seller
- What changed
- Seller account suspension or deactivation on Amazon
- When
- Updated October 2026
- Who it affects
- Amazon sellers on any plan, FBA and FBM
- What to do
- Read the notice in Account Health, find the root cause, then appeal once with evidence
Key takeaways
- Suspensions come from performance metrics, policy violations, verification or related accounts.
- Funds are held and listings come down, but FBA stock stays; never open a second account.
- Read the notice, find the root cause, then submit one complete appeal from Account Health.
Types of Amazon suspension
| Typical trigger | Evidence Amazon wants | |
|---|---|---|
| Performance | ODR or late shipments | Process fixes and data |
| Authenticity | Buyer complaints | Supplier invoices |
| Intellectual property | Rights owner complaint | Retraction or authorization |
| Verification | Unconfirmed details | Valid ID and bank documents |
| Related account | Link to banned account | Explanation and proof |
What an Amazon suspension means
When Amazon suspends or deactivates a seller account, the account can no longer sell until Amazon reinstates it. Amazon's own notices usually use the word deactivated, while sellers and guides often say suspended. In practice, three outcomes matter: an account that can appeal, an appeal that was denied but can be revised, and a permanent ban with no further appeal.
A suspension is different from a single listing being removed. If only some ASINs are blocked, read our guide to Amazon ASIN suspension instead, because the fix is narrower.
The most common causes of an Amazon suspension
Suspensions fall into a few buckets. Knowing which one you are in tells you what evidence Amazon will want.
- Performance: Order Defect Rate, late shipments or cancellations above target
- Authenticity and condition complaints: buyers say an item is fake, used or not as described
- Intellectual property: trademark, copyright or patent complaints from rights owners
- Restricted or unsafe products: listing items Amazon prohibits or regulates
- Review manipulation: incentivized or fake reviews
- Verification: identity, business or bank details Amazon could not confirm
- Related accounts: links to another account that is already deactivated
The performance targets that trigger suspensions
For performance-based suspensions, Amazon measures a few rates. The long-standing targets are an Order Defect Rate under 1%, a pre-fulfillment cancellation rate under 2.5% and a late shipment rate under 4% for seller-fulfilled orders, with valid tracking on at least 95% of shipments. Check the live values on your Account Health page, because Amazon can adjust them.
Policy violations are scored separately in the Account Health Rating, which runs from 0 to 1,000. A score of 200 or more is healthy, 100 to 199 is at risk, and 99 or below means the account is eligible for deactivation or already deactivated. A critical violation can take the score to zero at once.
What happens to your listings, funds and FBA stock
During a suspension your offers stop showing, but your FBA inventory remains in Amazon's fulfillment centers. You can usually create removal orders if you need the stock back, although storage fees continue while units sit there.
Disbursements are generally held while the account is deactivated. Guides report that Amazon tells sellers it will release remaining funds after 90 days if the account is not reinstated in that time, but sellers in permanent bans should not count on it. Do not open a second account to keep selling, because Amazon treats that as a related-account violation.
- Listings removed from sale
- Payouts held while deactivated
- FBA units stay in warehouses; removal orders possible
- Storage fees continue to accrue
- Never open a second account
First steps after an Amazon suspension
The first 48 hours decide a lot. Act carefully rather than fast: a rushed, incomplete appeal is harder to fix than a late, complete one, as long as you stay within any deadline in the notice.
- Read the notice in Performance, Account Health and in your email
- Write down the policy cited, the ASINs and any deadline
- Download order, return and complaint data for the affected products
- Find the root cause before writing anything
- Gather invoices, authorization letters and corrective evidence
- Submit one complete appeal with a Plan of Action
- 1Read the notice
Policy, ASINs, deadline
- 2Find root cause
Orders, returns, complaints
- 3Gather evidence
Invoices and fixes
- 4Appeal once
Complete Plan of Action
How to appeal
Appeals are made from the Account Health page using the Reactivate your account option. Amazon may ask for a questionnaire, an acknowledgment, a short quiz or documents. Amazon staff say to expect a reply within two days, though complex cases take longer. Our Amazon suspension appeal guide walks through writing a Plan of Action that covers root cause, corrective actions and prevention.
Suspended versus deactivated: is there a difference?
Not in a way that changes what you do. Both stop selling, both are appealed from Account Health, and both need the same root-cause evidence. The difference that matters is whether Amazon still offers an appeal option. If it does, you can recover. If the notice says the decision is final, read our guide to an Amazon account deactivated for the remaining options.
How to prevent the next suspension
Most suspensions are preceded by warnings that go unread. Check Account Health every day, not every month, and answer policy warnings while they are still small.
Keep supplier invoices for every product, respond to buyer messages within 24 hours, refund returns on time and audit listings for restricted claims. Sellers who keep an Account Health Rating of 250 or higher for six months, with a valid emergency contact on file, can qualify for Account Health Assurance in the US and Canada, which adds a 72-hour window to work with Amazon before a deactivation.
- Check Account Health daily
- Keep supplier invoices on file
- Answer buyer messages within 24 hours
- Fix policy warnings while they are small
Where PPC Spider helps
PPC Spider's catalog and account health service monitors Account Health daily, handles policy warnings and writes appeals with supporting evidence. Because the same team runs ads and inventory, a suspended ASIN also gets its budgets paused so you do not pay for clicks on products that cannot sell. A free Amazon audit flags account health risks before they become suspensions.
Sources
- Seller Labs: How to appeal Amazon suspensions step by step (sellerlabs.com/knowledge-base/how-to-appeal-amazon-suspensions-step-by-step/)
- Amazon Seller Forums: How to appeal an account deactivation (sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/seller-forums/discussions/t/1548523b-96be-4bcc-a7da-fc97953bdc2a)
- Amazon Seller Forums: Your Account Health Rating questions answered (sellercentral.amazon.com/seller-forums/discussions/t/7f6e4141-5823-4ea0-9e8c-3ad061f44f0b)
- Value Added Resource: Amazon Account Health Assurance protects sellers from deactivation (valueaddedresource.net/amazon-account-health-assurance/)
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