Quick answer. Amazon’s published seller code of conduct says you may only maintain one Seller Central account for each region in which you sell, unless you have a legitimate business need to open a second account and all of your accounts are in good standing. The current text describes conditions, not a separate approval request. You need a real business reason, such as owning multiple brands with separate businesses for each, manufacturing for two distinct companies, or being recruited into an Amazon program that requires separate accounts. You also need good standing on every account. If any account is not in good standing, Amazon says it may deactivate all of your selling accounts until all of them are. A second account is never a way around an enforcement action.
Sellers who ask this are usually in one of two positions. Some are growing, with a second brand or company, and want to open another account without waiting on a form. Others already have a related account notice and want to know whether their setup was ever compliant. Amazon’s own pages give both the same answer, and rumours that Amazon “now allows” multiple accounts freely serve neither.
Below is the current rule, how a related account deactivation happens, and a compliance checklist, all limited to Amazon’s published rules and the legitimate path. For background, our guide to whether you can have multiple Amazon seller accounts covers the history of the question, and our comparison of legitimate multi-market accounts versus stealth accounts explains why the second kind ends in deactivation.
What Amazon’s published policy says today
The rule lives in Amazon’s Selling policies and seller code of conduct. Among the things every seller must do, the code lists “Not operate more than one selling account on Amazon without a legitimate business need.” Further down the same page, under the heading on multiple selling accounts, Amazon spells it out in three parts.
Part one. The default is one account per region
Amazon says you may only maintain one Seller Central account for each region in which you sell. The baseline is set per region, not “one account forever”.
Part two. The exception has two conditions, and both must be true
The exception applies only if you have a legitimate business need to open a second account and all of your accounts are in good standing. Both conditions must hold. A perfect business reason does not help if one of your accounts is deactivated, and spotless metrics do not help if the second account has no business reason behind it.
Part three. The consequence reaches every account
Amazon says that if any of your accounts are not in good standing, it may deactivate all of your selling accounts until all accounts are in good standing. That is why a problem on one account can stop sales on another, and why a second account can never be a safety net.
The three examples Amazon gives
Amazon lists these examples of a legitimate business justification.
- You own multiple brands and maintain separate businesses for each.
- You manufacture products for two distinct and separate companies.
- You are recruited for an Amazon program that requires separate accounts.
The list is not closed, but the examples share a pattern. The second account exists because a genuinely separate business, company or program stands behind it.
Did Amazon drop the approval request?
Many sellers remember being told to request permission before opening a second account. Amazon’s own pages support some conclusions and not others.
What the current page shows
The current multiple accounts section of the code of conduct states the rule as conditions, not as a request process. You may maintain more than one account if you have a legitimate business need and all accounts are in good standing. The section gives examples of a legitimate business justification. It does not describe a form to submit or an approval letter to keep.
What the pages do not say
Amazon’s pages carry no dated change notice saying when the wording changed or what replaced the older process, so this article gives no date and claims no specific history. If you received an older approval, keep it as part of your record. If you are opening a new account today, the conditions still apply, and if Amazon ever asks, the burden of showing they are met sits with you.
What “without approval” does not mean
The rule did not get looser. The proof moved to the seller. You have to hold the evidence of the separate business, the separate brand or company relationship, and a clean record on every account. Treat the second account as something you may have to justify at any time, with documents.
See also How to Reactivate a Dormant or Inactive Amazon Seller Account Without Triggering a Review and Selling in Multiple Amazon Marketplaces From One Seller Account.
If this is already affecting your Amazon account, our linked and secondary account team can review the notice and prepare the response with you.
What counts as a legitimate business need
Amazon does not publish a rubric for business need. Compare your case closely with its three examples and ask whether a stranger reading your documents would agree.
Separate brands with separate businesses
The first example is not “you own multiple brands”. It is “you own multiple brands and maintain separate businesses for each”. The second half carries the weight. Two brands sold from one company, one bank account and one team are two brands, not two businesses.
Manufacturing for two distinct companies
The second example covers a manufacturer that makes products for two distinct and separate companies. Check whether those companies are genuinely distinct customers or two names for the same seller.
Recruitment into an Amazon program
The third example is the easiest to document. The proof is Amazon’s own invitation or program terms, kept with your account records.
