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My product is ranked terribly after upgrading to a Professional Plan
I really don't know where to start with this, but 9 days ago on the 29th November I upgraded to a Professional Plan. I'd made about 8 sales of my calendar in a week - although not amazing seeing as there was a £3.99 charge and it said it could take like 2 weeks to be delivered it seemed ok, and we weren't into December yet. So I upgraded and immediately my account was deactivated (I can only think due to the first order I received almost 2 months ago which I accidentally marked as sent a few days late and hand-delivered it too).
Anyway, it took 4 days for them to reactivate it, but since then my listing has slipped from 3rd in the ranking to 28th and shows absolutely no sign of moving. It's even ranked below numerous calendars that went out of date in the past 6 years and are no longer relevant. I wrote to support and mentioned this on the morning of Thursday 5th and received a reply a few hours later asking for the keywords/urls I searched with. I sent those back and waited over 48 hours without reply, I emailed yesterday afternoon asking if they'd been an update and have still heard nothing.
So, basically, I paid to upgrade, had my account deactivated for 4 days and also my listing dropped massively in the rankings, possibly just because of one order at the start I misplaced (I'm not sure if that's actually why as I've never been told - it was 2 months ago and all the orders I received the past month have been fine!). Oh, and I can't seem to get any help from support, who normally reply well within 24 hours.
I'm not entirely sure what I'm asking, I guess I'm just really frustrated with this whole experience. I suppose if there's anything I can do about my ranking which has dropped massively I'd love to know (I'm the first result on Etsy and have massively outsold the similar products, so it's nothing to do with what I'm selling). Also, if it doesn't change is there any process to get a refund on the Professional Plan? They deactivated my account, killed my ranking and my product won't even be relevant after early January, so really need it ranked how it was before this whole ordeal asap.
Thank you so much for any help/anyone who read all of that!
9 replies
Seller_ZVAz3d5lZuGid
"... is there any process to get a refund on the Professional Plan?"
As far as I know you can only get a refund on the pro selling plan if you have not made use of it, ie. had no sales, so unlikely. You can downgrade again to individual plan at any time. To be honest, I cannot see any reason why your ranking would have dropped just because you upgraded ?!
Seller_i6S8knzW6zU6Z
Hi @Seller_bH5My4pQDILrT,
I completely understand your frustration—the account deactivation and resulting drop in rankings were certainly an unexpected "hiccup." But since that issue has now been resolved, it’s an obstacle that’s thankfully behind you.
If you’re aiming to grow your Amazon business, sticking with the Professional Plan is really essential in the long run.
The difference in order fees is one obvious advantage, but the benefits go much further. Just take a look at the selling plan comparison table (https://sell.amazon.co.uk/pricing). Without access to on-site advertising, launching new products becomes significantly more challenging. As your business grows, integrating third-party tools via the API will also be critical for automating processes and scaling efficiently. Even something as small as managing bookkeeping can take up hours without the right tools—and that’s time you’d be better off spending on growing your sales and profitability.
Wishing you all the best with your business—I hope you can regain momentum quickly!
Kind regards, Michael
Seller_bH5My4pQDILrT
Hi Michael,
Thanks a lot for the reply, I appreciate the considered response. Unfortunately, however, the issue isn't behind me at all. I started this account to sell my calendar - it's now ranked so low that no one is going to see it to buy it and I've also had the pleasure of paying for the inconvenience and resulting ranking drop.
I sell a lot of calendars and I thought Amazon could be a good outlet for it. I produce cards, postcards and prints also, but I don't think they'd be close to as profitable on here.
So basically as far as I can tell (based on last year when I started this account) my calendar won't regain a decent ranking until next year and even then it's a cointoss I guess!
It just looks like I'm going to have paid the Professional Plan fee for absolutely no benefit, a terribly ranked product and a lot of hassle.
Seller_i6S8knzW6zU6Z
Hi @Seller_bH5My4pQDILrT,
Thanks for clarifying further. I completely understand why this situation feels incredibly frustrating.
That said, it’s worth noting that the ranking drop was caused by the account suspension rather than the Professional Plan upgrade itself. Amazon audits accounts for various reasons, sometimes triggered by revenue thresholds or entirely unrelated factors. While these situations are out of your control, the actions you take moving forward are within your control—though I know that’s easier said than done.
Regarding your point about cards, postcards, and calendars, let me share some general thoughts based on my understanding.
Calendars, as you mentioned, come with a unique challenge: they have a limited sales window tied to the year. Once the season is over, unsold inventory has little to no value—making them a riskier product in terms of leftover stock. Correct me if I’m wrong, but that could be a constraint when planning future inventory.
For cards and postcards, I imagine the average order value might be on the lower side, which can make marketing campaigns more challenging since the absolute margin per order might not leave much room for profitability. If you’re selling standard blank cards, I suspect there’s significant price competition because it’s harder to differentiate.
However, there could be opportunities to explore, such as offering uniquely designed pop-up cards. Additionally, have you considered Amazon’s Handmade program? I don’t know if your cards fit that category, but it could be worth looking into as it caters to more niche, artisan products.
Whatever route you decide to take, I’m confident you’ll find a way to make it work. Sometimes these setbacks, though frustrating, are part of the learning curve for scaling a business on Amazon.
Wishing you all the best as you navigate this!
Kind regards, Michael
Seller_bH5My4pQDILrT
Oh yes, I realised it was because of the suspension, but that was triggered when I upgraded to the Professional Plan - my account was running completely fine prior to this and I was actually making sales (which I am now not!).
I will look into Amazon Handmade, thank you for suggesting that and your general reply trying to help. Although I'm a bit disillusioned with it to be honest. This whole process has been a lot of time and effort for almost no profit due to the fact that I've paid to have my account deactivated and on reinstatement my product made completely ineffective - meaning I'm going to make no more sales.
To top that off I still haven't heard from Amazon Support since they requested some information from me on the morning of Thursday 5th about the 'now' terrible ranking of my product. Even after asking for an update a few days ago I've heard nothing.
If you or anyone knows how to put in a complaint, or apply for a refund of a Professional Plan that would be useful - it's looking like I'm going to get nowhere with my support request!
Seller_CNXMnZmfYYY3b
You really have to spend time learning how ranking works.. Theres a lot of content out there and if you want to succeed you'll have to take the time. You wont receive anything from Amazon in terms of ranking. That's something you'll have to do yourself. Use ads or lower the price to gain your rank back and slowly increase it once you've gained your rank back.
Seller_raHZbxvpfgJs3
Are amazon creating AI forum members to answer questions after losing many of the real ones? This is a theory i've been working with. This is one and I've noticed more.
Seller_i6S8knzW6zU6Z
Hi @Seller_raHZbxvpfgJs3,
I’m from Germany, so English isn’t my native language. To improve grammar, spelling, and phrasing, I sometimes use AI software as a tool—but the content of my posts is my personal take.
@Seller_bH5My4pQDILrT’s original question was whether it’s possible to get a refund for the professional seller account. My view is that canceling the account would be a mistake if they plan to expand their Amazon business. Fair enough, this is a forum, and everyone is entitled to their opinion. Without differing perspectives, there wouldn’t be much of a discussion.
To be honest, seeing every comment I’ve made in this thread get downvoted has been a little disheartening. I joined the conversation to contribute something helpful, but I’ll take the feedback as a sign to reflect and improve.
All the best, Michael
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