Practice Overview: Amazon Suspensions

Amazon Sellers Face a Unique Threat: Account and Product Suspensions

Fortunately, we have the legal knowledge and Amazon experience to help you beat them.

One of the biggest threat to a seller’s success on the Amazon platform is the threat of a product or account suspension. When Amazon’s bots flag your account or product for suspension, it can be devastating to your business. Not only do you have the stress of lost revenue, but you also are now tasked with short deadlines to get a Plan of Action to Seller Performance. Fortunately, at FRS, we have the experience to help identify the cause of the suspension and the tools to help you get reinstated as quickly as possible.

Primary Contacts

Jeff Schick

Partner

Boca Raton

Phone: +1 (561) 345-5901

Email: [email protected]

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Product (ASIN) Suspension Reinstatement

Product Suspensions are when Amazon removes a seller’s ability to sell a particular product. This may include Amazon removing the listing for all sellers, which is an ASIN suspension, or when Amazon restricts a seller from selling on a particular ASIN. In either event, you may be left with lost sales, as well as inventory that is now stranded in the Amazon Fulfillment Center. With effective legal assistance, you can appeal this suspension, write an effective plan of action, and work to reinstate your ASIN selling privileges as quickly as possible. 

Account Suspension Reinstatement

Account suspensions are when Amazon sends you the dreaded email that you may no longer sell on Amazon, and depending on the reason provided they may even state that they are withholding any future payments in your Seller Account balance. Often, the only recourse you have is to write an effective Amazon Plan of Action, and you have a limited number of attempts to “get it right.” This is why it is so crucial that you use a law firm to help with your account suspension. Francissen Rafelson Schick is a law firm dedicated to helping Amazon Sellers with their Amazon-related legal issues. Using the power of the law, we can provide you with a comprehensive Plan of Action for you to use to help get your account reinstated.

Learn About our Suspension Process

We Help Build a Comprehensive Strategy

When faced with something major like an account suspension, it’s tempting to take immediate action and file your appeal right away. If you don’t step back, assess the situation, and develop a solid Plan of Action, your Amazon suspension appeal is very likely to fail—and with it any hope of a fast resolution to your situation.

Getting a suspended Amazon account reinstated is a complicated process. Think of it as a project. Yes, time is of the essence, but you absolutely have to do it right if you want to succeed.

At FRS, our Suspension Assistance services are designed to help online merchants like you deal with common issues like reinstating a suspended Amazon Seller account. We’ve worked with many other merchants like you, who have faced millions in lost sales due to an account suspension. We understand the appeals process thoroughly and will help you develop a comprehensive strategy to guide you to the fastest successful resolution possible.

Comprehensive Plan of Action

The only way to successfully get your account or product reinstated is to submit a comprehensive plan of action. This plan of action will detail why  your seller account was suspended, the facts at hand, methods you are going to immediately take to improve your performance in the future, and how you will prevent future violations from occurring.

Additional Escalation Options Available

In the event that Seller Performance does not accept your Plan of Action, we will work to have it escalated. This can include us writing letters to Amazon’s Legal Team, writing a comprehensive appeal to Jeff Bezos (“Bezos Appeal”), and even taking Amazon to arbitration when necessary. In the event we take Amazon to arbitration, our lawyers will represent you every step of the way, and anything you have told us is 100% protected by the Attorney-Client Privilege.

Read Our Insights on Amazon Suspension Law

Common Reasons for Suspensions

Safety Policy Violation

Amazon cares deeply about the customer experience. In the event that Amazon finds a potential (or reported) safety concern, Amazon may suspend the offending product from being offered. This suspension is best handled with learning about why the alleged safety violation occurred, and then coming up with a strategy that addresses steps the seller will take to prevent future safety concerns. Remember, you are liable for any injuries to customers from faulty or defective products, so view a safety suspension as a warning. Fix it now, and you’ll get your listing back online and prevent Product Liability lawsuits in the future. We will discuss a variety of issues surrounding the safety complaint, examine the Amazon policy, and come up with viable solutions to include in your comprehensive Plan of Action to get your ASIN reinstated after a safety suspension.

Used Item Sold As New Suspension

Amazon has strict “Amazon Condition Guidelines” in order to sell a product on Amazon. If you sell a product as New, it must come with the full manufacturer’s warranty, original packaging, original protective wrapping, unused, unopened, and brand-new. Additionally, returned products should not be sent back into the Amazon Fulfillment Center unless they are in brand-new condition. Retail arbitrage sellers may face this issue more frequently, especially if they sell a product with a manufacturer’s warranty that began when the Seller first purchased the product, or that is not transferable upon resale.

Item Not As Advertised / Materially Different / Wrong Item

Amazon cares deeply about the customer experience, and it is vitally important that the product listing accurately matches the item the customer receives. In the event that customers complain about the product listing not matching the product they received, Amazon will not hesitate to suspend the ASIN while they investigate. To get your listing reinstated, you will need to closely examine how your listing differs from the product the customer received. Perhaps you need to invest in higher quality new images, or rewrite bullet points and product descriptions to make the listing match the product customers will be receiving. These are all important things we can discuss and include in your Plan of Action to get your materially different, not as advertised,  or wrong item ASIN suspension reinstated.

Missing Parts Product Suspension

Some Sellers face product suspensions when they list against a detail page which lists more items being included than the item the Seller sends in. This could include a listing that says it includes batteries or a remote, when the Seller’s version does not include such features. Whatever the reason, Sellers must always check to ensure the product they are sending in to FBA exactly matches what is described on the Amazon ASIN listing. This is especially true for retail arbitrage Sellers, since some manufacturer’s include different components for products sold on Amazon versus the components sold in brick-and-mortar stores. We will discuss these factors, as well as examine the listing to come up with a plan for revising the listing (if it is your listing), and will include this in your comprehensive Plan of Action to get your ASIN reinstated.

Counterfeit / Inauthentic Suspension

Amazon will suspend both the listing and the Seller when they discover inauthentic or counterfeit products being sold on their website. This is why it is vitally important that Sellers maintain tight control over their supply chain, and that they keep excellent records of invoices/receipts showing when, where, and how much of a product they purchased. As long as Sellers can prove that they purchased the products from an authorized source, Sellers can usually have their accounts reinstated with an effective Plan of Action that details their supply chain, steps the Seller takes and will continue to take/implement to maintain supply chain integrity, and documentation showing they only sold products on Amazon that came from an authorized source. (Note, WalMart and other big-box retailer receipts are now more frequently being accepted, but there is no guarantee Seller Performance will always accept them. eBay, Garage Sales, and Goodwill are not an authorized source and will not be accepted.)

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