Reasons that do not fit the pattern
Common reasons that fail are a backup in case the main account is suspended, listing the same product twice, testing a risky category, selling an item the main account is restricted from, and selling after a deactivation. Each is about the account, not a separate business, and several run into other parts of the code, such as creating multiple detail pages for the same product. None is a legitimate business need.
The conditions every account has to meet
Some of these conditions come directly from Amazon. Others are our reading of how its examples work in practice, and the table labels which is which.
| Condition | Where it comes from | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| A legitimate business need for each additional account | Amazon code of conduct, multiple selling accounts section | A separate brand with its own business, a distinct manufacturing customer, or an Amazon program. Written down and provable. |
| All accounts in good standing | Amazon code of conduct, multiple selling accounts section | No open deactivation on any account. Account Health on each account kept clear. |
| Accurate information on every account | Amazon code of conduct, accurate information. Business Solutions Agreement | Each account’s business name identifies its business, and the details are updated if they change. |
| Separate brand or business behind each account | Our reading of Amazon’s first two examples | Real separate ownership and operation, not a second store name for the same business. |
| No overlapping catalog between accounts | Our reading, supported by Amazon’s rule against multiple detail pages for the same product | Each account sells its own brand’s products. If both accounts sell the same items, the separate business story falls apart. |
| No use of a second account to get around enforcement | Amazon code of conduct, good standing condition and consequence | Never open or use an account to keep selling while another is deactivated or restricted. |
Why the Business Solutions Agreement matters here
The Amazon Services Business Solutions Agreement defines “you” as the applicant, or the business employing the applicant, and any of its Affiliates. It defines an Affiliate as any entity that directly or indirectly controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with that entity. Amazon’s contract already treats you and the businesses you control as connected, so disclosure is the only sensible posture.
Accurate information is a condition in its own right
The code of conduct requires you to provide accurate information to Amazon and to customers and to update it if it changes, including using a business name that accurately identifies your business. Every detail on a second account, from the legal entity to the beneficial owner, has to be true. An account registered in a nominee’s name to hide who runs it breaks this condition on day one.
How a related account suspension happens
A related account suspension is what Amazon’s consequence sentence describes. One account falls out of good standing, and Amazon acts on the other accounts it associates with the same seller. A second account with perfect metrics is still exposed, because the rule requires good standing on all accounts.
The usual sequences
In the cases our team reviews, three sequences come up most. One of two accounts is deactivated for an unrelated reason and the other follows. A new account opened after a deactivation is deactivated as related. Or a seller with one account is associated with someone else’s, such as a former partner, a previous owner or a household member. The third is answered with facts, not argument.
What Amazon publishes and what it does not
Amazon publishes the rule and the consequence. It does not publish how it identifies related accounts, and we do not speculate about it. Whatever triggered the notice, the response is the same. Establish the true relationship, then either show a legitimate need with all accounts back in good standing, or show that the association is mistaken.
Why a second account cannot shelter a first
Amazon’s Account Health Rating program policy adds a separate point. Regardless of your Account Health Rating, Amazon may deactivate an account immediately if it suspects fraudulent, deceptive, illegal or otherwise harmful activity. An undisclosed second account used to keep selling during a deactivation turns one fixable problem into two. Our article on double suspensions shows how one enforcement compounds another.
How to verify your setup, step by step
Check each condition against a record, not memory, on every account, and keep a copy of what you find.
Check good standing on every account
Open Account Health in Seller Central for each account. Amazon describes the Account Health Rating as a color-coded score from 0 to 1,000. Green or “Healthy” is 200 to 1,000, yellow or “At Risk” is 100 to 199, and red or “Unhealthy” is 99 or lower, where the account is either eligible for deactivation or already deactivated. The score reflects policy adherence and selling activities over the last 180 days. Repeat violations of the same policy degrade the score faster, and the maximum number of repeat violations for a single policy in a 180-day period can be as low as two for higher severity violations. Write down the rating and any open violations for each account.
Check the business behind each account
Each account’s registration should match a real business. Use the National Association of Secretaries of State corporate registration page to reach each state’s business registration pages and corporate name databases, and confirm that every entity behind an account is on record. For federal tax identity, the IRS explains when a business needs a new EIN. A corporation that is a subsidiary of another corporation needs its own, a division of a corporation does not, and a sole proprietor who owns multiple businesses does not need a new one. A sole proprietor running two brands may struggle to show two separate businesses.
