You know who you are.
You sell on Amazon. But you harbor a secret. Somewhere in your past, there is another seller account lurking. And it’s a seller account that was suspended or blocked.
What if I told you that you can likely get that old seller account reinstated? What’s more, reactivating that dead account can:
- Reduce your risk of a suspension for linked accounts
- Improve your cash flow
- Open up new product categories
- And generally make life on Amazon better and easier?
It can! Let’s talk about it.
The high value of an aged Amazon seller account
Older Amazon seller accounts can carry a great deal of value. They can provide you flexibility you might not have with a more recently approved account. Features might include:
- More frequent payouts. Some older accounts allow their owners to request payouts up to one time per day, rather than waiting for their biweekly payments.
- 100 percent payouts. Some older accounts pay out the entire balance to the seller on their appointed payout day. This provides a huge cash flow advantage, since newer accounts have a rolling reserve. The rolling reserve allows Amazon to always be holding a significant percentage of the money a seller is owed. A 100 percent payout reduces risk in the case that an account is suspended, since Amazon is holding less of the seller’s funds.
- More category, brand and ASIN approvals. Many older accounts have been grandfathered in to high-value categories, brands and ASINs – without having to apply for approval. This makes it easier for sellers to expand their offerings with less friction.
Lower your risk of a linked accounts suspension
Now for the negative side of a lurkin suspended Amazon seller account.
Your current Amazon seller account is at risk of deactivation. At any moment, Amazon could connect your old, dead account to your healthy, active account.
Now, before you protest, let me explain. Amazon is always finding new ways to link accounts. They now use public databases of LLCs and other formation documents, in addition to a wide range of data including:
- Banking, credit card and other financial information
- Physical, shipping and warehouse addresses
- Data in the related buyer accounts with the same login email addresses
- IP addresses, computer hardware and software “fingerprints” and other tech tattles
- Home addresses, family members who live or have lived with you, and other relationship information
- And so many more factors
In the past, Amazon only linked seller accounts if one of the accounts in question was already in trouble. For example, an account gets suspended for inauthentic, and then Amazon discovered other related accounts and suspends them as well.
Now? Amazon is becoming increasingly proactive to link up seller accounts. More often, they are digging up relationships that are years – or even decades – old. We have seen linked accounts that are throwbacks to suspended accounts from 15 years ago and more.
But I thought we could have more than one Amazon seller account?!
Amazon does allow sellers to have more than one selling account – if they have a legitimate business reason. But there are several rules that govern this policy. The most important of these: a seller cannot offer the same product across accounts.
The entire point of the related accounts rule is to prevent price-fixing and other anti-competitive policies. To be safe, an Amazon seller should avoid selling the same products, brands or even categories on more than one account.
Clear cases of a business reason to sell on more than one account include:
- Selling wholesale items on one account and a private label brand on another account
- Selling items in clothing on one account and pet items on another account
- Maintaining separate accounts for different private label brands
How you can get back that old account
If you have an old suspended account that is just waiting to give you fits, do the following:
- Find the login for the old account; log in from a computer and IP address that cannot be traced to your existing, healthy accounts
- Search for any information you still have about the account’s suspension
- Appeal the suspension
Sound crazy? It’s not:
- Amazon is sometimes more likely to reinstate an account that was suspended long ago
- In some cases, the rules have changed to favor sellers
- If you have a strong argument for how your business has changed or what you’ve learned, that can be a compelling case for reinstatement
Interested in getting that old suspended account off your conscience? Give us a shout. We can help.
Seller Account Health. Solved.
