For obvious reasons, it is crucial to the success of your online retail business to avoid having your Amazon seller account suspended. Even a temporary suspension can be financially devastating. Aside from the loss of pending and future sales listings, if your seller account is suspended, Amazon will freeze your account and refuse to release your existing funds. There are many reasons that Amazon will suspend a seller account. Thus, it pays to know the reasons and avoid breaching the rules. Here are some tips on how to avoid an Amazon suspension.

Watch your performance metrics and target

Amazon has several performance metrics that measure performance and customer satisfaction. Amazon has set targets for the metrics, and with respect to three of them, failure to hit the targets can result in account suspension. These are:

• Order Defect Rate (“ODR”) — these include negative feedback, guarantees not honored and credit card chargebacks; sellers with an ODR above 1% can have their account suspended and/or deactivated
• Cancellation Rate (“CR”) — this metric measures all seller-canceled orders during a seven-day time frame — sellers must maintain a CR under 2.5% or face account deactivation
• Late Shipment Rate (“LSR”) — sellers must maintain an LSR under 4% or face deactivation

Amazon has a couple of other metrics — such as their “Valid Tracking Rate” and “On-Time Delivery Rate” metrics. But, as of now, account deactivation is not a punishment for sellers failing to meet the targets set for these metrics. That being said, sellers should be aware of these and should watch them carefully.

Provide good customer service

Aside from meeting Amazon targets and metrics for delivery, good customer service is essential to avoiding an Amazon suspension. This often involves quick and effective communication if there is negative buyer feedback.

Do not violate intellectual property laws

For various practical, financial and legal reasons, Amazon is focused on policing intellectual property law violations like trademark and copyright infringement. Being the target of an infringement notice is dangerous and, if not properly addressed, will lead to account suspension. Some practical steps that can be taken include:

• Avoid copyright infringement by writing your own product descriptions and using your own product photos (or by ensuring that the ones you use are public domain or are authorized for use by the copyright owner)
• Use the most up-to-date photos since packaging may change from time to time — customers receiving a product that looks different from the posted photo can lead to negative buyer feedback and mistaken claims of selling counterfeit products
• Avoid trademark infringement by never listing a generic product as a trademarked or branded product
• Be careful about mistakes when cutting and pasting from old listings — ensure the product and description are the correct product/description for the listing title — accidentally listing a generic handbag as “Gucci” is still trademark infringement
• Avoid trademark infringement by using reputable and trusted sources — this helps avoid pirated and counterfeit goods

Contact Revision Legal For more information about how we can help with Amazon-related issues, or if you have other questions related to internet law, contact the trusted internet lawyers and seller account restoration attorney at Revision Legal at 231-714-0100.

Responding to an Amazon Suspension: The Plan of Action

When Amazon suspends a seller account, it typically provides a notification identifying the reason: performance issues, policy violations, intellectual property complaints, or suspected inauthenticity. The most important step after receiving a suspension notice is to submit a thorough Plan of Action (POA). A strong POA has three parts: (1) a concise acknowledgment of the root cause of the suspension, (2) a concrete list of corrective actions already taken, and (3) a forward-looking prevention plan. Vague or defensive responses almost never succeed. Amazon’s review team wants to see that you understand what went wrong and have fixed it. Name the exact ASIN that triggered the complaint, describe the exact process change you implemented, and give a timeline.

IP Complaint Suspensions: The Brand Registry Ecosystem

One of the most disruptive categories of Amazon suspension is the IP complaint suspension — typically a trademark or copyright infringement allegation submitted through Amazon’s Brand Registry or IP Complaint portal. Amazon gives brand owners broad authority to remove listings and suspend sellers accused of infringement, acting on these complaints with minimal independent investigation. If the complaint is factually wrong, you can request a retraction directly from the complainant. You can also contest the complaint through Amazon’s counter-notice process. In cases of bad-faith IP complaints filed by competitors — a real and documented problem — you may have legal recourse against the complainant under the Lanham Act or state unfair competition law.

Proactive Brand Registry Enrollment

The best protection against competitor IP abuse on Amazon is to register your own brand in Amazon’s Brand Registry. Enrollment requires a federally registered trademark. Brand Registry gives you enhanced tools to detect and report counterfeit listings, modify your own product listings, and flag infringing sellers for removal. Crucially, Brand Registry status means Amazon gives your IP complaints higher priority — the same advantage your competitors have if they are enrolled and you are not.

Amazon’s Transparency Program Against Counterfeits

For brands dealing with counterfeit products on Amazon, the Transparency program provides product-level serialization: each unit of your product is labeled with a unique code that Amazon scans before fulfilling the order. If the scanned code does not match, the order is blocked. This is the most effective technical tool Amazon offers to prevent counterfeit products from reaching customers. If your Amazon seller account has been suspended or you are dealing with IP complaints, contact the experienced internet and IP attorneys at Revision Legal at 231-714-0100.