The Amazon seller account: How to create your account, become a successful seller, and avoid account suspension
Every year, thousands of new sellers start selling on the Amazon platform. But before the first products are sold and big profits are made, the opening of an account with the online giant is required. How to build your FBA business, create and optimize your listings, or grab the Buy Box, you can learn everything in our further blog posts. However, this one is about the cradle of your success on Amazon: your Amazon seller account.
We clarify how to create your seller account on Amazon and also address the question of how to avoid an unpleasant account suspension with a few simple tips.
Creating the Amazon seller account: Here’s how
Your seller account is the access point to your commercial activities on the marketplace. You use it to log in to Amazon Seller Central later. There, you manage all settings related to your FBA inventory, shipping method, or listings – in short, Seller Central is the hub of your Amazon business.
First of all, you need to register. To do this, open this page from Amazon. There, click on the “Sell now” button, which will take you to Seller Central. Enter your information such as your name there. You will also choose a password at this point to protect your Amazon seller account.
The following will ask for some additional information from you or your company. So make sure you have this information on hand:
Which selling plan is right for me?
Depending on the goals you pursue as a seller, you can choose between different selling plans:
Regardless of which plan you choose, Amazon also charges a commission per sold item. This is based on the product category in which the respective product is listed. You can find a current overview of the selling fees here.
Step by Step: Setting Up an Amazon Seller Account
In the following section, we have summarized the steps to set up your own Amazon seller account in detail.
After clicking on “Complete Registration,” you have successfully created your Amazon seller account. However, you still cannot set up any products, as Amazon will first verify all your information and documents.
The worst-case scenario: The Amazon seller account has been suspended
It is the nightmare of every seller on Amazon: The seller account has been suspended. What follows are lengthy disputes with the online giant, in which you must prove that you are innocent or promise to improve – or simply both.
With a corrective action plan, you can usually lift the suspension, but it’s even better to prevent it from happening in the first place. Therefore, we want to provide you with six tips to avoid account suspension.
Why does Amazon take action against policy violations?
To detect policy violations or even legal violations, Amazon relies on artificial intelligence that identifies problematic pages and accounts. There are fundamentally two reasons why the online giant takes a tough stance against potential violations.
Self-Protection
On one hand, Amazon must also protect itself legally and shield against potential lawsuits. If legal violations occur on the marketplaces under the authority of the e-commerce giant and there have been no countermeasures, it is liable.
Customer Satisfaction
The customer is Amazon’s number one priority. If buyers receive counterfeit goods, are misled by fake reviews, or if seller performance is simply poor, customer trust in Amazon is undermined. It goes without saying that this is not in the interest of the trading platform.
6 Ultimate Tips on How to Avoid Account Suspension
Now let’s look at the triggers that can lead Amazon to suspend your seller account. The best tip we can give you is: Play by the rules. Even though it may sometimes seem that way, Amazon has no interest in arbitrarily and unjustifiably suspending seller accounts.
Admittedly, this is easier said than done, as there are quite a few Amazon policies. In addition, there are numerous legal requirements that you must comply with. Nevertheless, there are avoidable mistakes that we repeatedly encounter when accounts of sellers have been blocked by Amazon.
#1 Fake reviews are a bad idea
It’s no secret that reviews not only play a role in the placement of your offer in the Buy Box but also have a significant impact on customers’ purchasing decisions. It sounds tempting to just allocate a bit of budget and quickly buy some reviews, doesn’t it?
If you get caught, Amazon will suspend your seller account even before you have paid the invoice.
Even if you ask relatives or friends for a review, pressure customers, or try to incentivize a positive review with financial rewards such as a discount, Amazon reserves the right to close your seller account.
Therefore, it is better to rely on policy-compliant and legally sound methods. This includes actively asking for a review. Simply include a nice flyer with your shipment that describes how important honest feedback from your customers is to you. You can find more tips on how to generate more reviews on Amazon in our blog article and in this video:
By the way, too many negative seller ratings can also lead to account suspension. Which brings us to the next point: Seller performance.
#2 Out of Stock – out of business
Don’t panic. Temporary supply shortages do not immediately lead to the suspension of your seller account. However, you should still keep a close eye on your inventory levels. On one hand, you will lose the Buy Box if you run “out of stock.” If this happens too often, your Private Label products may even become disqualified for the shopping cart field.
On the other hand, your Amazon seller account will be suspended if the cancellation rate before order fulfillment exceeds the critical value of 2.5%. This is calculated based on the ratio of canceled orders to all orders. So if you have to cancel an order too often because you cannot deliver, you risk account suspension.
So make sure you keep your inventory under control. You can also get support from inventory management tools. Ensure that there is an automatic connection to Amazon to prevent overselling.
#3 Deliver on time, quickly, and intact
Make sure to ship orders quickly and, above all, on time. Keyword: Customer satisfaction. The online giant has set high standards regarding shipping.
When you ship your goods, provide a delivery date that should not be exceeded, as the rate of late deliveries is one of the indicators that determine the “health” of your account. If certain requirements are not met, your Amazon seller account may suffer and could be suspended.
The rate of late deliveries relates late shipments to the total number of all deliveries in the last 30 days. If it rises to 4% or more, account suspension is at risk.
No customer likes damaged products
Perfect shipping also means that the goods arrive undamaged at the buyer’s location. After all, customer satisfaction is greatly affected if the eagerly awaited product is broken or does not work.
