Quick answer. An Amazon policy warning is a violation or notice on your Account Health page in Seller Central, often with a matching email or Performance Notification. Each item carries an impact level of critical, high, medium, low, or “No impact”. Amazon says violation points typically range from two to eight, a critical violation drops your Account Health Rating (AHR) to zero, and repeat violations of the same policy cost more each time. If the warning is wrong, dispute it with evidence. If it is right, fix the cause and appeal or acknowledge it. Reaching the repeat limit for one policy inside 180 days triggers a critical violation with a three-day window before deactivation.

Most sellers do not lose their accounts to a single disaster. They lose them to a string of small warnings that each looked harmless, such as a restricted keyword, a rights owner complaint or a used item sold as new. Each was ignored or “fixed” by deleting the listing. Then the next one arrived under the same policy, the points doubled, and the account went from green to red faster than anyone expected.

If you want a team watching the dashboard with you, see our Amazon account health maintenance service.

What Amazon means by a policy warning

Amazon does not run a separate “warning” system next to its enforcement. The warning is the enforcement at its earliest and cheapest stage. Amazon’s Account Health Support FAQ points sellers to that team for “performance and policy compliance warnings on your Account Health page”. A warning reaches you in three places.

The Account Health page. This is the record that counts. Policy violations that affect your AHR are listed there, each with an impact level and guidance under Next steps.
Performance Notifications. When a listing has been taken down, Amazon’s appeal guidance points you here for removal details.
Email. For a critical violation, Amazon says it notifies you through the Account Health page and by email.

The email is the alert. The Account Health page is the ledger, showing the impact level, whether the item is a repeat, the ASIN, and what Amazon expects next. Always respond from the page.

The policies a warning can come from

Amazon publishes the list of policies included in the AHR. At the time of writing it covers anti-counterfeiting, brand name, intellectual property, fair pricing, ASIN creation, communication, customer product reviews, the INFORM Consumers Act, product condition, detail page rules, adult products, software, product safety and compliance, restricted products, and the seller code of conduct. Not every policy is in the AHR. Amazon detects non-compliance with machine learning, automation and human review, which can be right or wrong, and it gives you a route for each case.

How a warning feeds your Account Health Rating

The AHR is Amazon’s single number for your risk of deactivation under the policies it covers. Amazon’s program policy sets out how it works.

The score runs from 0 to 1,000 and gives near real-time status for each store you sell in.
New sellers start at 200.
You lose points when Amazon detects a new policy violation, and gain them back when you successfully address it.
Points are also granted for order volume. Amazon’s FAQ says you gain four points for every 200 successful orders fulfilled over the last 180 days.
Sellers with Fulfilled by Merchant orders can also earn points from Buyer Contact Rate, Average Contact Response Time and Buyer Dissatisfaction Rate. Amazon says it will not restrict selling privileges for below-average performance on those three.
The score reflects policy adherence and selling activity over the last 180 days.

AHR band	Score	What Amazon says it means
Green, “Healthy”	200 to 1,000	Not at risk of deactivation based on the policies in the score
Yellow, “At Risk”	100 to 199	At risk of deactivation
Red, “Unhealthy”	99 or lower	Eligible for deactivation or already deactivated

The rating is not a shield. Regardless of the score, Amazon may deactivate an account immediately if required by law, if it suspects fraudulent, deceptive, illegal or otherwise harmful activity, including attempts to circumvent its systems, or if you violate policies outside the AHR. Our guide to the Account Health Rating covers scoring in more depth.

Severity decides how much a warning costs

Amazon assigns each violation one of four severity levels, plus the “No impact” label. It weighs how much the violation harms customers, whether it breaks laws or regulations, and how many previous violations you have under the same policy.

Every item on the Account Health page carries an impact level. Open each notice to see what Amazon says it means and how fast to move.

A worked example of how fast the score moves

The figures here are hypothetical and only illustrate Amazon’s published outline. A seller sits at 230, comfortably green. A rights owner complaint lands as a high-severity violation. If that violation is worth eight points, the score drops to 222, and nothing feels urgent. Four weeks later a second complaint arrives on another ASIN under the same policy. Amazon says repeat violations can double in value, so the second could cost 16, leaving 206. A third repeat, doubling again to 32, takes the account to 174, yellow and “At Risk”. Three warnings, none of them critical, and the account is one step from red.

