fall short and get caught with a listing or account suspension. Now what? Your business has halted. But don’t panic, there are steps to take proactively so you can avoid this issue altogether or, if you find yourself in Amazon suspension, steps to take to determine and correct the issues.
3 Steps to Suspension Proof Your Amazon Account
The key to surviving on Amazon is to play by the rules. Now, we know that the list of guidelines to follow is long and can be intimidating. If you are unsure about something, ask or hire a consultant who knows what they’re doing. You don’t want to run the risk of having your Amazon business suspended, and jeopardize your income and profits.
Understanding Amazon's Thinking
For safety complaints, Amazon does not only go by metrics or numbers. Individual safety complaints matter. When dealing with intellectual property infringement Amazon will error on the side of suspend first.
Always Review Your Account
Amazon is not a set it and forget it type of platform. It’s important to monitor your account regularly, especially focusing on the ‘seller performance’ section within your seller dashboard.
- Be aware of ASIN level complaints. They can lead to a manual review of all your ASINs or accounts.
- Also, pay close attention to returns and return reasons. What are your customers saying? Ask yourself, will this concern Seller Performance?
Take Action Immediately
Don’t waste time. Make sure you answer questions that are being asked and provide the correct documentation. Understand that investigators are inconsistent. They are under pressure to ensure they don’t reinstate a bad seller. Give them the proof that you are legit. Make sure your account is in good health: growing revenue, resolving policy violations, metrics in good standing and maintaining accurate or excellent PDPs.
Types of Amazon Account Suspension
Counterfeit Allegations
Unfortunately this is something that many businesses will face. Be prepared with having information ready to defend your own brand against counterfeit, intellectual property or trademark infringement. You may see the term ‘inauthentic’ used for your brand, however, this does not necessarily mean a counterfeit complaint. It could just mean that it did not meet customers expectations regarding product performance.
Safety Complaints
Safety is one area that Amazon takes extremely seriously. If you receive a safety complaint you’ll need to show due diligence. How do you ensure safety in your products over time? This could be through inspections, quality assurance methods or changing suppliers. It’s important to be specific. You need proof to eliminate these complaints because you may not get another chance.
The Timeline for Account Suspension
Time is of the essence when dealing with Amazon suspension. This is also why we stress the importance of checking your account and the ‘seller performance’ located in your Amazon dashboard on a regular basis.
If you can't navigate the appeal process on your own, enlist the help of a professional. They've been down this road before and help save you valuable time and get your Amazon business up and running again.
440% Increase in Sales, After Being Flagged
By Amazon
A former client and leader in mold and mildew products was faced with a major issue that was affecting their sales. Amazon was flagging all of their products as needing EPA registration and pulling their listings down one by one. Within 11 days Awesome Dynamic was able to relist the client's top selling product. Read More.
My Account is Suspended, Now What
No matter how much prep and rule following you abide by, sometimes things get muddy and you could find your business in Amazon suspension. The tricky thing is getting back in the door can be tricky. Our biggest piece of advice is this:
What You Need To Do For An Amazon Suspension
Launch an Internal Investigation
You need to find out why Amazon is taking this action against your business. Review all previous warnings, violation reports, customer complaints, negative feedback and product reviews. Look for patterns that provide clues as to why Amazon is suspending your account and to learn of related issues so you can hopefully avoid a situation like this in the future.
Explain the Root Causes
When you file your Plan of Action (POA) you need to be clear in explaining why these findings are the way they are so they can understand. You also need to address how you are fixing these issues.
Before you get started writing your POA make sure you do your due diligence. Review everything from listings and suppliers to product quality and operations. Don’t waste their time or yours telling them things they already know or things that Amazon told you about. And never make excuses.
Plan of Action
You need to clearly show how you’ve made changes so this will never happen again as well as how you are being proactive to avoid a situation in the future. Additionally, you will need to share how you solved the problem.
Present viable solutions, not just what you think they want to see. Implement these solutions and ensure that they are successful before you submit the appeal. Do not talk about your future plans if the problem persists. Amazon wants to hear how you are ending it now.
Formatting, Editing & Proofing
Making sure your POA is clear, concise and to the point is critical. You don’t have time to waste - as this is affecting your sales and growth potential. Start out with having your best writer in charge of this process. When they write the POA use bullet points and not paragraphs. It’s important that the information is easily skimmable. Keep in mind that investigators only take a few minutes to read the appeal.
An Amazon suspension can cause unwanted stress. It is critical for your business to keep your Amazon account in good health. Stay on top of warnings, violation reports, complaints, negative feedback and reviews so you can hopefully avoid or lessen the time it takes to get your account out of Amazon suspension.
If all of this just seems like too much, we’re here to help. Our team is well-equipped to help handle account suspension situations. Schedule your free consultation to get started today.
