Generally speaking, Amazon has a primary audit and a secondary audit for newly registered accounts. Successful account registration means that the primary audit has passed. The secondary audit is Bad Actor Prevention (BAP). It is based on the primary audit and the European site KYC audit, and opens further audit verification for some accounts with questionable associations, questionable information, and questionable compliance.
As of now, there is a 60% probability that new accounts will encounter a secondary audit. So can the secondary audit be avoided in advance? Strictly speaking, it is not possible, but if some detailed work is done when registering an account to minimize the probability of triggering a secondary audit, even if a secondary audit is triggered, it can have a high pass rate. The detailed work is described as follows.
①It is recommended to use a stable dedicated network environment.
②Ensure that the information submitted and displayed in the background during registration is consistent with the company information that the seller actually owns, and do not confuse the identity or actual office address.
③Do not use a virtual private network (VPN) when registering.
④ Ensure that the company contact information is up to date (email address and phone number) so that Amazon can contact it when necessary.
⑤ The credit card submitted for payment and settlement in the backend must be valid and can be deducted normally. It is recommended to use the company’s legal person credit card, and the bank account information is always up to date.
⑥ When registering, please ensure that the registrant can submit the same water, electricity, and gas bills as the backend address.
If the above 6 tasks are in place, the account is still reviewed and deactivated by Amazon, then how should it be dealt with? The response strategy for the second review is divided into 3 steps.
The first step is to understand the reason for account deactivation
When the account is reviewed for the second time, the seller can log in to the Amazon seller backend and follow the following path: Performance-Performance Notification-Appeal, and finally check the performance notification sent to the mailbox.
The second step is to appeal after understanding the reason
Generally speaking, sellers can follow the following steps to appeal.
First, confirm that the office address filled in when registering is correct. If the seller is in the account deactivation period, please be sure to check the office address you filled in before applying for an appeal (the company name and office address will be displayed on the “Seller Information” page).
Secondly, the office address filled in during registration must be consistent with the address on the daily bills for water, electricity, gas, etc. that the seller will provide for the appeal materials later. Please fill in the address in pinyin in the corresponding position. If it is a European seller, please make sure that the office address filled in during the seller registration is consistent with the address on the company’s business license.
Finally, after confirming that the office address is correct, the seller has the following two methods to apply for an appeal and submit the appeal materials for subsequent account unblocking.
The operations of major sites are basically similar. The following uses Amazon US as a case demonstration.
Enter the Amazon seller backend and follow the following path: Performance – Account Health – Please check the indicators and reactivate the account.
Click “Reactivate Account” and submit the attachments according to the content in the picture to ensure that the submitted materials are true and valid.
Enter the Amazon seller backend and follow the following path: Performance Notification – Appeal – Error Deactivation – Add Documents, and finally submit the appeal materials.
Step 3, Appeal Requirements
After submitting the appeal application, the next step is to fill in the appeal content and submit the appeal bill documents. When preparing the appeal materials, please pay attention to the following points.
①Please upload the company name corresponding to the seller’s office address mentioned above or the daily expense bill of any one of the water, electricity, natural gas/coal gas or Internet services in the past 90 days with the legal representative as the title. If there are other auxiliary materials or documents that can prove the company’s operation, they can also be added here. For example, the company’s official website, the company’s store links on other e-commerce platforms, etc.
②Please ensure that the scanned copy or photo of the uploaded paper bill meets the following requirements.
The address on the bill is clearly visible, reflecting the company title or the name of the legal representative.
The address of the uploaded bill must be consistent with the office address.
The bill must be issued within 90 days.
Screenshots are not accepted, only color pdf, png, and gif format bills are accepted.
Absolutely no photo editing or file changes (including scans or annotations on photos).
Do not cover up or deface.
If it is really impossible to provide daily expense bills for water, electricity, gas, etc. under the name of the legal representative or the company, it is recommended that the seller provide the following materials as auxiliary proof for review by the relevant departments.
a. Color photo/color scan of the household registration book: the legal representative and the person indicated on the bill are under the same household registration.
b. Marriage certificate: the legal representative and the person indicated on the bill are husband and wife.
c. VAT invoice for water, electricity, and gas: If it is really impossible to provide daily expense bills for the office address, it is recommended to submit the VAT invoice for water, electricity, and gas at the seller’s platform office address.
③Confirm that the seller’s international credit card is valid and can be deducted.
After submitting the appeal materials, the seller will generally receive the first reply email within 2 working days. If the seller does not receive a reply email within 5 working days, the seller can resubmit the previously submitted materials in the Amazon seller backend. However, if the seller repeatedly submits the appeal materials within 5 working days, or sends the appeal materials to Amazon through other channels, Amazon may identify the seller’s repeated appeals as spam and delay the reply.
If the information provided by the seller in the performance notification email reply is not complete, it is recommended that the seller prepare more detailed information, such as daily expense bills such as water, electricity, and gas for 3 consecutive months, or other information that can assist in proving that the actual office location is consistent with the Amazon seller backend address. In addition, if the reply received clearly requires the seller to provide a business license and credit card bill, please provide them as required; if there is no clear requirement, these documents are not required.
Finally, in order to ensure that all sellers can successfully pass the second review, I have summarized a collection of common problems in the second review of accounts, hoping to help sellers.
Common problems in the second review of accounts
Q: If my business license address is different from the actual office address, which one should I fill in?
A: Fill in the address of the daily expense bill that can provide any one of water, electricity, natural gas/coal gas or Internet services.
Q: I have successfully appealed. Will I be reviewed again during the sales process?
A: Account review will occur during the operation process based on specific performance.
Q: When submitting an appeal, are the materials required for each site the same?
A: The appeal interface for submitting fee bills on Amazon Europe is different. The process is simple and sellers do not need to prepare other materials. For other sites, please follow the instructions on the “Reactivate Account” interface of the Amazon Seller Platform to prepare and operate the materials.
Q: If the problem is still not solved after I follow the instructions, is there any other way to seek help?
A: In daily operations, if sellers still have questions about Amazon account review, or their accounts are restricted and need help, sellers who already have exclusive account managers can directly consult the exclusive account manager. If the seller does not have a dedicated account manager, there are two ways to solve the account problem: by seeking help from the merchant manager who gave you the account registration link and by seeking help through account appeal.