Having a seller account on a popular e-commerce portal like Amazon is an achievement in itself. It shows your readiness and ability as a seller to make your product available to millions of customers. However, selling on Amazon also has its own set of challenges or disciplines.
Amazon’s ideology is to make every customer happy, no matter what. Failing to abide by this ideology will lead to your account getting suspended. There are numerous reasons that can get your account suspended on Amazon. Let’s have a look at some of those:
a. Poor Account Health: If your account health is not up to the mark, then it is highly possible that Amazon will suspend your account. Negative customer feedback is also something that Amazon takes very seriously as customer satisfaction is their utmost priority.
b. Paid or fake reviews: There are some sellers who generate fake and biased reviews by giving out discounted or free products to some customers. If a seller account is found encouraging such activities, Amazon can immediately suspend that account.
c. Operating multiple accounts: As per Amazon’s guidelines, only one account is allowed per seller. If you are found selling the same product on different accounts managed by you without prior approval, then your account might get suspended.
d. Selling illegal or restricted products: Amazon is a global marketplace and hence its policies keep on changing from time to time. You must constantly monitor the changes in this policy to ensure that the product you are selling or are legally allowed by Amazon and follow the guidelines set by Amazon.
Other than this, metrics like order defect rate, pre-fulfillment cancel rate and late dispatch rate are closely monitored by Amazon. If your account lacks these metrics, there are high chances of the account getting suspended.
Following are the ways by which you can ensure that you leave no leaf unturned when it comes to safeguarding your Amazon account from suspension:
1. Delivering authentic products:
Poor customer feedback is something that is taken very seriously by Amazon. If you wish to avoid getting negative feedback for your products, it is important to ensure that you are selling authentic products with high-quality standards. Your products should not be a replica or counterfeit and should not miss any important part or material which makes them difficult to use.
Before listing your product, it is important to check that your product does not fall in the list of restricted products by Amazon. In addition to this, you should clearly mention the condition of your product in the best possible manner. Amazon has six options that allow you to describe the condition of your product. These are New, Refurbished, Used (Like New), Used (Very Good), Used (Good) and Used (Acceptable).
2. Communicating with your customers:
Amazon holds customer satisfaction at the highest level and hence as a seller, you need to ensure that you are doing everything in your power to keep your buyer well-informed. Responding to your customer queries at the earliest and seeing to it that they are resolved is the best way to strengthen the bond with them.
Fake and incentivized reviews are dealt with with strict measures by Amazon, which is why you should concentrate on generating organic reviews. Manipulating your customer to get positive reviews will mostly lead to account suspension and will make it difficult for you to get it reinstated as well.
3. Monitoring account health:
You need to regularly monitor your account health to ensure that it meets the performance targets set by Amazon. As a thumb rule, your order defect rate should be 1% or lower, pre-fulfillment cancel rate of 2.5% or lower and late shipment rate of 4% or lower.
In case you see a red flag with your shipping time or customer service, take immediate steps to resolve that issue in order to prevent Amazon account suspension. Having a dedicated customer support team should get the job done quite easily.
Creating a Plan of Action (POA) is absolutely necessary in case your account gets suspended. Your appeal should include the issues that led to your account suspension along with your plan of action to resolve those issues. After the submission of your appeal, Amazon will update you about its status in 48 hours.
Getting the account suspended can happen to any seller, small or big. The crux here is to not panic in that situation and keep your cool to figure out the flaws and work on fixing them.
For further information on bringing back your suspended account, you may contact us or visit our website www.bmconsulting.in
***This blog is compiled by Shardul Sant***