Earning back those 56 points from volume alone, at four points per 200 orders, would take 2,800 more successful orders inside the window. Addressing the violation is faster, because a successful appeal or dispute reverses it and its impact.

Our Amazon suspension team can take the case from first review to final submission.

How repeated warnings escalate to deactivation

Most sellers do not know that repeat violations of the same policy hurt them in two ways.

First, the point value rises each time the same policy is violated, so the AHR degrades faster, and higher severity repeats have the most impact. Amazon labels these as repeat violations in the “Impact” column on the Account Health page.

Second, there is a hard limit. Reach the maximum number of repeat violations for a single policy in a 180-day period and the account may be at immediate risk of deactivation. Amazon’s FAQ puts the maximum at five for infringement-related policies and two for restricted products policies, with thresholds set by severity, so more severe policies have lower limits.

Warnings under one policy stack inside a 180-day window. The repeat limit converts them into a critical violation.

What happens when you hit the limit

When you reach the maximum, a critical violation surfaces on the Account Health page, you get an email, the AHR turns red at zero, and you have three days to address it before deactivation. You follow the banner and appeal through the Product Policy Compliance Dashboard, and a specialist may call you. Resolve it inside the three days and Amazon says the account will not be deactivated. Otherwise it stays deactivated until you complete the appeal.

The trap inside a successful appeal

Amazon’s FAQ says violations removed after a successful appeal, where you did not dispute that the activity occurred, may still count toward the repeat threshold within 180 days. Forgiven is not cleared. A dispute is different, because it argues the detection was an error.

Changing a listing’s status, such as closing it or deleting it from inventory, does not remove it from the Account Health page. Deleting the evidence does not delete the warning.

Dispute, appeal, acknowledge, or correct

Amazon’s FAQ lists the ways a violation can leave the Account Health page.

You successfully dispute it and Amazon confirms it was an error.
You successfully appeal it and Amazon decides that, while you did violate the policy, it was not intentional and should be forgiven.
You successfully acknowledge it and confirm you do not want to reactivate the listing. Amazon says this only applies to specific violation types.
The rights owner retracts an intellectual property complaint.
You take the required corrective action, such as removing infringing content.
A violation can be removed 180 days after it was added.

There is one exception. If your account is deactivated for AHR, the violations stay static and do not fall off after 180 days, so you can address them and raise your score.

Amazon gives several ways for a violation to leave the page. Tap a station to see which route fits the facts of your warning.

When to dispute

Dispute when the warning is factually wrong and you can show it. Typical cases are a rights owner complaint against a product bought from the brand’s authorized distributor, a restricted-product flag on a listing without the flagged item, or a condition complaint on an order your records show shipped new. Locate the violation on the Account Health page and follow the guidance under Next steps. A successful dispute removes the violation and its impact.

When to appeal or correct

Appeal when the activity happened, was not intentional, and has been fixed. For many listing-level warnings the corrective action itself, such as removing infringing content, resolves the item. The appeal tells Amazon what caused it and what you changed.

When to acknowledge, and retractions

Acknowledge when the warning is valid, the listing is not worth saving, and Amazon offers that option for the violation type. The violation still happened, so count it toward your repeats. For intellectual property complaints, retraction by the rights owner is another removal route. Our article on intellectual property complaints covers a complaint you believe was filed in error.

How to read a warning like an investigator

Sellers who keep their accounts usually win at the reading stage, before anything is written. Three habits make the difference.

Capture the page before you touch anything

Screenshot the whole Account Health page with the date, every violation, its impact label and its ASIN. Save the email and the Performance Notification. The page changes as you act, so its state at the moment of the warning is your evidence.

Rank by how close each item is to action

The item that feels most unfair is rarely the one closest to deactivation. Rank critical first, then anything labeled repeat, then high, medium, low, and “No impact” last. Amazon says to address violations “prioritizing those with the greatest severity”.

Look for the cluster, not the single flag

Three warnings on three ASINs can share one cause, such as a new supplier, a copied listing template, a keyword tool that inserted a restricted term, or a returns process that relists used units as new. Answer each separately and the cause produces the fourth. Ask what connects the items and when each one started.

