Does anyone have any advice on how to successfully appeal this issue?
Your Amazon Seller account has been deactivated and your listings have been removed in accordance with Section 3 of Amazon’s Business Solutions Agreement. Funds will not be transferred to you but will be held in your account while we work with you to address the following concerns.
Why is this happening?
You have items listed against an ASIN that is mis-branded, and is infringing on a third party’s rights. This is a violation of our policies. In addition, there are pre-approval requirements to sell the brand listed below. In order to ensure that customers can shop with confidence on Amazon, we may require sellers to obtain additional approval to list certain products and brands.
I am sorry to hear that your Seller Account has been deactivated due to alleged mis-branded ASIN.
Were you the one who created the listing or did you simply attach to an existing offer?
A misbranded ASIN is basically a listing for a product, where the correct brand name isn’t placed in the Brand field of a listing, but instead different data is entered. This is typically done when sellers are trying to avoid listing restrictions or gating.
So I contacted the brand and they resent the same invoices. One of the invoices only has my shipping address, which is the prep center I use. The other 3 have my billing address which matches my amazon address on file and then it also has the prep center address for shipping. These were not accepted by amazon. What other options do I have?
We received your submission but do not have enough information to address the issues with your listings at this time. We cannot accept this invoice because:
The purchasing party information does not match the information in your Amazon seller account.
To reactivate your account, go to your “Account Health” and click on “Reactivate My Account” to submit necessary information.
You need to send us the following information for the items listed below:
Copies of invoices or receipts from your supplier issued in the last 365 days.
– These documents should reflect your sales volume during the last 365 days.
– Include contact information for your supplier, including name, phone number, address, and website. We will maintain the confidentiality of your supplier contact information.
– You may remove pricing information, but the rest of the document must be visible. For ease of our review, you may highlight or circle the ASINs under review.
We received your submission but do not have enough information to reactivate your ability to sell on Amazon at this time. You must address the following concerns:
We cannot accept the information you submitted. Please provide invoice for the items listed immediately below
ASINs :
How do I reactivate my account?
To reactivate your account, go to your “Account Health” and click on “Reactivate My Account” to submit necessary information.
This was the original notice I received from Amazon on July 4:
Your Amazon Seller account has been deactivated and your listings have been removed in accordance with Section 3 of Amazon’s Business Solutions Agreement. Funds will not be transferred to you but will be held in your account while we work with you to address the following concerns.
Why is this happening?
You have items listed against an ASIN that is mis-branded, and is infringing on a third party’s rights. This is a violation of our policies. In addition, there are pre-approval requirements to sell the brand listed below. In order to ensure that customers can shop with confidence on Amazon, we may require sellers to obtain additional approval to list certain products and brands.
Also I received this message with the original account deactivation notice on July 4:
What happens if I do not submit the required information?
If we do not receive the requested information within 17 days, or after two unsuccessful appeals (whichever occurs sooner), your account may be permanently deactivated.
I have called Amazon support 3 times regarding this and have attempted to submit all the documentation they are asking for. Is there any chance on me getting my store reopened?
I have contacted the brand but they cannot provide me with any other information than what they have already provided me with. The invoices are not being accepted by Amazon.
I hope this message finds you well. I am writing in response to the notification regarding the misbranded ASIN issue that has been brought to our attention. We take this matter seriously and understand the importance of maintaining compliance with Amazon’s policies and guidelines. We appreciate the opportunity to address and rectify this issue promptly.
Root Cause Analysis: Upon conducting an internal investigation, we have identified the root cause of the misbranded ASIN as follows:
Supplier Error: The supplier provided incorrect product information, leading to a mislabeled product.
Corrective Actions Taken:
Immediate Listing Suspension: As soon as we became aware of the misbranded ASIN, we voluntarily suspended the affected listing to prevent further sales and potential customer dissatisfaction.
Correcting Product Information: We have rectified the product information on the affected ASIN. The corrected data includes accurate labeling, product description, and all necessary details in accordance with Amazon’s guidelines.
Supplier Communication and Improvement: We have reached out to our supplier to communicate the issue and emphasized the importance of providing accurate product information. We have implemented a more rigorous process for verifying product details to avoid similar occurrences in the future.
Quality Control Measures: We have revised our internal quality control measures to conduct regular audits of product listings to ensure compliance with Amazon’s policies and prevent any potential mislabeling issues.
Preventive Actions:
Automated System: To further minimize the chances of misbranded ASINs, we are investing in an automated system that will cross-verify product information provided by suppliers with the ASIN details before listing them on Amazon.
Training and Education: We will provide comprehensive training to our team members responsible for product listings. This training will focus on Amazon’s policies, guidelines, and the importance of maintaining accurate and compliant product information.
Supplier Vetting: Moving forward, we will conduct more thorough vetting and due diligence while selecting suppliers to ensure their commitment to providing accurate product information.
Regular Auditing: We will implement regular auditing processes to review our ASINs and listings continuously. This will enable us to promptly identify and rectify any potential non-compliance issues.
Future Compliance Assurance:
Our goal is to ensure full compliance with Amazon’s policies and guidelines at all times. We understand that maintaining product integrity and customer trust is paramount to our success on the platform. We are committed to adhering to the highest standards and will do everything possible to prevent similar issues from arising in the future.
Conclusion:
We apologize for any inconvenience this misbranded ASIN may have caused to Amazon and our customers. We have taken immediate corrective actions and established preventive measures to avoid such situations going forward. Our team is dedicated to ensuring that all our listings are accurate and compliant with Amazon’s policies.
Please consider our plan of action as a sincere commitment to resolving this matter promptly and responsibly. We kindly request your understanding and assurance that our account will be reinstated once the issue has been thoroughly reviewed.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. We look forward to your positive response and the opportunity to continue selling on the Amazon platform.
So I sent the POA letter to amazon and this is their reply: "We received your submission but do not have enough information to reactivate your account.
Why did this happen?
You have not sent us sufficient information that we previously requested from you to address our concerns with your account. For privacy reasons, we do not provide details about our investigation methods.
What happens now?
Your account will remain deactivated. If you do not provide a valid appeal, or choose not to appeal the deactivation, after 90 days following this notification, you may separately request a funds disbursement by contacting [email protected] in accordance with the Funds Withholding Policy.
How do I appeal this decision?
If you have additional documents or information that you have not yet provided, you can submit your appeal by following the instructions on the “Account Health” page in Seller Central:
Review our past communications with you that specify the information required to appeal this decision."
Do you know of any other way I can appeal this without the invoices that Amazon is requesting? I have reached out to the brand to see if they can amend the invoices to satisfy Amazon, but they cannot do that. My invoices state my prep center as the shipping address and my address in Amazon as the billing address. What other options do I have?
I am sorry to hear that. This wording basically indicates that they are not seeking an improved Plan of Action. They are looking for the invoices.
Have you tried requesting a callback from Account Health Team to see what are their recommendations?
Unfortunately, what you received is a generic message, so without knowing the exact reason why your appeal was unsuccessful, we will be unable to move forward.
Hi Kika, So I spoke with someone from the account health team and they are telling me that I need to improve on my Plan of Action. I need to focus more on the root cause and the preventative action. Also she stated that I should submit with the same invoices that I submitted in the past. Do you have any suggestions on how to improve my plan of action?
