Your Amazon store was suddenly blocked, but you don’t know where the problem lies? Today we will take a look at the reasons why Amazon stores were blocked, and hope to find out the reasons why your Amazon store was blocked.
1. Amazon’s performance indicators are poor
Among the four performance indicators set by Amazon for sellers, order defect rate (ODR) <1%, pre-delivery cancellation rate <2.5%, late shipment rate <4%, and effective tracking rate >95%. If certain indicators of the seller's account do not perform well, they may receive warnings from Amazon, but Amazon will give the seller a time buffer period to improve. At worst, the store will be audited. However, if after a long period of time, the seller's performance indicators are still particularly poor, or there is no improvement at all, then it is not surprising that the account is blocked by Amazon. Among them, the order cancellation rate and delayed shipment rate led to store closures, indicating that sellers had problems with product inventory and delivery processes. The order cancellation rate refers to the order cancellation initiated by the seller, rather than the buyer. The late shipment rate refers to delayed shipment, or forgetting to notify the buyer and provide the tracking number after shipment.
Solution
1. Find out the cause and prevent it in advance
Pursuit of perfection: If you often sell some fixed products repeatedly, check the Imperfect Orders Report regularly to find out the sales patterns or products that customers are often dissatisfied with and request refunds.
Be proactive in dealing with issues: Pay attention to all bad information and product information pages, such as buyer complaints, negative reviews, return requests, etc., to find out what went wrong. Set higher goals for yourself than Amazon’s targets, and issue internal warnings when the targets are not met.
Improve return rates and customer service dissatisfaction rates: Clearly indicate your return policy; accept refunds within 48 hours of receiving the item; whenever you deny a return request, make sure it is completely justified; learn from past experience and try different approaches in your responses.
2. Solve the problem of order defect rate (ODR)
Try to convince the consumer or Amazon to remove the negative feedback;
Ask the supplier to ship the replacement product promptly to avoid AZ and negative feedback;
Provide better packaging, stricter quality control, increase delivery speed, and change suppliers if necessary based on customer complaints and comments;
Set up dedicated personnel to check product status, delivery process, etc.;
Pay more attention to customer feedback (relevant software can be used);
Adopt a safer performance tracking system to alert you before you reach Amazon limits.
3. Deal with order cancellation and delayed shipment rates
Update order processing time if it cannot be completed according to normal standards;
Check recent records to see whether the courier company has sent the goods in time;
There are several long-term solutions that you can mention in your appeal letter:
Increase overall sales to reduce order cancellation and late shipment rates;
Change suppliers or business models if the current model is no longer feasible;
If you are unable to process orders within a few days, make sure to change your website status to vacation mode;
hiring more packers, product handlers, and shippers;
Use more responsive inventory handling software;
Take steps to help monitors track these metrics more effectively.
2. Store closure due to selling counterfeit goods
Amazon's anti-counterfeiting policy is that any product sold on the Amazon website must be authentic, and the sale of unauthorized copies, pirated, and counterfeit products is prohibited. If someone complains about selling on the Amazon platform, the seller's account will easily be suspended by Amazon and the funds will be frozen. In this case, how to win back Amazon's favor and avoid repeating the same mistakes in the future will be the first problem that sellers have to solve.
Solution
1. Find the cause
1. Check whether the buyer has any misunderstandings
Buyers may think you are selling fake goods and file a complaint with Amazon before contacting you, even though they don’t mean to damage your business. In some cases, buyers may think this simply because the product does not have the original packaging or is missing some booklets, inlays, accessories, etc. In other cases, some buyers simply expect certain features of the original product—louder speakers, buttons that last longer—and if the product doesn’t meet their expectations, they assume it’s a fake.
Check the platform's regulations and anti-counterfeit policies
Check with the supplier: If you’ve been shut down for selling counterfeit goods and don’t know who actually owns the rights to sell the product, check with the manufacturer. Ask all suppliers where they source their products from, how they verify the authenticity of the products, and whether they are authorized to produce them.
2. Take precautions to avoid landmines
Ask for detailed invoices from suppliers, with the brand and manufacturer name clearly visible;
Make sure the document is named "Invoice" and not "Order Confirmation" or something similar, and save it in the correct format;
Avoid purchasing liquidation products as your primary source of inventory;
Check the Bottom Performers, Return Reports and Imperfect Orders in the seller account and solve any problems in time;
Research your suppliers and their competitors;
Find a supplier who can provide you with a quality inspection certificate, or only work with the manufacturer;
Look for warranties on all products; if you offer repairs and extended warranties, mention this in your listing;
Back up all your files on multiple hard drives and cloud storage;
Understand the supply chain in detail and be cautious about purchasing
3. Email appeal
Amazon wants you to understand why your selling privileges were revoked and to come up with a concrete, long-term solution. Therefore, the following measures may be included in the appeal email:
Solve the problems that caused the store to be closed, such as clarifying product sources and function issues;
Keep the original certificate of each product;
Keep a record of all suppliers and their sources;
Remove and destroy all violating products
Adding more staff to the procurement department
Clean up your inventory regularly
Change supplier if necessary
3. Store closure due to infringement of intellectual property rights
Amazon sellers need to maintain four types of intellectual property rights: copyright, trademark, utility patent and design patent. In other words, if sellers do not want their Amazon accounts to be suspended, they need to avoid illegal manufacturing, plagiarism, and the sale of imitations and fakes. Amazon policy prohibits the sale of counterfeit, pirated and unauthorized products, etc. Infringement of intellectual property rights will result in the seller’s Amazon account being blocked and funds being frozen.
1. Find out the reasons to avoid infringement
When posting product information, pay special attention to the words you use and make sure everything is original.
Check for brand keywords or phrases in a trademark database, such as Justia Trademarks.
Before listing a private label product, make sure it is unique, even if it has been patented.
If possible, find out who owns the intellectual property and who is selling the products.
Ensure that all product information, including images, posted has the approval of the intellectual property owner.
Record item lists and invoices for each product and check them before listing.
Make sure the document you get is an invoice and not an order confirmation, pro forma invoice, commercial invoice, etc.
Research suppliers and their competitors, and avoid purchasing from wholesalers who cannot provide relevant documentation.
2. Countermeasures
When Amazon notifies sellers of infringement, sellers should respond proactively.
View content guidelines and anti-counterfeiting policy.
Find out products or related listing information that infringe intellectual property laws and Amazon policies.
the IP owner and speak to them directly; they are often more communicative than a lawyer. If you cannot find the intellectual property owner, contact the legal representative mentioned by Amazon in the suspension notification email.
Provide a list of suppliers and their contract terms.
Request that the IP owner or agent withdraw the complaint.
If the IP owner or their agent does not respond, contact an attorney for help.
If the seller can afford the cost of having their account suspended, they can wait until they have resolved the matter with the property owner before writing a specific improvement plan (POA).
Write a plan of action, including the property owner's agreement to withdraw the complaint.
If the complaint is not withdrawn, provide Amazon with a detailed list of steps you and your attorney have taken to avoid future infringement or to prove the unreasonableness of the complaint.
Review quality management measures and train employees to identify products and listing types that are prone to infringement.
Remove or clean up all inventory products that caused the Amazon account to be suspended and products that are prohibited from being sold on the platform.
File an appeal with Amazon and take the above steps.
The above are some of the reasons why Amazon stores are blocked. If you want to get more information about Amazon, please continue to pay attention!