Our guide to reading Amazon’s suspension codes and notice language helps when a notice uses wording you do not recognize.

The walkthrough moves through the parts of Seller Central that hold the record. Step through to see what to capture before you respond.

Where to verify the facts behind a warning

Confirm every fact you will rely on before you respond. Amazon’s own pages and records come first, then government sources where the warning touches a legal requirement.

Question	Where to check	What to look for
What exactly was flagged and how serious is it?	Seller Central, Performance, Account Health	Policy name, impact level, repeat label, ASIN, Next steps guidance
Was a listing removed and why?	Account Health, Product Policy Compliance tab, Manage Inventory, and Performance Notifications	Inactive listings, removal reason, date of the notice
How many warnings sit under the same policy?	Account Health page, last 180 days	Items under one policy counted against Amazon’s limit of five for infringement and two for restricted products
Which policy text applies?	Seller Central help pages for Policies included in Account Health Rating, and the named policy page	The exact rule the listing broke, current wording
Will Amazon be able to reach you?	Settings, Notification preferences, Emergency notifications	An accurate, answered phone number
Is the warning about reviews or incentives?	Seller code of conduct and FTC Consumer Reviews and Testimonials rule guidance	Whether any request, insert or incentive was tied to positive sentiment
Is it about seller identity or disclosure?	Seller Central account information and FTC guidance on the INFORM Consumers Act	Bank, tax and contact details current and certified

When a warning touches the law

Some warnings sit on top of legal requirements, which raises the stakes beyond the AHR. Two policies on the list show how.

Reviews. Amazon’s code of conduct bars paying for or incentivizing feedback or reviews, asking only for positive reviews, soliciting only happy customers, and reviewing your own or competitors’ products. Separately, the Federal Trade Commission’s Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials took effect on October 21, 2024. The FTC’s guidance says it prohibits fake reviews, incentives conditioned on a particular sentiment, undisclosed insider reviews and review suppression, and lets courts impose civil penalties for knowing violations. A review-related warning on Amazon is both an account problem and a potential legal one.

Seller identity. The INFORM Consumers Act is on Amazon’s AHR list. The FTC defines a high-volume third-party seller as one with 200 or more separate sales of new or unused consumer products and $5,000 or more in gross revenues in any continuous 12-month period during the past 24 months. The marketplace must collect and verify bank, tax ID and contact information and have sellers certify it at least once a year. An INFORM warning usually means your information is missing, outdated or uncertified.

This section is educational information, not legal advice. If a warning involves possible legal exposure, speak with a qualified attorney.

This record shows the parts a reviewer reads before anything is submitted. Open each tab to see what to check on the panel, the response and the alert.

What a strong response contains

Follow Amazon’s guidance for appeal questionnaires to the letter. Be clear, concise, factual and direct. Focus on what led to the issue, not on introducing your business. Leave out unrelated questions and other support cases, and avoid emotive language. Explain all issues and their root causes, give specific actions with dates, and supply evidence for every product under review. Check the document timeframe requested (Amazon notes some products require invoices from the last 365 days), and highlight the relevant parts, such as ASINs or supplier name.

The three parts that carry the weight

Root cause. One or two sentences on the specific failure, covering who did what, when, and why the control did not catch it. “We made a mistake” is not a root cause. “A bulk listing upload on a set date reused a template that contained a medical claim, and no one reviewed the template before upload” is.
Corrective actions already taken, with proof. What you changed on the flagged listings, with dates, and what you checked across the rest of the catalog and found. Attach screenshots and documents.
Preventive controls, with an owner and a date. The process change that stops a repeat, the person responsible, and when it started. Amazon is reading for repeat risk, so this part matters most on a warning labeled repeat.

For the full structure, see our guide to writing a plan of action Amazon will read.

Documents must be genuine

Every document must be genuine and unaltered. Amazon asks you to highlight the relevant lines. Editing a date, quantity, supplier name or address turns a warning into a far more serious case. If you cannot get a genuine document, say so plainly, explain what you can provide instead, and consider whether removing the product is the honest answer.

When to ask Amazon for help

Professional sellers can reach Account Health Support through Contact us on the Account Health page, including in the seller app. Amazon says the team is available seven days a week, calls you back, and can explain the policy behind a specific violation. If appeal buttons are greyed out, Amazon suggests another browser, clearing your cache, or the seller app, then Account Health Support. Our guide on contacting Amazon Seller Performance covers the other channels.

