Amazon is notorious not only for its size and power but for strict rules for its 3rd-party sellers.
There is a saying among seasoned Amazon sellers, that “it’s not a question of IF you will be suspended, it’s only a question of WHEN”.
In this article, we’ll be covering one of the most common seller suspension types — related Amazon seller accounts suspension (section 3).
We also want to note that it’s more often than not that Amazon is not willing to reinstate suspended accounts.
In that case, the only option for the seller is to buy a new Amazon seller account.
It’s no secret that we provide this service as well and can provide you with a top-notch seller store that is fully approved and ready to list products.
But now let’s dive in to the guide.
Amazon has strict rules and regulations in place for selling products with a wide list of restricted products and rules sellers have to follow. If your account gets suspended, it can prove to be a huge dent in your income and your account’s reputation is also put at stake.
To begin with, what does a suspended account mean? It means that your current selling account is non-functional and you cannot add additional products to your listing. You have an opportunity to submit an appeal within 17 days of being provided the suspension notice email by Amazon. Your account being suspended can be worrying and stressful but with this guide on why your Amazon Seller Account was suspended (particularly for Section 3 – related accounts) and the next course of action we can help you get it back!
Why Was Your Amazon Seller Account Suspended (Related Account Suspension)?
When you get suspended, the first thing to do is to read through the Amazon suspension notice email carefully to figure out where you went wrong (although that’s not always clear, because amazon is known for sending very generic, automatic emails).
But in Related Accounts case — it means that Amazon has thought and detected that your current seller account is associated with another seller account on their marketplace (which is not allowed according to their terms).
Why did it happen? There could be dozens of different factors, ranging from same IP, same PC, same address, name or etc. used on any 2 different amazon seller accounts.
Amazon judges your selling performance based on some other metrics as well. Therefore, to understand where you went wrong it is essential to understand these metrics first.
- Pre-fulfillment cancellation rate: This refers to the number of orders canceled by the seller before shipment divided by a total number of orders for that time period. A high pre-cancellation rate is related to mismanaged inventory. Amazon recommends sellers maintain a cancellation rate of less than 2.5% to avoid suspension.
- Order Defect Rate (ODR): This indicates the percentage of seller’s orders that have received negative reviews, or problems with their received order. Amazon recommends sellers have ODR below 1% to avoid suspension.
- Late shipment rate: This metric refers to orders that have been shipped after the shipment date divided by a total number of orders for that time.
In this case, “Related accounts suspension” is not “officially” mentioned in Amazon’s “good practices” section and etc. But they do definitely scan and monitor each and every account on their marketplace.
This is The Email You Will Usually Get When Suspended for Related Amazon Accounts Section 3:
Your Amazon.com Seller account has been deactivated in accordance with section 3 of Amazon’s Business Solutions Agreement. Your listings have been disabled. Funds will not be transferred to you but will be held in your account while we work with you to address this issue. This may take up to 90 days, but funds may be held longer. Please ship any open orders to avoid further impact to your account.
We found that your account is related to an account that may not be used to sell on our site. As a result, you may no longer sell on Amazon.com.
How do I reactivate my account?
In order to reactivate this Selling account, please follow the below steps:
You must first reactivate any and all accounts that have been enforced for policy violation by submitting one appeal for each enforcement. Please follow the instructions in the communication received for that account.
You can also appeal enforcements by signing into your primary Seller Central account and accessing your Performance Notifications for each region in which you operate an account. Submit an appeal for all accounts, except the account that is deactivated for a related account, by clicking the appeal button in the notification received for each account.
Once you have successfully reactivated that account, please submit an appeal to reactivate the current account, by using this link: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/performance/notifications. When submitting the appeal, you will need to provide us with the name of the account that was reactivated and the date of reactivation.
What if I don’t own the separate account(s)?
If you believe you do not own the separate account(s), please follow the below steps:
If you once owned the account/were a rights owner but no longer own it/no longer have account rights, please submit an appeal following this https://sellercentral.amazon.com/performance/notifications and provide supporting documentation to show that you no longer own it/no longer have any relationship to this account. Supporting documentation may include sales deed, purchase agreement, or business transfer agreement, contract termination, etc.
If you have never owned a separate account and believe this de-activation was in error, please submit an appeal following this https://sellercentral.amazon.com/performance/notifications and confirm that this account does not belong to you. If we cannot substantiate the claim, your account will not be reinstated and this account will not be allowed to do business on Amazon in the future.
What happens if I do not send the requested information?
If you do not provide a valid appeal, or choose not to appeal the deactivation, after 90 days following this notification, you may separately request a funds disbursement by contacting [email protected]. We will conduct a separate investigation to evaluate your account and if we find that you have engaged in deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity; or have abused our systems or repeatedly violated our Policies that protect our customers and selling partners, we may withhold some or all funds in your account.
Regards,
Seller Performance Team
https://www.amazon.com
The most common reasons why your account might’ve been suspended for “Related Accounts” are:
- Using public wifi to access your account
- Using a PC that was previously associated with another Amazon account
- Using an address that was previously used with another Amazon account
- and many more technical issues
Once you have figured out why your Amazon account was suspended, the next step is to draft a Plan of Action (PoA) and submit an appeal to get your Seller Account back.
How to Remove Your Related Amazon Accounts Suspension?
Once your account gets suspended, it is a lucrative option to open a second account but Amazon will figure out this tactic and link the suspended account with your current account. Not only will they suspend your second account but any hopes you have of getting your first account back will also be lost.
The best course of action is to draft a brief, to-the-point Plan of Action (PoA) that includes a brief intro, steps you have taken to correct your reason for suspension, and steps you have taken to prevent it from happening again. Amazon Seller Performance Investigators see thousands of appeals per day so it is important to draft a well-thought-out appeal that contains all the facts. This leads to a better chance for the appeal to be approved.
Plan of Action letters generally follow a set template and include:
- Intro: Give a brief intro of your suspension, acknowledge any oversights or mistakes on your part, and then state that you are dedicated to customer service and Amazon’s policies.
- Solutions: State the reason for your suspension and iterate that you have taken steps to improve your business. Include proof of solutions. For example, if your products are out of stock, add a receipt for a rush inventory order as proof.
- Closing Statement: Come up with a concise, to-the-point closing statement. Furthermore, provide solutions to ensure the suspension does not happen again.
Additional tips to write an effective PoA for Amazon Related Account Suspension:
- Be concise and to the point. Omit any unnecessary detail.
- List your main concerns in bullet points and avoid being unnecessarily verbose.
- Provide all the facts about your suspension and solutions to avoid the appeal from being rejected.
- Do not get emotional. Amazon does not need a heartfelt apology, they need an objective, PoA.
- Be professional in all interactions with Seller Support and keep a level head.
- Take responsibility for your actions rather than criticizing Amazon and its methods or customers.
- Do not get defensive. Take a moment to collect your thoughts, keep calm and accept your mistake.
Conclusion
With this detailed guide, we hope you can identify why your Seller Account got suspended for a Related Accounts issue and how to remove it.
We also want to note that even if you write a PERFECT plan of action and you’re deeply sorry for your mistakes — it doesn’t guarantee reinstatement from Amazon’s side.
While it might sound devastating that your account is now gone for good — in reality, it’s not that bad — we can always help you to get back to selling once again by providing you with a new, fresh, and clean seller account. Just contact us and we’ll get back to you ASAP.