Hello Fellow Amazon Sellers,
I'm hoping to get some guidance or hear from others who've faced a similar issue.
I was selling on Amazon UK and across EU marketplaces. On 29 March 2025, I received a policy warning on the German marketplace for ASIN Creation Policy violations. The affected listings were for old products that hadn’t been on sale in years. I acknowledged the violation, account health returned to normal, and I planned to delete the listings later without investigating further.
Then on 4 April 2025, I received another warning—same parent ASIN, different child. This time, I deleted the child ASIN immediately to avoid further issues. Shortly after, I got an email that my account was deactivated due to policy violations and all listings were removed.
I checked my account—everything was gone. I removed all FBA inventory via the stranded inventory screen to stay compliant. Since then, I've been contacting Seller Support and submitting a Plan of Action explaining everything I did, but I keep getting automated rejections saying it's not enough.
I’ll share both my POA and Amazon’s reply below. If anyone has been in a similar situation and can offer insight on what I’m missing, I’d really appreciate it.
One big challenge: I don't know exactly which part of the policy I have violated as Amazon wiped all my listings. What is more, I can’t provide any evidence of what actions I took. Is there a way to retrieve this info somewhere in the seller account?
@Seller_VJ4XoAkjDpjPH
@Seller_fgtTzyHQfOM1x
@Seller_Huz6FT08OxHAR
PLAN OF ACTION
Root Cause of the Violation
The primary root cause of the violation was a misinformed understanding of Amazon's variation policies and guidelines for ASIN creation. Specifically:
• We grouped functionally dissimilar products into the same variation family under ASIN ABC, which misrepresented product details on the product detail page.
• We did not properly verify category-specific variation themes, leading to inconsistencies in product type, browse node classification, and intended use.
• A secondary issue was our failure to act promptly on the first policy warning received on 29 March 2025, assuming that since no inventory remained for sale and the ASINs were already scheduled for deactivation, no action was necessary. This contributed to a second violation being triggered on 4 April 2025.
• Lastly, our business lacked internal SOPs and review processes to validate listing structure and ensure compliance prior to submission.
These issues arose from a lack of deep engagement with Amazon’s policy materials and seller tools. We now recognize the significance of proper variation setup and the customer experience implications of our errors.
________________________________________
Corrective Actions Taken
• Removal of Problematic Listings: After receiving 2nd violation warning we immediately deleted affected ASIN ABC but could not take any further actions as all other listing were removed.
• FBA Inventory Removed: All physical inventory was removed from Amazon fulfillment centers to prevent any accidental relisting while we resolved the policy issues.
• Policy Education: We thoroughly reviewed all relevant Amazon policies, including:
o ASIN Creation Policy:
o Variation Relationships Help Page:
o Product Detail Page Rules:
o Determine Variations for Your Products
o Code of Conduct:
• Seller University Completion: We completed training via Amazon Seller University, with particular focus on:
o “Intro to Product Detail Pages”
o “Create Product Variations One at a Time”
o “Best Practices for Product Detail Pages”
________________________________________
Preventive Measures and Long-Term Improvements
1. Internal SOP Implementation
We created and implemented documented Standard Operating Procedures to manage all ASIN creation and catalog editing:
• Governs the creation of new listings and outlines mandatory steps for selecting correct variation themes, verifying similarity in product function and format, and entering complete and accurate information for parent ASINs.
2. Catalog Review Process
• All new listings are now reviewed for variation theme compliance, title/description consistency, and browse node alignment before submission.
3. Mandatory Product Detail Templates
• We have developed internal templates that mirror Amazon’s category-specific requirements. These templates guide the structure of product titles, bullet points, and parent detail pages to ensure consistency and completeness.
• Listings will not be submitted unless all required fields are validated against these templates.
4. Structured Response to Policy Notifications
• A new policy mandates an emergency team meeting within 24 hours of any performance notification.
• Within 48 hours, we will draft and implement a corrective action plan and initiate a catalog-wide review if necessary.
• This process is now documented in our internal policy manual and applies even if we believe the product is inactive or delisted.
5. Ongoing Education and Consultation
• We will continue using Amazon’s Seller University as a core resource and have committed to reviewing a new policy category monthly.
• We are in consultation with an external Amazon compliance advisor to review our listings and business practices periodically, ensuring continued policy adherence.
________________________________________
Conclusion and Request
We deeply regret the errors made in our catalog structure and variation assignments. These mistakes were due to a lack of experience and understanding, but we take full responsibility. Since the violation, we have taken meaningful steps to correct our listings, train ourselves on Amazon’s policies, and implement sustainable long-term controls.
We are fully committed to maintaining the trust of Amazon and its customers and ensuring a high-quality shopping experience through accurate and policy-compliant listings. We respectfully request that our selling privileges be reinstated, and we are confident in our ability to meet Amazon’s standards going forward.
Sincerely,
And here is the reply I received from Amazon:
Thank you for submitting your plan of action. We reviewed your appeal and determined that it is missing the following information. Please include the missing information listed below in your plan of action.
-- Greater detail on the root cause(s) of the variation abuse policy.
-- Greater detail on the actions you have taken to resolve the identified issues.
-- Greater detail on the steps you have taken to prevent variation abuse going forward.
-- Greater detail on why you believe an error has occurred.
Has your account been deactivated in error?
If you believe there has been an error, please tell us why. Your explanation should include how your account has not violated Amazons selling policies along with the documents mentioned above to support authenticity.
I really don't know what to do and how to get my account back.
Thanks in advance for any help.