Some windows after a warning run for days and one runs for 180. Tap a day to see what it means and what should be done by then.

Warnings stacking up under one policy?

Send us the Account Health page and we will tell you plainly where the risk sits.

Submit Case →Book a call

If the account is already deactivated for AHR

Amazon’s FAQ says an account deactivated because of its AHR is reinstated once the score returns to 100 or higher. You raise it by appealing the outstanding violations, or disputing them if Amazon made an error. A successful appeal or dispute reverses the violation and its point impact, and the AHR updates within a few hours of Amazon confirming it.

To appeal, go to Account Health, click Reactivate your account at the top, and follow the instructions. You may be asked for a questionnaire, an acknowledgment, a quiz or supporting documents. Then monitor your email. If Amazon asks for more, click View Appeal to add it. Amazon says to expect a reply within two days.

While deactivated for AHR, violations do not fall off after 180 days, so waiting does not work and addressing them does. If the deactivation is about fraud, deception or circumvention instead, the score is not the route back.

Mistakes that turn a warning into a deactivation

Disputing what happened

A dispute says Amazon was wrong. If your own records show the activity took place, the dispute fails and your next submission starts with less credibility. Appeal or acknowledge instead.

Fixing one listing when the cause covers fifty

A restricted-product warning on one ASIN usually means the same keyword or claim sits on other listings, and with a limit of two in 180 days the second flag may trigger the critical violation. Search the whole catalog before you appeal. Our guide to Amazon restricted products covers how those categories are defined.

A weekly routine that keeps warnings small

The cheapest warning is the one you catch while it is “No impact” or low. A fixed weekly routine catches it. Assign a person and a day.

Open the Account Health page every week. Log the AHR and every item with its impact and repeat labels.
Count by policy. Count items per policy over 180 days. Flag any infringement policy at three or more and any restricted-product policy at one, because the limits are five and two.
Clear “No impact” and low items while they are cheap. Correct the listing, record the cause, check sibling listings.
Check Performance Notifications and Product Policy Compliance for removed listings you have not acted on.
Review uploads before they go live against the policies on Amazon’s AHR list.
Keep the supplier file current with invoices and authorizations for every ASIN.
Test the emergency contact and the person who answers it.

The weekly routine is what keeps a warning small. Toggle the habits you have in place to see how ready the account is and what to fix first.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a policy warning on Amazon?

It is a policy violation or notice listed on your Account Health page, often with an email or Performance Notification. Each item shows an impact level, from critical to “No impact”, and guidance under Next steps.

Does a policy warning lower my Account Health Rating?

Most do. Amazon says points are lost for each new violation, typically two to eight by severity, while “No impact” items do not affect the AHR now and critical violations drop it to zero.

How many warnings can I get before Amazon deactivates my account?

Amazon says reaching the maximum repeat violations for one policy in 180 days puts the account at immediate risk. The limit is five for infringement-related policies and two for restricted products policies.

How long do warnings stay on my Account Health page?

Amazon says unaddressed violations display for 180 days and can then be removed. If the account is deactivated for AHR, they stay until addressed.

Should I dispute or appeal a warning?

Dispute when you have evidence the detection was an error. Appeal when it happened, was not intentional, and you have fixed the cause.

How long do I have after a critical violation?

Amazon says you have a three-day grace period to address a critical violation before deactivation, and a specialist may call you during that time.

Who can I contact about a warning I do not understand?

Professional sellers can use Contact us on the Account Health page to reach Account Health Support, which Amazon says is available seven days a week.

Get Help With Amazon Policy Warnings and Account Health

If warnings are stacking up under the same policy, a critical banner has appeared, or you are not sure whether to dispute or appeal, an outside read of the whole Account Health page often finds the connecting cause faster. You can submit your case for our team to review, or book a consultation to plan your response before the window closes.

This article is educational information, not legal advice, and does not guarantee any outcome or timeline. Amazon may change its policies, point values and thresholds at any time. Confirm the current rules in Seller Central before acting.

You can also see all our marketplace suspension services.

What Amazon Policy Warnings Mean for Your Account Health Rating