Mastering Amazon Seller Central: Overcoming Common Challenges

Amazon Seller Central offers the opportunity to expand your brand to millions of customers worldwide, but this connection comes with a few significant challenges.

Check out these statistics from Seller Candy, highlighting the biggest obstacles for Amazon Sellers:

32% of sellers get stuck updating listings
24% of sellers encounter suspended listings
22% of sellers face account health issues
10% of sellers have problems with inventory

Updating Listings

When updating the product’s title, bullet points, description, images, and pricing, sellers may face issues. Amazon takes time to approve any submitted change, but there may be an issue if it takes longer than 24 hours for approval. Amazon has strict guidelines, and all changes must follow them. To reduce the wait time, view Amazon Seller Central’s guidelines for different product types and check the review status consistently after submitting an update.

Suppressed Listings

When a product gets suppressed on Amazon, customers cannot find it in the search options. There are various reasons that a listing gets suppressed, mainly from failing to meet standards and requirements. Some examples include:

Photo issues
Listing banned products
inaccurate/missing information
Violating selling policies

Double-check to ensure you have met all the requirements when listing a product. Also, make sure that you have not exceeded any word limits or used any banned wording.

Account Health

Amazon Account Health assesses sellers’ standings regarding account restriction or product suppression risk. Account health can be affected by many different circumstances:

Customer service performance
Suspected or received intellectual property violations
Authenticity complaints from customers
Condition complaints
Listing & restricted product policy violations
Shipping performance

It is essential to regularly check your Account Health dashboard to stay ahead of potential restrictions or suspensions. The higher the health rating, the better your business will do on Amazon.

Inventory Management

Sellers can run into issues if inventory management is not managed correctly. Amazon can suppress your listings for various reasons that arise from inventory.

Late dispatches fulfilled by you (late shipment rate)
Shipping delays
Out of stock
Excess inventory charges

Keeping track of inventory is very important to optimize profits and run a successful business on Amazon. Inventory management prevents unwanted costs, such as unused warehouse space or overstock. It also helps track the out-of-stock status and helps provide accurate shipping times.

Amazon Seller Central opens the door to many opportunities, but first you must overcome the challenges. Staying compliant, informed, and proactive with Amazon’s guidelines, you can navigate those challenges to thrive and expand your reach on the Amazon marketplace.