Unfortunately, there are far too many Amazon sellers who blatantly abuse their privilege to sell on Amazon. Perhaps it’s because these sellers don’t realize the power that Amazon has, or perhaps they do not believe a suspension will ever really happen to their account. News flash: Amazon is incredibly powerful. Amazon has the authority to suspend your account at any moment, and unfortunately, Amazon will ban your account permanently if you don’t follow their rules.
There is a reason for the wording used in Amazon suspension notices: Your selling privileges have been removed.
Note one crucial word: privilege. Selling on Amazon is not considered a right – it is, in fact, a privilege. Having the ability to access the enormous client base Amazon has generated over the years is a huge asset for every seller, regardless of whether the seller is a major corporation or an individual.
While we do not think that Amazon should be permitted to unilaterally terminate a seller’s ability to do business on Amazon.com, Amazon still considers every Amazon seller to be under a contract “at will.” This means that Amazon believes that its contract with sellers is valid and they can terminate any seller at any time for any reason. We have substantial law that supports a finding that the agreement between Amazon Sellers and Amazon should not be enforced… And that the provisions that give Amazon unilateral power should not be enforced. However, unless you are prepared to fight the issue, Amazon Sellers should recognize how Amazon interprets their contract.
10 Simple Steps to Get Banned by Amazon
1. Ignore your customers
Amazon prides itself on its superb customer service – that’s how they built their empire. If you’d like to destroy your seller account, ignoring your customer messages is a great place to start. Amazon considers consumers to be the most important aspect of their business and it makes sense. Without consumers, there is no reason for Amazon. Their money is made by moving products to consumers. 3rd party sellers make their money by selling products to consumers. If you want to do well on AMZ, you have to do everything possible to keep consumers happy.
2. Chose quantity over quality
The quality of your products is paramount to be successful on Amazon. It’s understandable that as a seller, you’d like to have plenty of opportunities for profit – but it is always better to have a few hundred flawless listings than to have several thousand listings with errors. You’ll inevitably get too many buyer complaints due to poor quality.
3. Disregard your performance metrics
Your customer metrics matter. These numbers are how Amazon decides how valuable of a seller you are. Pay attention to these numbers and adjust accordingly if you want to avoid an Amazon suspension.
4. Avoid contact with your customers
Communication is key. It’s better to be the bearer of bad news than to ghost the customers. Inform the customer! Ask how they would like you as a seller to best resolve the issue. The worst thing to do is ignore issues and avoid contacting customers, even if you have bad news for them. Amazon considers every consumer to be Amazon’s consumer not the third-party seller’s consumer. This thought process is embedded in their entire business model when it comes to third-party sellers. If and when you are writing a plan of action because your account or your listing was suspended, do not refer to the consumer as your consumer or your customer.
5. Do not issue refunds
Selling on Amazon means you’ll need to cater to the customers more than you’d like to – this means issuing refunds a bit more freely, even if you know you weren’t wrong. This is a small price to pay when you have access to all of Amazon’s loyal customers. If and when you have a problem with a consumer, even if the consumer is pulling a scam on you, provide refunds. It is much better to give a consumer a refund and lose a little bit of money than to lose your account or your best listing and lose a lot of money.
6. False advertising
Listing products with inaccurate descriptions, photos, and key points are all surefire ways to get your account banned. Amazon takes misleading their customers very seriously. When the customers receive an item they don’t expect, the flood of buyer complaints is a surefire way to get banned.
7. Charge the customer for return shipping
If you don’t currently offer prepaid return shipping labels, change your settings now. You can easily provide prepaid shipping labels for customers that are automatically generated by Amazon. Though it’s not required by Amazon, it’s strongly recommended.
8. Disregard existing trademarks and copyrights
If you think you can simply grab an image from Google search and print your own version, you’re wrong. Before you list an item that you think is an original design, check for existing trademarks to make sure you’re covered or you may be banned by Amazon.
9. Allow other staff members to access your seller account
Not only is this is a security risk, but it also makes accountability nearly impossible. Large Amazon seller accounts will inevitably allow many staff members to access the account. This may increase efficiency in the short-term, but as soon as a complaint comes in, you’ll have no way of knowing who is accountable. Restrict access to trusted managers only, or assign separate logins so you can trace the mistake and inform the staff member of their error to ensure it does not happen again.
10. Neglecting services offered by FBA
Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA) is a service provided by Amazon that provides storage, packaging, and shipping assistance to sellers. Sure, many successful sellers stick to a strictly merchant-fulfilled operation. But the most successful sellers realize the power and convenience of utilizing Fulfillment by Amazon. Dana Rodriguez shares, “some benefits to using FBA are that it allows the seller to list their products on a pre-existing Amazon page and also allows the seller to be eligible to sell on Amazon Prime.” Yes, you need to pay a bit extra, but in the long run, it’s worth it to go FBA all the way.
If you’ve been banned by Amazon, contact us. We’re here for sellers every day: MON-FRI: 9am – 8pm, SAT & SUN: 10am – 6pm EST
? CALL 1-877-9-SELLER FOR A FREE CONSULTATION
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