You can check your Performance Notifications on the Seller Central dashboard. If your Seller Central Account is suspended, you will also receive a notification titled “Your Amazon.com selling privileges have been removed” with a list of ASINs that Amazon alleges to have violated its policies. You may also receive an email which says “Your account has been temporarily deactivated” or “your account will remain deactivated.” All of these indicate that your account has been suspended.
Many accounts can be reinstated within 1 week, depending on the facts of the case. Each case is different and our attorneys will advise you of likely outcomes for your matter.
Appeals are commonly prepared and filed within 2-3 days after our retainer is signed, but each situation depends on the facts and complexity of the case. It’s very important to file a well-documented and prepared appeal the first time, in order to avoid unnecessary complications and follow up requests from the Amazon Enforcement Teams Managers that can extend the reinstatement process by weeks or even months.
All additional responses are included in your retainer payment. We are dedicated and committed to fight for you until we reach a proper resolution of your case.
Of course, but you should carefully consider what you are up against. Don’t underestimate Amazon’s Brand Enforcement Teams. Most of Amazon’s account suspension letters are written in very general and vague language and very little guidance is given as to the problems or solutions. For example, many Amazon Sellers are accused only of “intellectual property infringement of a rights owner” without any specifics. Without a solid background in IP and trademark law, it’s not realistic that most sellers would be able to successfully overturn this type of suspension on their own.
You should also be aware that reinstatement becomes more complicated and may take longer, the longer you wait to file your appeal; especially where you have already filed unsuccessful appeals on your own.
Yes, this is possible. However this is a delicate issue as you will be contacting unhappy customers and Amazon is notoriously touchy about a consumer-focused approach! We strongly recommend that you call us for a FREE consultation at (929) 568-6583 on drafting these retraction requests—as we all know, the first contact usually sets the tone of the whole interaction, especially where emotions are already intense!
You can try your best at writing your own Amazon POA, or call our team that produces many successful POAs per week to reinstate suspended Amazon sellers. Whatever you choose to do, make sure you educate yourself about what every successful POA must contain. Call us for a free consultation to learn more: (929) 568-6583.
Because every case is different, the ultimate outcome will depend on the facts of the case and on Amazon’s final decision. That being said, our firm’s record of success speaks for itself: our deep knowledge of Amazon policies and procedures and our record of many successful appeals and fast results sets us apart from our competitors.
Yes, we can! We don’t take no for an answer, and experience shows that a denial can be quickly changed to reinstatement by a change in approach. In fact, in a recent case an Amazon Account Health (AH) rep told a suspended seller over the phone that “You will never get back” and they were reinstated on the next POA, so never give up!
Yes, never give up! As experienced Amazon Attorneys, we know several channels to reinstate denied appeals and you should NEVER assume that a message from Amazon is the last word on reinstating your account, no matter how bad it sounds! We’ve seen it all before…
You should never, ever send your appeal to multiple channels simultaneously, and never directly to Jeff without very careful study by a professional Amazon Attorney! This can result in long delays of your appeals or denials because it is against the Amazon Seller Code of Conduct, as well as the Amazon Services Business Solutions Agreement. That said, if you have made this mistake, don’t lose hope! We have still reinstated many Seller accounts even where many mistakes have already been made by misguided Seller appeals. Call us for a free consultation at (888) 929-8118 before digging yourself into a deeper hole!
Yes, but it is very important to file all the proper paperwork and contracts to prevent account suspension. Call our firm at (929) 568-6583 for a free consultation.
Amazon’s Choice badge goes to the sellers with the top relevant keywords, best customer reviews, lowest defect rates, and other relevant factors for the product on the listing compared to their competitors. Our firm’s ASIN optimization, keyword research and policy violation appeals and removals can help your strongest brands compete with the best for these valuable badges. Call us to learn more at (929) 568-6583
You are not required by law to hire a trademark attorney to file your trademark application with the USPTO. But you should give it serious thought: a recent study at the University of North Carolina concluded that applicants with a trademark attorney had a 50% greater likelihood of a successful registration on the principal register. Depending on the potential value of your brand, the delay’s and weaker trademark protection you may end up with if you file on your own would end up costing you enormously compared to the legal fees you paid to your attorney. Here is a cautionary tale from an Amazon Seller who filed his own trademark and what happened to his business afterwards: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wl9gdhzJLB4. Additionally our firm offers flat-rate trademark packages which are affordable for new entrepreneurs. Call us for a free consultation to learn more: (929) 568-6583.
Yes, in general you need to include evidence of a specimen in use in your trademark application to USPTO. It is possible under certain conditions to file a trademark application even if you aren’t yet selling under your brand. Call us for a free consultation at (929) 568-6583 so we can explain the process.
It’s possible, with the right documentation. Membership on the Amazon Brand Registry is an essential ingredient in your creation of an Amazon Private Label. Call us for a free consultation at (929) 568-6583.
The Amazon BR provides Sellers with very powerful tools to take down competitors infringing on their trademarks and makes process much faster than for unenrolled brands. You can use Amazon Brand Registry to protect your Amazon Private Label Brand against black hat tactics from competitors. You are looking at potential 24 hour results, versus weeks or months for unenrolled brands. Call us at (929) 568-6583 to learn more.
The TM symbol can be used whether or not you filed a trademark application. The ® symbol can only be used once your trademark is registered and fully approved with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
We will give you a list of documents and information we need to file your application during your free consultation. In general, you should put together your certificate of incorporation, and corporate operating agreement, if any, a specimen in trade, and the types of products you want to sell. And a list of possible private label brand names so we can conduct a deep conflict search to ensure you will lower the chances of an infringement complaint down the road.
Black Hat Tactics are defined as unfair, deceptive, or dishonest methods used by competitors to manipulate Amazon’s policy violation and suspension process, and can include leaving fake reviews, changing pack sizes to ensure a competitor incurs losses, listing sabotage, hijacking, co-opting, catalog manipulation, false infringement allegations, and counterfeiting, among countless others. Many of these tactics attempt to unfairly use Amazon’s policies or practices to unfairly get a listing or seller’s account suspended.
One black hat favorite is “Return Abuse”
- Refund abuse (aka. returns abuse) occurs when a customer uses the returns policy of a merchant so much that it becomes unprofitable. Customers may also abuse refunds by faking returns/receipts, or reselling merchandise. From: https://www.ravelin.com/blog/why-is-refund-abuse-at-an-all-time-high.
Another favorite black hat tactic is filing phony infringement or counterfeit complaints. Commonly these dishonest sellers assume that you won’t have the proper documentation to get reinstated even though you’ve done nothing wrong.
The best way to defend against black hat tactics and defeat these dishonest competitors is by obtaining the best possible protection for your Amazon Private Label Brand on the Principal Register and filing a strong application to the Amazon Brand Registry that can be approved quickly, without the need for many additional document requests. Your Amazon Attorney Professionals can also quickly detect and uncover the black hat methods your competitors are using and escalate the appeal process with Amazon, getting your listing back on line quickly and smoothly. Your Attorneys can then go on offense and eliminate false accounts by black hat competitors so other attackers would be deterred from attacking your accounts in the future. Call us to learn how we can help: (929) 568-6583.