You open your email and BAM! You see a notice, it’s an Amazon suspension notice. What do you do now that your Amazon seller account privileges have been suspended?
Creating a Plan of Action
Well, after a few deep breaths, it’s time to start crafting a Plan of Action. You can write your own Plan of Action or get help from our team that drafts numerous Plans of Action each week for suspended Amazon sellers.
Whether you write the Plan of Action yourself or you get help, you need to know the basic information every Plan of Action should contain.
Root Cause:
Review the reason for the suspension Amazon provided to you, look at your business and come up with “root causes” of the problem. There must be something that you can do better that may have prevented the problem. We have learned from insiders at Amazon and in their “Leadership Principals,” they want you to take responsibility for the problem.
“Remember to review all feedback, look for a pattern (ie crushed package) to correct. Also, check performance notifications and address any specific issues cited when drafting a Plan of Action,” states Jason, paralegal at Rosenbaum, Famularo & Segall, PC.
Immediate Remedy:
Identify what you already did to remedy the Amazon complaint. For example, give the customer a refund, send them another unit, make the customer happy. Even with really bad customers, make them happy. Better to lose money on one customer than to lose an entire day or week or weeks of sales.
Systemic Changes to Your Business to Prevent Future Issues – Explain to Amazon the long term and systemic changes you have made to your business so that Amazon will not receive complaints, problems, returns, etc., on your account in the future.
“In order to avoid rejection of a Plan of Action, a seller should always be sure to implement the changes they say they will,” states Ashley, Paralegal at Rosenbaum Famularo, P.C.
Where many people get held up is actually writing the Plan of Action or filling in the spaces in the Appeal button. Your Plan of Action / appeal is nothing more than an exercise in persuasive writing: you are trying to persuade the Amazon employee reading your Plan of Action to reinstate your account. Craft yours to fit the reader who is likely in India, overworked and underpaid.
“When we draft a Plan of Action, one of the things we focus on is being thorough and succinct. The Amazon employees who are reviewing your Plan of Action often have a very limited amount of time to review your appeal. Respond to the performance notification EXACTLY as requested by Amazon, do not make any emotional pleas,” states Sean Law, Paralegal at Rosenbaum Famularo, PC.
CJ’s Notes: The goal of each Plan of Action is to persuade the person at Amazon to reinstate your account or ASIN. Be concise and persuasive. Provide the information that was asked for. When Amazon asks for more information, the person that asked for the information is probably not going to be the person reading your response. Make it easy for Amazon’s team to reinstate your account. After cross-examining multiple witnesses produced by Amazon at arbitrations it is my impression that the people at Amazon have significant quotas to meet. Make their job easy. Be persuasive.
In the past, Amazon suspension case reviewers were mostly based in the United States (often in Seattle near Amazon headquarters). Now, the vast majority of Amazon suspension appeals are read in India.
That means that when you’re crafting your appeal letter, you need to consider the person reading it. Try to avoid using U.S. based analogies. For instance, they may not understand it if you make a reference to NFL football — that’s a sport only played in the United States. In addition to India, Plans of Action are being read in Ireland and Costa Rica.
Drafting Plan of Actions
Drafting Plan of Action: Keep it short, concise and outlined so that the reader, no matter where they are located, can quickly and easily understand the ROOT cause of the problem, the IMMEDIATE solution that you offer, and how you will PREVENT the same problem from happening again.
GET HELP NOW: The law firm of Rosenbaum, Famularo & Segall, PC is required by law to assure you 100% confidentiality. We protect your privacy under the Attorney-Client Privilege.