Check the brand behind each account
If your business need is separate brands, confirm who owns each mark. Look up marks in the USPTO’s Trademark Search system, and check the status and documents for a filing in its Trademark Status and Document Retrieval tool. Each brand should be owned by the business that sells it.
Check the verification records
Amazon’s global seller identity, address, and business verification page says Amazon must verify the identity of the legal representative or beneficial owner registering the account, and the legitimacy of the business and address information. You confirm details under Identity, Address verification, Beneficial owner and Business verification, and business documents must match the information you entered. Business documents must be issued within the past 180 days. Amazon’s examples include a certificate of good standing or equivalent, a recently issued business license, or an official registry extract showing the business is active. For each account, confirm that the business and owner on file are the true ones.
| Question | Where to check | What to look for |
|---|---|---|
| Is every account in good standing? | Seller Central, Account Health, on each account | Rating in the Healthy range, no deactivation, no unresolved violations |
| Is each business real and active? | State business registration pages via nass.org | Entity name, status active, registration matching the account |
| Does each business have its own tax identity where required? | IRS guidance on when you need a new EIN | Separate EIN for each corporation or subsidiary behind an account |
| Who owns each brand? | USPTO Trademark Search and TSDR | Owner of record matches the business selling the brand |
| Is the account’s identity information true and current? | Seller Central, account settings and verification details | Legal entity, beneficial owner and address that match the documents |
| Do the catalogs overlap? | Manage Inventory on each account | No product sold on both accounts |
| Is the business need written down? | Your own records | A short memo naming the reason, the entities and the evidence |
The evidence file to keep for every additional account
If Amazon asks why an account exists, answer from a file you already have. Include only documents you can produce, each supporting a specific condition.
What belongs in the file
- The business need memo. One page naming the reason for the account, which of Amazon’s examples it matches, the legal entities involved and who owns them.
- Formation records for each entity. State registration, a recent certificate of good standing or equivalent, and the tax registration for that entity.
- Brand ownership records. Trademark filings or registrations showing which business owns which brand.
- Separation evidence. Separate bank accounts, separate supplier relationships, separate staff or contracts, as they genuinely exist.
- Program or contract records. Amazon’s recruitment message for a program, or the supply agreements with each company you manufacture for.
- An Account Health snapshot. A dated record of each account’s rating and open items.
When genuine documents cannot be obtained
If you cannot produce a record because the separation it would prove does not exist, do not create one. Never fabricate, back-date or alter documents to support an account. The honest options are to make the separation real first, consolidate the brands into one account, or close the extra account.
Not sure your second account would pass a review?
Send us the facts and we will tell you plainly where it stands against Amazon’s published rule.
A worked example of the rule in practice
The figures in this example are hypothetical.
The setup
A seller runs a home goods brand through Company A, which has sold on Amazon for three years. They form Company B to own a new outdoor gear brand, with its own registration, EIN, bank account and supplier. They open a second account listing only that brand and file a business need memo pointing to Amazon’s first example.
The problem
Eight months later, Company A lets repeat violations of one policy pile up, its Account Health Rating drops into the red, and it is deactivated. Company B had no violations, but it is now exposed, because the rule requires all accounts to be in good standing.
The lesson
Company B’s setup was compliant. The weakness was that nobody owned Account Health on Company A. The fix is resolving Company A’s violations properly, with a root cause, corrective actions and preventive controls, so all accounts return to good standing.
What to do if a related account notice arrives
The appeal runs through the same place as any other deactivation. Amazon’s appeal an account deactivation page says to go to Account Health in Seller Central, click Reactivate your account at the top of the page, and follow the instructions to submit your appeal. You may be asked to submit a questionnaire, acknowledge a violation, complete a quiz or provide supporting documents. After you submit, watch your email for a decision. If Amazon asks for more information, use View Appeal from Account Health to send it. Amazon says to expect a reply within two days.
Diagnose before you write
Identify the account and policy the notice cites, then answer three questions honestly. Is the other account yours, or one you control? If yes, does it have a legitimate business need that matches Amazon’s examples? Is any of your accounts out of good standing for its own reasons? If the other account is not yours, write down the true connection, such as a former partner, a previous owner of the business, or a household member who sells separately, and gather the records that show it.
Build the plan of action
A related account appeal follows the same structure as any strong plan of action.
