While there are many negative things that can be said about Amazon and their business practices, we must recognize that they have provided a solid platform for small independent sellers to reach a worldwide audience and showcase their products in an efficient manner. But the platform comes with a lot of rules, which, when broken, can cost you a lot in time, money and distress.
Since Amazon’s goal is to sell more, their policies often focus on protecting buyers, not sellers, and as such can be quite strict and lead to account suspension over seemingly small problems. While there are more than a few reasons why your account could be suspended, some of the main reason are as follows.
5 main reasons why your account might be suspended when selling on Amazon
1. Selling Forbidden Products
Countries and regions all have regulations over what can and cannot be sold, and since Amazon is a global retailer, they also have to adhere to these restrictions. Additionally, they also have to take into consideration shipping issues and safety concerns for personnel that works for them, and as such they have very strict policies regarding dangerous materials that they do not allow to be sold in their platform.
These include explosives, dangerous chemicals, weapons, medical devices without regulatory approval, tobacco, and offensive or illegal content. There are some exceptions to this rule, as not all of the items listed above are in the same category, but if the platform finds that violated their rules and include anything on this list in your inventory, you could face severe penalties, including the destruction of your products, withholding of payments, and termination of your account.
2. Suspicious Payment Activity
Credit card fraud is sadly a very common occurrence and ecommerce platforms are rife with scammers trying to get to your personal information and card number. Amazon is not one of those platforms and as primarily a tech company they have invested a lot in cybersecurity to protect their customers. This is why if a shop on their platform violated their fiduciary responsibility and tried to profit unduly from the information they have been provided, like for example by making an abrupt change in payment methods or unusual movements in funds, the account may be automatically suspended until the situation is clarified.
Any potential instances of fraud are dealt with in this manner, and although sometimes it turns out to be a systems error, Amazon prefers to clear things up after suspending the account than to have more transactions be flagged and more unhappy customers.
3. Inconsistent Personal Information
Identity verification is essential to operating as a seller on Amazon in order to not get in trouble with tax authorities all over the world, and so if the registered information (such as legal name, address, or tax documents) is incorrect or does not match the official documentation, the platform may preemptively close the account.
Always verify local laws and Amazon’s own regulations when trying to open a storefront in another country or through a third party to ensure that all the information matches records and does not violate policy.
4. Review Manipulation and Policy Violations
Since customers are always at the forefront of Amazon’s shopping experience, one of the main tools that they use is reviews to see if a product is worth it or not. This is why sellers can be penalized for anything that could be construed as review manipulation, like asking family or friends to leave fake reviews, offering discounts in exchange for positive comments, or creating fake accounts to do this themselves. Any of these practices can lead to a direct penalty, but it goes further than that, selling counterfeit products or violating any other quality or transparency standards may be grounds for permanent suspension.
5. Misuse of Gift or Credit Cards
Amazon also pays special attention to gift or credit cards. If the use of stolen or expired cards is detected, or if the system suspects fraudulent practices linked to these payment methods, an immediate investigation will result. Depending on the case, this measure may result in a temporary suspension or permanent closure of the account.