Amazon Appeal

To ring in the New Year, Thompson and Holt managing partner Craig Gedey has outlined the five crucial mistakes you should resolve not to make when writing an Amazon Appeal.

An Amazon Appeal is your method of reinstating your Amazon account as quickly as possible if you’ve been suspended by the site. But mistakes are common - and making them could delay or even prevent you getting back online.

Here, Thompson and Holt’s Gedey provides his five biggest mistakes to avoid in 2020.

1. Lift a generic Amazon Appeal from the internet

“This is the biggest thing to avoid in our line of business,” Gedey stresses. “The last thing the experienced teams at Amazon want to read is generic responses that you’ve copy and pasted from the internet. You need to put together detailed and specific information from your own individual case, highlighting that you’ve identified the issue that got you suspended and explaining how you will avoid repeating it again. Your Amazon Appeal should be tailored to deal with exactly what has unfolded in your specific case, and should never, ever be a copied version of somebody else’s. The people that deal with your Amazon Appeal have seen all of that before countless times and it will actually count against you when looking to get back online.”

2. Poorly constructed Amazon Appeals

“Many Amazon Appeals that we see at Thompson and Holt have been thrown together with no structure, making them difficult to read and crucially, hard to access the important information that you need to include and Amazon needs to hear. As a basic outline, your Amazon Appeal should include an introductory paragraph, a clear description of your specific issue, your action steps to avoid repeat and a well written, concise closing statement. Sticking to that basic outline will serve you well.”

3. Letting anger take over

“I come across plenty of Amazon Appeals that have been written in haste shortly after being suspended and it’s clear to pick them out,” Gedey says. “Just expressing frustration and anger about your suspension isn’t going to appease the relevant Amazon teams, and can also lead to poor spelling, punctuation and grammar, which further hampers your case. I’ve also seen Amazon Appeals that have basically been desperate pleas for help - which again just won’t cut it. Take some time to consider all the facts if you’ve been informed of a suspension and take a measured approach to your Amazon Appeal.”

4. Rambling, long-winded Amazon Appeals

“Don’t think that your Amazon Appeal is an exercise in showcasing your English GCSE writing skills with long-winded, descriptive paragraphs. Instead, the primary aim is providing the key details of your case in a clear, concise manner. We find that using bullet points is a good idea because it allows the people reading your Amazon Appeal to access the information they need as quickly as possible. And make sure your closing statement is factual and to the point, so they are left under no illusions about your plans to avoid any other suspensions again in the future.”

5. Telling Amazon what they’re doing wrong

“Another big pitfall to avoid,” Gedey concludes. Your Amazon Appeal doesn’t need to include your own personal analysis of how the company works, what they are doing wrong or how their systems have been particularly unfair to your company. Instead, you need to accept responsibility for the suspension you’ve been given, and use your Amazon Appeal to show how seriously you are taking your response to it. Focus on your own situation, not any Amazon systems.”

* If you have found yourself suspended while selling on Amazon, contact Thompson and Holt for a free LiveChat to get your Amazon Seller business back online as quickly as possible.