My 1-Day Amazon Suspension & What To Do If It Happens To You
“You may no longer sell on Amazon.com.”
I’ll never forget reading that message.
My business relies on selling on Amazon. It’s where a majority of my income comes from, and although I have diversified, most of my eggs were in one basket at the time.
I read and re-read the email, hoping to find something to relieve the fear coursing through my body, but all I saw was an option to appeal their decision. They had suspended me, stating that our credit card was associated to another account (which it wasn’t). Having multiple accounts is not allowed on Amazon, and was grounds for suspension.
My next steps
I decided it was time to go for a run. I like to move strategically, and not lose my calm. I feel that overreacting gets in the way of an effective message, and would lead to me being portrayed as erratic and careless.
Since I was already ‘in trouble’ so to speak, I didn’t want to give them any reason to see me more negatively than before.
After a quick shower, I spoke to the team and wrote my response to Amazon.
Research Mode
I started looking for suspension stories on Google, LinkedIn, and every other place I could think of. I spent all day reaching out to anyone that seemed to have any experience working with Amazon suspensions, if there was a person that could help, I would find them.
In the meantime, I uncovered a lot of information, such as:
- Amazon sellers get suspended quite often.
- Understanding why you are suspended is the root of figuring out how to fix it.
- It doesn’t matter how much volume you sell — big sellers are suspended, too.
- Most suspensions take 40–60 days for account recovery.
I specifically enjoyed finding the community Ed Rosenberg has developed, and spent a lot of time reading through the information there about similar issues.
As it turns out, you can re-appeal the Amazon decisions, and of course I worked on doing that.
The ironic thing is, during the time my account was suspended, counterfeiters had hijacked my listings.
I re-appealed Amazon’s decision, carefully explained our stance, and asked for information on how to proceed.
Finally, after an exhausting day I went to bed.
Account reinstatement after 1 day
The next morning, I received another email from Amazon. My account was reinstated, and the team apologized for any inconvenience caused.
I posted about it on LinkedIn to express my excitement and gratitude.
What I Learned
While I had been suspended before, this was an incredible experience. I’d never heard of someone being reinstated so quickly. Whereas most suspensions take 40 to 60 days to deal with, mine was reinstated in a mere 30 hours.
Despite the speed with which this issue was resolved, I lost a lot of money during that day. Plus, it could have lasted longer, even years. Because of that, my team and I have spent a considerable amount of time working on our business plans, and diversifying revenue streams.
We still rely on Amazon, but now have more systems in place to keep things going if something like this ever happens again.
What to do if you’re ever suspended on Amazon
If you’re ever suspended on Amazon, here’s what to do next.
- Don’t answer right away. Go for a run or take a shower while you develop a thoughtful response.
- Reach out to people who can help you, and ask for advice. You can reach me anytime at chad@skubana.com.
- Do your online research to find next steps and rules.
- Diversify, so that you aren’t 100% reliant on Amazon.
Have you ever been suspended? What are your backup plans?
This is a blog post by Chad Rubin. Chad builds e-commerce businesses and is a top 250 Amazon Seller. Fresh out of college and Wall Street, he took his family vacuum business online and built his own direct-to-consumer e-commerce business called Crucial Vacuum. He grew it from 0 to a $20 million dollar valuation in just 7 years. He co-founded Skubana with DJ Kunovac as an all-in-one e-commerce operational tool.
Originally published at www.skubana.com on February 6, 2017.