- Root cause. The specific reason the association exists, such as a second account opened without a documented business need, or an unresolved deactivation on another account. Vague causes and blaming Amazon’s systems do not work.
- Corrective actions already taken. Disclosed the relationship, documented the business need, resolved the other account’s violation, or closed an account with no legitimate reason to exist, with dates.
- Preventive measures. A written policy naming each account’s business purpose, a named owner checking Account Health on every account on a fixed schedule, and no new account without a business need memo.
Support it with evidence and make one request
Attach only documents that support a specific point. Make one concrete request. Do not argue tone, plead hardship or threaten. Our guide to appealing an Amazon suspension covers the plan of action structure in more depth.
Common mistakes with a second account
Treating “no approval form” as “no rules”
The conditions did not disappear. Opening a second account with no business need breaks the rule as clearly as ignoring a form would.
Opening an account to get around a deactivation
The good standing condition exists to stop exactly this. Never do it.
Nominee accounts
An account in a relative’s or employee’s name that you run is the same business with false information on file.
Overlapping catalogs
Keep each account’s catalog limited to its own brand.
Letting one account’s health slide
Because all accounts must be in good standing, the weakest account sets the risk for all of them. Repeat violations on one account can pull down the others. Our guide to mistakes that could penalize your account covers the everyday issues that start that slide.
A routine that keeps every account compliant
Run the same small routine on every account and assign it to a named person.
Weekly
Check Account Health on every account and address new violations promptly. Amazon encourages sellers to address all violations listed on the Account Health page in a timely manner, starting with the most severe. Keep the Emergency Contact phone number under Notifications preferences current on each account, because Amazon says it may call to offer support if account health starts to degrade.
Monthly
Remove any catalog overlap and confirm account information still matches the business, owner and address on file.
Quarterly
Recheck each business’s registration status with its state, confirm trademark status, and refresh the evidence file. Reread the multiple selling accounts section of the code of conduct, because Amazon updates its help pages as policies change, and record the date you last read it.
If you want an outside team to run this routine across several accounts, our Amazon account health maintenance service is built for it.
This article is educational information, not legal advice. For questions about entity structure, tax identity or contracts, speak with a qualified professional.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Amazon still require approval for a second seller account?
Amazon’s current code of conduct describes conditions rather than an approval request, namely a legitimate business need and good standing on all accounts. Amazon’s pages do not say when or how the older process changed, so check the live policy before relying on any history.
How many Amazon seller accounts can I have?
Amazon says you may only maintain one Seller Central account for each region in which you sell, unless you have a legitimate business need for another account and all of your accounts are in good standing.
What is a legitimate business need for multiple accounts?
Amazon’s examples are owning multiple brands with separate businesses for each, manufacturing products for two distinct and separate companies, or being recruited for an Amazon program that requires separate accounts.
Can I open a new account if my current one is suspended?
No. Amazon says that if any of your accounts are not in good standing, it may deactivate all of your selling accounts. Work the appeal on the suspended account instead.
How do I appeal a related account deactivation?
Go to Account Health, click Reactivate your account and follow the instructions. Explain the true relationship, show a legitimate business need or the mistaken association, and confirm every account is in good standing.
Do I need a separate EIN for each business?
The IRS says a corporation’s subsidiary needs its own EIN while a division does not, and a sole proprietor who owns multiple businesses does not need a new one. A separate EIN alone does not prove a separate business.
Get Help With a Second Account or a Related Account Deactivation
If you are planning a second account and want the business need and evidence checked before you register, or a related account notice has already arrived, we review the facts with you. Submit your case for a review, or book a consultation to talk it through. For a deactivation already in progress, see our Amazon suspension service.
This article reflects Amazon’s published policies as we read them at the time of writing and is provided for education only. It is not legal advice. Amazon updates its policies, so confirm the current text in Seller Central before acting. No outcome, timeline or reinstatement is guaranteed.
Our linked and secondary account team can take the case from here. You can also see all our marketplace suspension services.
Sources
- Amazon Seller Central: Selling policies and seller code of conduct
- Amazon Services Business Solutions Agreement
- Amazon Seller Central: Account Health Rating program policy
- Amazon Seller Central: Appeal an account deactivation or listing removal
- Amazon Seller Central: Global seller identity, address, and business verification
- IRS: Do you need a new EIN
- USPTO: Search our trademark database
- National Association of Secretaries of State: Corporate registration