Therefore, the rate of order defects is also an indicator of the health of your profile and a possible reason why Amazon may have suspended your seller account. It relates defective orders to all deliveries in the last 60 days. If the critical value of 1% is reached or exceeded, your time as an active seller may soon come to an end.
Prevent this by ensuring that all items are in perfect condition and make sure they are not damaged during shipping. Focus on quality control and cushioning packaging materials – especially when shipping fragile goods.
#4 Make customer service your priority
When you opened your account, you also agreed to Amazon’s seller policies. These state, among other things, that you must respond to customer inquiries within 24 hours – the sooner, the better.
If an inquiry does not require a response from you, you can mark it accordingly in Seller Central. If you exceed the response time, it may result in the suspension of your Amazon seller account.
The 24-hour rule also applies on weekends and holidays, by the way. So make sure you have coverage in case of doubt or outsource customer support.
Fulfillment by Amazon
In terms of customer service, shipping speed, and logistics, Amazon has set standards. It is particularly challenging for small to medium-sized sellers to meet similar standards. However, you can benefit from the experience of the e-commerce giant by using FBA. For this, you send your goods to a logistics center, where they are stored. From now on, Amazon takes care of the entire order process: picking and packing, shipping, customer support, and returns management. This way, you can minimize potential sources of error and also gain access to the affluent target audience of those who have a Prime subscription, as products shipped via FBA automatically receive Prime status.
#5 Deficient Product Detail Pages
Your seller account on Amazon can also be suspended if your product detail pages are inadequately designed. This can range from poor translations or erroneous texts to violations of intellectual property. Therefore, when creating and editing your listings, be sure to adhere to the relevant Amazon policies.
Especially images should be well chosen and verified. If the copyright of the images, for example, does not belong to you, it can have serious legal consequences that go far beyond account suspension. It is best to have professional images of your products taken, as these have a significant impact on customers’ purchasing decisions.
#6 Complete Information
Make sure that your information is complete. Outdated cancellation policies, missing documents such as business licenses, or an incomplete imprint are reasons for Amazon to temporarily suspend the account.
Especially if you want to trade internationally, this point is important for you. Because then you will be required to provide far more tax numbers than in national trade. So make sure that all your information is complete and correct, and if in doubt, get an expert by your side. Remember: Four eyes see more than two.
Will I be suspended immediately for the first mistake?
It depends on the nature of the offense. Your seller account will not be suspended immediately by Amazon if you do not respond within 24 hours once or if your order is delayed on rare occasions. However, if these issues accumulate, Amazon will take action.
The situation is different with allegations of plagiarism and similar legal matters. In this case, the account can be suspended immediately, as the online giant protects itself from legal actions against itself.
Your Amazon seller account is suspended – what you can do
In many cases, Amazon will ask you to submit a plan of action. In it, you explain how the problem occurred and what measures you have taken to resolve this issue and prevent it in the future. An explanation of how to best approach the Amazon plan of action can be found in our article on this topic.
By the way, if your Amazon seller account is suspended, you cannot open a new one, or the chances are extremely high that it will also be suspended immediately. Amazon generally does not allow a seller to maintain more than one seller account. While an exemption from this requirement is possible, you will need good reasons for it.
Stay factual in any case, even if you feel unfairly treated. The suspension of your seller account will certainly not be lifted faster if you insult the Amazon employees.
How long does the account suspension last?
Unfortunately, a blanket answer regarding the duration of the suspension would not be credible, as too many factors influence the length.
On one hand, there is the severity of the offense. While formal issues can often be resolved within a few days, legal violations can, in the worst case, lead to the permanent closure of the account.
Your cooperation also affects the duration of the suspension. The faster you provide Amazon with all the required documents, the quicker you can reactivate your Amazon seller account. Unfortunately, forums often report lengthy discussions with the online giant, even though all requested documents have already been submitted. In such cases, you should seek legal assistance.
Conclusion
The seller account is your access to Seller Central and thus to the hub of your Amazon business. The account is created quickly, and after reviewing your information and documents, you can start offering your products on Amazon. However, the seller account can also be quickly deactivated if you do not play by Amazon’s rules.
Once the Amazon seller account is suspended, you have a mountain of tasks ahead of you to get it reinstated. It is better to prevent this and not let it get that far, as many of the factors that lead to an account suspension are avoidable. Pay particular attention to fast shipping, honest reviews, stocked inventory, and optimal customer service.
Frequently Asked Questions
There can be many reasons why the seller account is suspended. The most common triggers are poor performance (such as a high cancellation rate), formal errors (e.g., in the imprint), or legal violations (such as purchasing reviews).
It is quite easy to sell on Amazon. You need a business, a product, and a seller account, which you can create quite easily. However, it is more challenging and a serious business to make a living as an Amazon seller.
First of all, stay calm and fix the internal processes that led to the suspension. Often, Amazon also requires a plan of action before your account is reinstated. If the suspension is unjustified or if you have problems with the reinstatement, legal assistance may also be necessary.
There is no blanket answer to this. For formal errors, the process can be completed within a few hours or days, while legal violations can take months. A permanent suspension is also possible.
Amazon has stated in its policies that each seller can generally only open one account. The chances of the new account being quickly blocked are very high.
Many sellers eventually decide to open an Amazon store. This is a good thing, as it allows their products to be showcased without suggesting competing products to the customer. However, if the seller account is blocked, the Amazon store is also “offline” and can no longer generate sales.
Image credits in the order of the images: © assia – stock.adobe.com / © sizsus – stock.adobe.com / © Jacob Lund – stock.adobe.com
