You’re an Amazon seller and you discover your account or product has been suspended. How do you begin the process to get your Amazon store reinstated?
There is good news: You can submit a Plan of Action Your to have your suspension lifted. Most suspended accounts are reactivated within five days.
THINGS TO KNOW:
•Your suspension will be reviewed by a real person with whom you will be communicating.
•You won’t know their name. Your case might be handled by various individuals; however, your Plan of Action and all other potential communications will be reviewed by real people.
Step 1: PINPOINT THE AMAZON POLICY THAT WAS VIOLATED
Your notice may indicate an issue with your listing images but not specify the particular issue or image(s) in violation. Unfortunately, seller central doesn’t always clearly convey this information.
USEFUL TIPS:
• Use the Seller Forum to your benefit. Find other sellers who have had the same issue.
• Request that Seller Support distinctly clarifies which policies/images/etc. are in violation.
• Review the guidelines for the area of business your suspension relates to. Is there anything that stands out or indicates an obvious infraction? The most common reasons for suspension are summarized HERE.
Once you have identified the policy you’ve violated, proceed to step 2.
Step 2: CORRECT THE VIOLATIONS
Ensure your Amazon business, listing, and other information meet Amazon’s standard of rules and guidelines by making any necessary changes to your account.
TIP: Document the process – you can use it in your Plan of Action.
Step 3: WRITE & SUBMIT A PLAN OF ACTION
Submitting a Plan of Action begins the appeal process.
In it, you are required to identify the violation(s) that have caused your suspension.
Here are the important areas to address in your Plan of Action:
BE TRANSPARENT
Don’t make excuses. The people reviewing your Plan of Action don’t care. From their perspective, you knowingly violated Amazon guidelines. What are you going to do to fix it?
DON’T POINT FINGERS
Blaming Amazon or your customers can worsen your case. Your goal is to resume business as soon as possible. As far as Amazon is concerned, the customer is always right. Keep your eye on the prize.
USE BULLET POINTS AND SCREENSHOTS
A Plan of Action should be easy to read and to-the-point.
•Identify every point of concern addressed in your suspension notification
•Respond to each allegation
•Explain the state of your seller account when you received the suspension notification
•Describe how you’ve corrected all violations
•Provide a statement ensuring the infractions never happen again
INSIDE INFO: Amazon is seeking a show of commitment from you that you are dedicated to following the platform’s policies and guidelines. While this may seem like a formality, it is imperative. Don’t forget to include relevant details such as ASINs, listing elements, invoices, etc.
Ready to write yours?
Here is an example of a well-written Plan of Action found on the seller forum.
This suspension relates to Review Manipulation – a very serious offense.
Seller Central required the seller to address the following:
1. To reactivate your account, please send the following: A detailed description of all methods used to post or obtain customer reviews prohibited by Amazon policies.
2. Contact information (name, email address, website, etc.) for any third parties you engaged with to obtain prohibited reviews or manipulate reviews.
3. Identifying information for any customer accounts you or a third-party used to post prohibited reviews.
4. A list of any prohibited reviews remaining on the Amazon site.
5. A detailed plan describing your plan for preventing future product review manipulation.
As you can see from reviewing this example, the appeal process takes time. This particular seller submitted five versions of her Plan of Action before being successfully reinstated. Here’s some helpful advice to consider while writing:
TAKE YOUR TIME
Understandably, you may feel inclined to submit your appeal as quickly as possible. Your business is suspending and you’re losing sales! However, rushing can prolong the appeals process.
You don’t want to send your first appeal and wait for a response, only to discover you must revise and resubmit.
PINPOINT THE PRECISE VIOLATION(S).
Fix it. Properly address all concerns mentioned in your suspension notification, and write a well-constructed Plan of Action in response/appeal will help the process of getting your Amazon store reinstated.
Revising and Resubmitting a Plan of Action
Your first plan of action might require revision. You can submit revisions as many times as needed unless the worst-case scenario happens: you get banned in the process. Your appeal will be successful if you follow the steps for submitting a Plan of Action.
OTHER USEFUL ADVICE:
Amazon sends out email notifications regarding updates to their policies. Read it! Sellers often get suspended for being unaware of new guidelines or policies.
•Follow the guidelines and ensure that you are not doing anything nefarious.
•Do not to sell other sellers’ products
•Do not buy reviews or abuse any other part of the platform
•Keep your seller score high
•Respond to customer questions
•If you begin experiencing high rates-of-returns, correct/address them
•Enforce quality control
If you get suspended, follow these steps:
•Identify the policies you’ve violated
•Correct them
•Provide a detailed Plan of Action; both for how you fixed violations and your commitment to preventing future violations
Amazon cares more about its customers than it cares about its sellers; however, it’s uncommon that they suspend or ban seller accounts without cause. Follow this advice to get your Amazon store reinstated, and check out our blog, Top Reasons Why Your Amazon Account was Suspended, to avoid making mistakes in the future.
