Million-dollar account blocked!

As the year draws to a close, when sellers should be waiting peacefully for the holidays, the thing they are most worried about has happened. A new type of account ban has caused a group of sellers to suffer.

New type of account blocking causes sellers’ accounts worth millions of dollars to be blocked

"I received an email about my store being banned," one seller posted on a social forum.

This account suspension is different from the previous ones and seems to be a new type of account suspension. According to the information provided by the seller, the email mentioned that the product had "other complaints", which led to the account being suspended and the funds being frozen.

The content of the email is relatively long, and we will extract the key information provided by Amazon. If the seller's account is blocked due to "other complaints", if he wants to appeal, he needs to submit the required appeal materials within 17 days, and there is only one chance to make a mistake.

If the appeal fails twice, Amazon may ban the seller from selling products on the platform. If the appeal fails, the seller may be required to destroy all FBA inventory at their own expense.

Such a severe punishment inevitably makes people wonder what violations the seller committed? From the email, it can be found that the seller was blocked because he sold counterfeit goods.

But the seller involved in the case believed that his account was blocked because he was innocent. To prove himself, the seller also provided proof of the account's health status. It can be found that his account background did not receive any performance notifications, and the account's health score was 1000 (healthy status).

However, there were indeed four customer complaints about product authenticity in the seller’s store backend, but judging from the screenshots, the first three complaints appeared earlier, and the other one did not seem to have led to the account being blocked.

According to the platform's inertia, even if the account is in a healthy state, it is possible that Amazon will block the account due to complaints or even make a misjudgment. Therefore, sellers who encounter the same situation should hurry up and file a complaint as required.

It is understood that the seller's business is not small, and he can make 4 million US dollars a year. During 2024, his store performance is in a state of growth, an increase of 100% compared to 2023. If this account is blocked, it will have a considerable impact on the seller if it is not a mistake.

In fact, in addition to the account suspension due to "other complaints", many sellers also encountered account suspension in 2024.

A big seller with sales of $50 million the previous year posted on the forum: "Amazon suddenly closed my account on the grounds of unverifiable ASIN and froze $5 million worth of FBA inventory."

Brent Wynne, who was blocked during Cyber ​​Monday, also posted: "A product I sold was accused of false copyright infringement. After I provided evidence, Amazon did not conduct an in-depth investigation and my account was still suspended."

In addition, many sellers had their accounts blocked due to repeated violations and listing refurbishment. Data shows that in the first 20 days of November, more than 5,000 Chinese sellers had their accounts blocked, and they suffered heavy losses as they missed the big promotion. The reasons for the blocking included listing refurbishment, illegal manipulation of comments, and Protocol 3 video authentication.

It is not difficult to see that Amazon is stepping up its crackdown on platform violations, involving a wide range of sellers, including large, medium and small sellers. The many bans have caused concerns and discussions among sellers.

But back to the topic, Amazon’s thundering rectification will not end, it will only appear from time to time. Sellers who violate the rules will inevitably be affected, so sellers still have to abide by the platform’s red line and act in compliance.

Amazon tightens its audit in many aspects

Recently, Amazon has tightened its inspections in many aspects, which seems to confirm the statement that "the thundering rectification is not over yet."

CPSC conducts strict inspections, and a large number of Amazon sellers’ products have been recalled. When it comes to CPSC, I believe everyone is familiar with it. As the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the recalls initiated by CPSC are a past that many sellers do not want to mention.

At the end of December, many Chinese sellers were exposed to product recalls, including Anker, a leading 3C seller. The recalled products are lithium-ion battery packs in Anker Soundcore Bluetooth speakers, which were exclusively sold on Amazon in 2023. Nearly 70,000 units were sold in the United States, and there may be a fire hazard.

Shenzhen power bank brand Charmast was also notified by the CPSC to recall 488,000 products. The products involved were mainly power banks, which could cause fire and burn hazards. It is understood that Charmast is affiliated with Shenzhen Chaomai Technology and was established in 2017. It can be regarded as a young brand, but its products have excellent performance. Soon after its launch, it was listed on the BS list of power bank categories on the US site.

It has become more difficult to register a new Amazon account. "Amazon's new store registration review has become stricter," this is the most common feeling expressed by many sellers recently. Some sellers said that they were rejected three times after registering a new store, and some old sellers said that it is difficult to get a new account.

This was also confirmed by an Amazon manager: "In 2025, Amazon will strengthen the control of new accounts." This is mainly reflected in identity review and document preparation details, including video pixels and professional questions during review, email addresses must be brand new when preparing documents, and the legal person's age is recommended to be under 65 years old.

The new consumer law has become more stringent. Many sellers have recently reported a common problem: the store has passed the consumer law, but it was suddenly suspended. What is going on?

It is understood that this type of seller also received a "verification failed" email stating that "the information provided by the seller could not be verified." This means that the consumer law has not been passed and the seller needs to continue to submit relevant information.

Different from the previous verification method, Amazon seems to have made some minor adjustments to the review this time. Some sellers were even rejected and submitted relevant business license information, but were not only notified that "the documents could not be verified", but also reminded that "if it is a new seller account, it will be banned from selling."

After the consumer law of some sellers was rejected, the account performance was triggered, reminding the seller that the account would be closed if it was not handled within 3 days. According to the feedback from sellers, including the untimely update of corporate information, data mismatch, and disputed taxes, all of which would have an impact on the seller's identity verification.

As of now, Amazon is tightening its control over sellers in various ways, which can also to a certain extent eliminate irregularities in the industry and provide sellers with a relatively harmonious competitive environment.

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