You’ve been selling on Amazon for the past five years. You have done thousands of transactions and generated millions of sales.
It helps you pay the mortgage, sends your kids to school, and makes you afford to travel because you got your business in one place. You can fulfill orders wherever you are and answer emails any time of the day.
Until one day, you wake up you can’t log in to your account.
You have orders to fulfill and emails to respond but you can’t just do anything because you no longer have access to your account.
So you tried to contact Amazon customer service. Wasted an hour on the phone trying to make them understand what had happened. But it seems like no one can help. Instead, they asked you to submit an email and assured they’ll get back to your concerns within 48 hours. So you did and you waited.
Now, you’re getting cancellation emails from customers because you can’t respond to their concerns. You’re asking yourself:
What did I do that made me out of business that easy?
Well, if your Amazon account is locked then there should have been a reason for it. But one thing is for sure. It is basically because of security purposes.
Below we tackle reasons for locked out of Amazon accounts and how to unlock it so you can start business again.
Contents
Why Your Amazon Account Has Been Locked For Security Purposes
You’ve worked so hard over the last few years building your seller account, providing great customer service, and going above and beyond your customer’s needs to get 5-star ratings. Then in a snap of a finger, you’ll be out of business not knowing what’s going on.
If Amazon locked your account, it’s for a valid reason. And it could be anything of the following:
Selling Restricted Items
If you are a long time Amazon seller, you’ve probably heard about Gated products. But if you’re new, it’s necessary to get yourself familiar with these Gated items so you won’t experience any difficulties when selling on Amazon.
Basically, products in the Gated categories refer to those highly successful and well-known brands. For example, Nike and Adidas for shoes.
In order to avoid sellers to sell counterfeit items at a lower price, Amazon placed Gated restrictions for these items.
And if you want to sell those stuff, you need to go on an approval process to be authorized. You need to submit proofs like purchase invoice and an official letter from your manufacturer. For some products, you may need to pay an amount ranging from $500 to $5,000.
Amazon follows a strict regulation when it comes to Gated items. So if you are selling restricted products and your Amazon account was locked for security purposes, you have to remove your listings as soon as possible. Not only that, you have to write a detailed letter to Amazon that you won’t do the mistake again.
Violating Federal Regulations
Before you dive in and sell on Amazon, it is highly recommended for you to read Amazon’s fine print about its dos and dont’s.
And if you did, you know that Amazon doesn’t allow sellers to sell items that don’t conform with the Federal Laws.
These are products that don’t comply with the US Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, the Federal Trade Commission, and Federal Warranty Law.
Let say you want to sell a dietary supplement. Any supplements labeled with “prescription only use” are automatically locked out of Amazon account.
So if you don’t want to get your Amazon account locked for security purposes, follow the rules as it was implied.
Asking For Positive Reviews
Positive reviews are important for sellers to get more customers. However, with this need, most sellers tried to ask or force people to leave them with positive reviews even if it’s untrue.
This is the reason why in October 2016, Amazon imposed a strict regulation that soliciting positive reviews from customers is prohibited.
These manipulative reviews may boost sales for sellers but may do harm for buyers especially if they just read untrue statements. And this may also affect the seller’s impression on Amazon as a whole.
Therefore, if you want to ask for reviews from your customers, you can just ask them for a favorable review.
Hacking
Amazon automatically locks your account whenever they found out someone’s trying to make unauthorized access. This means both the hacker and you will not able to log-in.
This may sound unfair but it’s Amazon’s way to protect you from the worst.
If this happens, you can just reach out to Amazon and make an appeal so they will unlock your Amazon account again.
Failing to Comply with Amazon Policies and Code of Conduct
If you want to make business on Amazon, you should strictly comply with Amazon policies and code of conduct. Because not doing so is another ground for your restriction or suspension.
Here are the common reasons why sellers get locked.
- Not updating account information
- Not being able to fulfill purchase and order commitments
- Using an Amazon account that is no longer privileged to sell
- Misleading sellers with your promotions
If that happens, your account might be frozen. If your account gets locked because of the reasons above, don’t panic. There’s always a way for you to get your access back and continue selling again.
How To Unlock Amazon Account So You Can Sell Again
Amazon will send you an email once you get restricted access from your account. Therefore you will know what needs to be done.
In most cases, you need to write to Amazon and state that you understand the issue and you now learned from it.
Let say if you sell restricted items, you need to remove the product immediately write and promise Amazon you’ll never sell restricted items. If possible, attach the documents needed to authorize your products.
If your account got suspended due to non-compliance of Federal Regulations policies, write them a letter that proves you are not aware of their existing policies and assured them it will no longer happen.
If it’s for a hacking issue, you need to appeal to Amazon about your concern. Make sure you include a detailed action plan, like changing your password or updating your virus, to secure your account so it won’t be prone to hacking.
When writing your Amazon appeal letter, make sure you:
- Pinpoint the exact reason your Amazon account got suspended.
- Acknowledge the problem and take responsibility for it.
- Come up with an action plan to help you not to get suspended again.
If you are still unsure what to do, you can email or call Amazon directly so they could help you on how to recover locked Amazon account.
Our Experience
At AMZ- Expert, we work on helping Amazon sellers reinstate their accounts so they can run their businesses without limitations.
We know how frustrating to have your account suspended without any prior notice. Your customers are waiting and you can’t respond because you are not allowed to log-in. With AMZ- Expert, you can definitely get the help you need. Over the years, we have worked with Amazon sellers to help reinstate their accounts.
We have experience in handling the majority of Amazon concerns due to products safety and descriptions, copyright violations, defect rates, shipping issues, and more. Our lawyers will help you with your Amazon account suspension appeal so you can unlock your account immediately.
You don’t have to go through the tedious process alone. Or wait for the phone queue until you get your chance but gets no definite action from the customer support. Because we will do the majority of the work for you.
So you don’t need to stress yourself out because our experts can handle. All you have to do is to work on the verification and wait until the rest of the process are done. You’ll be glad you can now log-in, process orders, and accept payments again.
Final Thoughts
So if Amazon locked your account and you want it unlocked as soon as possible, feel free to contact AMZ-Expert. We know how to unlock Amazon account and help you retrieve your seller account so you can continue your business again. No stress and headache because we got it all covered. Contact us now!
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