Getting locked out of your primary Amazon seller account can be very frustrating. Having access to your primary account is essential for making important changes to settings, editing billing information, and accessing your Brand Registry.
Amazon Seller Account Status
The first step in regaining access to your Amazon seller account is to determine the current status of your account. Every seller account on Amazon has one of these 6 statuses…
- Active – Your listings are live and you have access to your account.
- Inactive – Your account is not currently in use. You have put your account on holiday and can resume activity when you are ready.
- On hold – Your account may be put on temporary hold if Amazon needs to verify your information. If your account is on hold with Amazon, we recommend simply waiting for Amazon to verify things on their end.
- Deleted – If you have deleted your Amazon account it cannot be recovered.
- Blocked – Your account has been blocked for security purposes. To regain access you have to prove that you are authorized to use the account. This can usually be done through authentication with an OTP.
- Suspended – If Amazon determines you have violated their policies, your account will be suspended. You cannot use your account until you successfully appeal Amazon’s decision to suspend you.
If your account has been blocked or suspended, you will have to take action to recover your account. In this blog, we will focus specifically on regaining access to your blocked account.
Recovering Your Blocked Amazon Seller Account
Your account may have been blocked for a number of reasons. Generally, Amazon will block accounts as a security measure. If Amazon detects suspicious activity, such as someone trying to hack into your account, you will be blocked. In order to regain access, you have to prove that you have the authority to use your account. This can usually be done through a simple two-step verification with an OTP (one-time password) such as a code texted to your phone number. If you are able to enter the OTP to verify your authority to use the account then you’re all set to go…but what can you do if two-step verification fails?
Recovering Your Amazon Seller Account After Two-Step Verification Fails
Two-step verification may not work for you for various reasons- maybe your phone number changed, you entered in the wrong phone number information, or the employee who had access to your account (and set up the two-step verification) is unavailable or no longer working for you. Unfortunately, to get around this issue you will have to start the Amazon account recovery process.
Blocked Amazon Account Recovery Process
The first step in the account recovery process is to open a ticket with Seller Support. After you have opened a ticket, Seller Support will get back to you with the next steps. Most likely, they will disable the OTP requirement and ask you to instead upload a government-issued ID to verify your authority to access the account. If you have a government-issued ID that matches the name on your primary account then you should be set to recover your blocked account. However, you may not be able to provide the government-issued ID, especially if the name associated with the account belongs to a former employee. In this case, the issue will have to be escalated. Send a request to your Amazon support representative to escalate the issue after Seller Support was not able to resolve it. Your Amazon representative should have the authority to resolve the problem and give you access.
Best Practices to Avoid Losing Access to Your Primary Account
Getting unblocked from your Amazon seller primary account after two-step verification fails is an exhausting troubleshooting process. To avoid this situation, there are some best practices you can follow….
- Use a generic email address for your primary seller account, such as amazon@yourcompany.com or hello@yourcompany.com
- Use the same email address for your Brand Registry
- Set up OTPs to go to an authenticator app (such as Google Authenticator or Bitwarden) rather than an individual’s phone number.
In Conclusion
Consider teaming up with an agency like Envision Horizons who can help you navigate the complicated and continuously changing Amazon space. Envision Horizons has a specialized team of former seller support representatives who are available 24/7 to help resolve issues for our clients. Additionally, our team has connections at Amazon that allow us to escalate problems to expedite a resolution.
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