Hi, I'm looking for a bit of advice with an appeal for re-activation. My account was deactivated for Changing Shipping Prices During Checkout, I have submitted several appeals and they have all been rejected. I thought my latest appeal was strong but it was rejected. I have pasted it below, would anybody be able to offer some advice on how to make it stronger and hopefully a successful one. Many thanks.

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ROOT CAUSE

• My account was deactivated for ‘Altering Shipping Charges During Checkout’.

• My shipping templates were incorrectly configured, to a PER ITEM basis, which resulted in excessive shipping being charged if a customer placed a multiple quantity order.

• The carrier I was using was not the cheapest or quickest service available and this cost was ultimately passed onto the customer in my shipping templates.

• This happened because I was not familiar with Amazon’s Marketplace Fair Pricing policy.

• I have read through Amazon's seller University and watched many videos, but the Marketplace Fair Pricing policy was one I had not come across and did not know it existed.

• I have gone through my orders for the 12 months prior to account deactivation, and have discovered out of a total of 1027 orders, 12 orders were for multiple items and had shipping charged on a per item basis, and the customers were charged excessive shipping. The order IDs are as follows: [removed]

CORRECTIVE MEASURES

• I have read Amazon’s Marketplace Fair Pricing policy thoroughly and now fully understand my responsibility in setting a fair shipping price. I realise now that setting a shipping price that is excessive is strictly prohibited and that the charge must reflect the actual carrier cost, with a reasonable handling charge.

• I have refreshed myself and read through Amazon Seller Code of conduct and I am now confident that my account aligns with this policy, especially with regards to providing accurate information to Amazon and customers at all times.

• As a temporary measure I have changed the parameters of my shipping templates to a weight-based system instead of a PER ITEM basis. This has lowered, considerably, the shipping charged, more so if a customer wants to place an order for multiple quantities, however, if my account is reinstated, I want to upload a spreadsheet to Amazon and change all my ASINS to the FREE shipping template I already have set up. This will erase any confusion with shipping charges in the future. Whilst my account is deactivated I do not currently have access to this feature. I have put my account into holiday mode so if my account is reinstated, I will not receive any orders until I have made the changes.

• I have secured the services of a cheaper carrier, UPS, who also offer a quicker service, so my prices are now lower.

• It is my mistake by not reading all of Amazon’s policies. Now that I have read Amazon’s Marketplace Fair Pricing Policy, I can see that setting a shipping charge that is excessive can harm public trust in Amazon. Customers need to be able to rely on advertised shipping rates when making purchasing decisions. High shipping fees damages the customer experience which can harm Amazon’s and my own business.

• I have gone through my inventory and am now satisfied that there are no more ASINS that violate Amazon’s policies.

PREVENTATIVE MEASURES

• I have developed an operating procedure for the implementation of fulfilling orders. Moving forward, all listings will be attached to my FREE SHIPPING template. All listings will be priced fairly, and all orders will be dispatched in a timely fashion with full tracking.

• I am solely responsible for my account and will make sure that I review Amazon selling policies on a weekly basis to ensure that my listings adhere to Amazon policy, with particular attention paid to Seller Code of Conduct and the Marketplace Fair Pricing Policy.

• The steps I have mentioned above have already been implemented, apart from transferring ASINS to my free shipping template, to ensure that moving forward all orders will be dispatched on time, at a fair and reflective price and the customer will be able to rely on the shipping information they receive.

CONCLUSION

I have never knowingly altered shipping charges during checkout. I realise now that it was the shipping templates, set up as they were, that was altering prices at checkout based on the parameters I had set in the shipping template. As I had not familiarised myself with Amazon’s Marketplace Fair Pricing policy I did not know about charging excessive shipping fees. I believe I have now discovered what the root cause for the account deactivation was and have put robust measures in place to ensure that there is never a repeat occurrence. I have thoroughly read the Amazon Seller code of Conduct, the Amazon Business Seller Services Solution and the Amazon Marketplace Fair Pricing Policy and can now see that I was harming Amazon and the customers by charging an excessive shipping fee.

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My failure to meet Amazon’s high expectations was wholly unintentional. I hope I have demonstrated my newfound knowledge and understanding of Amazon’s selling policies and my commitment to adhering to them moving forward, and that there will be no repeat should my account be reactivated. P.s I have attached unedited supplier invoices to cover the 90 days prior to deactivation, also invoices from my carrier.

Kind Regards