Amazon Sellers: Policy Updates You Need to Know Now

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This week, I’m joined by our resident Amazon policy and compliance consultant, Lesley Hensell. Lesley is co-founder and co-owner of Riverbend Consulting, an organization that helps people with suspensions, policy issues, and account management. She’s an Amazon expert and has also been a seller for almost a decade. She’s here today for her regular update on what’s going on with Amazon, what’s new, what’s changing, and what’s going to affect you and your business. The first part of her update is on the rampant suspensions of linked accounts that Amazon’s going in for right now. Lesley tells us that Amazon is using AI to crack down on people who have more than one account without good reason, and we discuss how to follow the rules and avoid suspension. Another big issue happening with Amazon recently is a surge in bogus IP complaints, and Lesley explains the importance of protecting yourself with brand registration and making sure your paperwork is organized and accessible. Related to this, I talk about some problems I’ve had recently with bad players selling counterfeit versions of our products, and Lesley provides some reassurance that Amazon has started really enforcing its brand registry rules and suspending people who abuse them.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Next, Lesley has some good news about getting suspended ASINs reinstated—it seems that Amazon is now giving the option (in some cases) to get your ASIN put back up in exchange for taking a training course. This is a faster option than the usual process and has the added benefit that you can learn something important to help you with your Amazon business. Lesley and I then spend some time discussing the bad things that can happen in the Amazon warehouse, including expired or used products being put back into rotation, and Lesley has a tip for managing your SKUs to avoid that nightmare scenario. I also ask about Amazon’s PPC rules, and Lesley tells us about how some sellers are using meta-tags and back-end i