1)     Failure to Address Intellectual Property Complaints. 

One of the most common causes for Amazon Seller account suspensions we see at Amazon Sellers Lawyer is failure to address intellectual property complaints. Intellectual property law covers the enforcement of patents, trademarks / trade dress, and copyrights. Usually, when a rights owner (the party who owns a respective patent, trademark, or copyright), makes a claim of infringement against an Amazon Seller, Amazon first notifies the seller of the complaint. Amazon will typically remove the listing for that product and instruct the seller to work out retraction of the complaint with the rights owner

 

2)     Operating Multiple Amazon Seller Accounts. 

Many sellers fail to abide by one of Amazon’s most strictly enforced policies: Amazon sellers may not operate multiple seller accounts without Amazon’s prior approval. Per Amazon’s Prohibited Seller Activities page, “Operating and maintaining multiple Seller Central accounts is prohibited. If you have a legitimate business need for a second account, you can apply for an exception to this policy.” Although many Amazon sellers may have a legitimate business need for a second account, they fail to follow procedure and do not seek permission from Amazon prior to opening second accounts

 

3)     Amazon Seller Account Hackers.

While often by no fault of their own, many Amazon Seller account suspensions are often the result of a hacking of an Amazon Seller account. Our team at Amazon Sellers Lawyer has seen an increase in cases where seller accounts are hacked, bank account information is changed, and funds are transferred to an overseas bank account belonging to the hacker. Sometimes, Amazon will suspend the account on their own if they notice the suspicious activity. Other times, Amazon sellers themselves will notify Amazon of the strange account activity and their account will then be suspended until Amazon can verify the account details with the Seller.

 

4)     Sale of Restricted Products. 

Amazon also restricts the sale of several types of products on their platform. Amazon’s policy states “The sale of illegal, unsafe, or other restricted products listed on these pages, including products available only by prescription, is strictly prohibited.” Furthermore, “Those participating in Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), should also review the FBA Product Restrictions page which lists products that are not eligible for the FBA program.

 

5)     Inauthentic Complaints

We take product authenticity very seriously. It is each seller’s responsibility to source and sell only authentic products. If you sell counterfeit goods, we may immediately suspend or terminate your selling privileges and destroy inventory in our fulfillment centers without reimbursement.

 

6)     Using Images / Text without Permission – Copyright Infringement. 

Another type of intellectual property issue that causes many Amazon Seller account suspensions is copyright infringement, or using images or text belonging to someone else when creating an Amazon product listing. Again, intellectual property issues can be very difficult to resolve as Amazon requires the seller to resolve the issue with the rights owner directly

 

7)     Amazon Sellers Accused of Unauthorized Sales Conclusion.

Another type of baseless complaint that commonly causes Amazon Seller account suspensions is when Amazon Sellers are accused of intellectual property infringement because they are unauthorized sellers of certain products. Many manufacturers set-up exclusive distribution agreements with their distributors because they only want their products to be sold by those distributors. However, Amazon does not enforce exclusive distribution agreements, so these complaints are often invalid and improperly asserted against many Amazon Sellers.