Thousands and thousands of people make a living or even get rich selling on Amazon, and the thought of losing that revenue is scary. When your Amazon account gets suspended, you naturally become very anxious to get your Amazon Seller account back. But sometimes, anxiety and impatience lead to further mistakes, and the last thing you want to do when your Amazon Seller account gets suspended is to make further mistakes that make the situation even worse. So here are 10 things NOT to do if your Amazon account is suspended:

Don’t Panic

You make your best decisions when you are calm, not when you are panicked. If your Amazon account is suspended, keep a clear head so you can avoid making further mistakes.

Don’t Rush to Appeal

Assuming you weren’t intentionally doing anything devious, wrong, or illegal, your first thought is probably that you don’t deserve a suspension, and your first instinct might be to appeal the Amazon suspension to get it overturned. But your appeal is a hugely important step. You need the appeal to work for your Amazon Seller account to get unsuspended. So the last thing you want to do is rush an appeal and not do things properly. Amazon is a massive company, and your appeal might only get looked at for a few minutes before the Seller Performance team moves on to reviewing the next suspended account. This means that you need to grab their attention with a strong appeal, not a rushed one.

Read your suspension notice carefully and make sure you understand why your Amazon account was suspended. Figure out what mistake you made, why you made it, how you can rectify or remedy the mistake, and how you can avoid the mistake in the future. Create a clear plan of action that you can show to Amazon, and make sure it is one you can follow. Amazon wants to see you learn and improve from your mistakes. Do not submit an appeal letter until you take the time to figure these things out and demonstrate them clearly and sincerely in your letter.

Don’t be rude

The worst thing you can do, whether it’s in your appeal letter, customer support chat, a phone call, an email, or even on social media, is to be rude, mean, or vulgar. Amazon is one of the most powerful companies in the world, and you won’t bully them into helping you get your account back. Amazon suspended you, and your goal is to get Amazon to unsuspend your Amazon Seller account. The way to do that is by doing the things mentioned above with your appeal letter, NOT by making things worse for yourself by saying things to or about people at Amazon that will make them not want to help you.

Don’t threaten to sue

Once again, you are not going to be able to bully or scare Amazon into reinstating your Amazon Seller account. That includes doing so with words, and it certainly includes doing so with threats related to money or legal action (you won’t beat Amazon on those fronts, trust us). Amazon wants to see you take responsibility for your mistakes, even if they were unintentional. Threatening Amazon with legal action sends the opposite message. Amazon also wants you to communicate clearly and honestly with them, and having an attorney reach out to Amazon instead will delay (and hurt your chances in) the review process.

Don’t blame the buyers or Amazon

As we just discussed, Amazon wants to see you take responsibility for the actions that led to your Amazon account suspension. Blaming your buyers, or worse, Amazon sends the opposite message. You agreed to Amazon’s terms and conditions (whether you read them or not), and if you violated those terms, Amazon will consider it your fault, not theirs. And when it comes to blaming your buyers, keep in mind that Amazon’s customer service and dispute policies are extremely buyer-friendly. Instead of trying to shift the blame for the actions that got you suspended, focus your energy on showing Amazon a clear plan to remedy the mistakes, learn from them, and avoid them in the future.

Don’t try to hide or change things, such as invoices

Amazon and other huge tech companies know way more than you realize about your life, your preferences, and your behavior. That’s a discussion for another day, but our main point is this: Amazon CERTAINLY knows what is going on when it comes to your Amazon Seller account. If you try to go back and change your invoices, forge or manipulate invoices or purchase orders, or do anything else that is “sneaky” to try to make yourself look better when it comes to avoiding punishment for the actions that got you suspended. Amazon will easily figure this out, and your punishment won’t be reversed… it will get worse. Your Amazon Seller account got suspended because Amazon had concerns about your behavior, actions, or performance. Now, the most important thing is to show Amazon that you are honest, ethical, transparent, and committed to making Amazon a better place if they allow you back on their platform.

Don’t create a new account

As mentioned above, Amazon knows what’s going on everywhere, and they certainly know what’s happening on Amazon. If your Amazon account is suspended, do not try to get around your suspension by making a second Amazon Seller account. Even if you change things such as the name, address, billing information, etc, they will eventually link it back to your original account (and usually pretty quickly), and your punishment will only get worse.

Don’t contact the wrong people, such as Seller Support

Amazon Seller Support is useful for many things, but not forgetting your Amazon account unsuspended. Suspension issues are handled by Seller Performance, and the only way to contact them is through email because they have no direct phone number. Seller Support may try to help you or give you advice, but they have no authority in this situation, and you will just get confused having to deal with multiple departments and being told different things. Contact Seller Performance if your Amazon Seller account is suspended (but again, don’t rush).

Don’t send multiple appeals or letters

It’s understandably hard to be patient in such a stressful situation, but after you reach out with an appeal, do not send multiple appeal letters to Seller Performance about your Amazon account suspension. It may be scary if they don’t respond immediately or acknowledge that they got your appeal, but if you followed all the steps and Amazon instructions carefully, Amazon will receive your appeal and look at it. Sending multiple letters may slow down your review and could hurt your chances of success, so wait at least a week before reaching out a second time (and consider waiting longer).

Don’t repeat your mistake

This should be obvious, but whatever it is you got suspended for, well… don’t do it again. Focus your energy on fixing and avoiding your mistakes, not on trying to figure out ways to get away with the same behavior that initially got you in trouble.

If your Amazon account is suspended, you are probably stressed and very focused on getting your Amazon Seller account reactivated. Getting Amazon to end your Amazon account suspension is possible, but it is essential that you avoid mistakes that will make it harder for you to do so. Whether your Amazon Seller account is currently suspended or you would simply like to be prepared in the event that ever happens, hopefully, you will keep this advice in mind when it comes to getting your Amazon Seller account back after a suspension.

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