Quick answer. Amazon does not publish a list of secret “suspension codes.” What it gives you is an Account Health Rating (AHR) from 0 to 1,000, a color status and a severity label on every violation. Green (“Healthy,” 200 to 1,000) means you are not at risk from the policies in the score, yellow (“At Risk,” 100 to 199) means you are at risk of deactivation, and red (“Unhealthy,” 99 or lower) means the account is eligible for deactivation or already deactivated. Each violation is rated Critical, High, Medium, Low or No Impact, and a single Critical violation drops the score to zero and starts a three-day window before deactivation.
Sellers search for the meaning of a suspension “code” when what they are looking at is a status color, a severity label, a policy name or a line in a performance notification. Each of those tells you something different about how serious the problem is and what Amazon expects next. The definitions here come from Amazon’s Account Health Rating policy and FAQ, and the triage order is the one we use on every case.
Why There Is No Suspension Code List
Amazon’s enforcement messages are built around policies, not numbered codes. A notice names the policy you are accused of violating, the listing or activity involved and the next step Amazon wants. The Account Health page then shows how that violation affects your standing through two labels, the AHR status for the account and the severity of the individual violation.
That means “decoding” a notice comes down to four questions.
- Which policy is cited. The policy name tells you what evidence Amazon will expect, such as invoices for authenticity or a rights owner retraction for an infringement complaint.
- What severity the violation carries. Severity tells you how much the violation costs your score and whether it can deactivate the account on its own.
- What status the account is in. The color tells you how close the account is to deactivation from the combined weight of open violations.
- Whether the notice sits inside or outside the AHR. Some deactivations are tied to the score. Others, such as suspected fraud or a legal requirement, can happen regardless of the score.
Once those four answers are clear, the response follows from them.
Where Amazon Shows Your Account Status
Amazon’s Account Health page is the central record of your standing. Amazon describes it as an overview of your selling account’s adherence to the performance targets and policies required to sell in its stores. Performance notifications and emails point back to this page, and appeals are submitted from it.
Not every violation appears there yet. Amazon’s Account Health FAQ notes that some policy violations related to product safety and Extended Producer Responsibility are reported separately on the Manage Your Compliance and Extended Producer Responsibility dashboards, and that Amazon is merging those dashboards into the Account Health page. If a listing was deactivated and you cannot find it on the Account Health page, check those dashboards before you assume the removal was a glitch.
For removed listings, Amazon’s appeal guidance gives a search order. Check the Product Policy Compliance tab first, then Manage Inventory for inactive listings, then Performance Notifications for removal details. The notice you received by email is the same message stored in Performance Notifications, and it is the document to work from because it names the policy and the next step.
The Three Account Health Rating Statuses
Amazon describes the AHR as a color-coded numerical score from 0 to 1,000 that shows your account’s risk of deactivation because of non-compliance with certain selling policies. You lose points when Amazon detects a new violation and gain them back when you successfully address it.
| Status | Score range | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Healthy (green) | 200 to 1,000 | Not at risk of deactivation from the policies included in the score | Keep monitoring and address new violations as they appear |
| At Risk (yellow) | 100 to 199 | Your account is at risk of deactivation | Address the violations on your Account Health page promptly, starting with the most severe |
| Unhealthy (red) | 99 or lower | Eligible for deactivation or already deactivated | Appeal or dispute the outstanding violations, since reinstatement follows once the score returns to 100 or higher |
Amazon notes that every new seller starts at 200, and the score reflects policy adherence and selling activity over the last 180 days. The AHR is displayed for each store you sell in worldwide, so a seller active in several stores can see a different score in each. Read the score for the store named in the notice, not the one you check most often.
Some Amazon help pages still use older wording. The general Account Health FAQ refers to “Good” account health and to an AHR that is “At Risk” or “Critical.” The current AHR policy and FAQ use Healthy, At Risk and Unhealthy with the score ranges in the table, and those are the definitions we work from.
An At Risk status is a warning with a deadline you cannot see. Amazon states that if you do not address At Risk violations and it cannot reach you to help, the account will most likely be deactivated. Treat yellow as the time to work, not the time to wait.
Related guides on this topic are Amazon Policy Warnings and Amazon Account Health Rating (AHR) Explained.
For a closely related case, read Amazon Account Health Assurance.
What the Severity Labels Mean
Every violation on the Account Health page carries a severity. Amazon says that when it sets severity it considers how far the violation jeopardizes the customer experience, the applicable laws and regulations, and the number of previous violations of the same policy. It also reserves the right to change a violation’s severity if its effect on customers or other sellers changes.
- Critical. These violations have a serious and unacceptable impact on customers, or violate laws, regulations or the rights of others. A single Critical violation qualifies the account for deactivation. Amazon’s examples are counterfeit or pirated products confirmed by a test buy, soliciting product reviews or including non-compliant inserts, attempting to damage or abuse another seller, and manipulating search results or sales rankings.
- High. Amazon’s tolerance is minimal. Its examples are a valid infringement notice from a rights owner and customer reports of infringing or counterfeit products.
- Medium. These violations can significantly undermine customer and seller trust if they continue over time. Amazon’s example is a listing with links that prompt users to visit external websites.
- Low. Amazon tolerates infrequent Low violations because mistakes happen in the course of business. Its example is a customer report that an item arrived expired or in the wrong condition, such as a used item listed as new.
- No Impact. These are listing issues flagged for you to fix that do not currently affect your score.
Severity drives priority. When we triage an Account Health page, Critical items come first because of the three-day clock, then High items because they cost the most points and have the lowest repeat thresholds, then Medium and Low. No Impact items still get fixed, because a listing problem left open tends to come back as a scored violation.
Many High and Critical violations start from a customer complaint or a rights owner notice rather than from Amazon’s own review. Amazon says it works to assess these accurately, and that if you believe there is a mistake you should locate the violation on the Account Health page and follow the guidance under Next steps.
How Points Are Lost and Regained
Amazon’s FAQ gives the outline of the formula without the exact numbers. Points are deducted for each new violation, typically between two and eight depending on severity, and added back when you successfully address the violation. Critical violations take the score straight to zero. When you violate the same policy several times, the negative point value can double with each repeat.
You also gain points from normal selling. Amazon awards four points for every 200 successful orders fulfilled in the last 180 days, so the score is weighed against the size of your business. Sellers with seller-fulfilled orders can earn points from Buyer Contact Rate, Average Contact Response Time and Buyer Dissatisfaction Rate, and Amazon states it will not restrict selling privileges for below-average performance on those three metrics.
The 180-day window works in both directions. Amazon explains that the score can rise as violation points move out of the window and fall as fulfilled orders move out of it. A seller whose sales slow down can therefore see the score drop without any new violation. If your score moved and nothing new appeared, check order volume over the last six months before you assume a hidden violation.
Repeat violation limits
Your account can be at immediate risk of deactivation if you reach the maximum number of repeat violations for one policy within 180 days. Amazon gives the limit as five for infringement-related policies and two for restricted products policies. Reaching the limit creates a Critical violation, the score goes to zero and the same three-day window applies. Amazon’s appeal path for that case runs through the Product Policy Compliance Dashboard, following the banner at the top of the Account Health page.
First-time and repeat violations
A first violation of a policy costs the base points for its severity and can be removed by a successful dispute or appeal. A repeat violation of the same policy costs more and moves you toward the threshold. Amazon labels repeat violations as such in the Impact column of the Account Health page, so the page itself tells you which category you are in. Amazon also notes that a violation removed after a successful appeal, where you did not dispute that the activity occurred, may still count toward the repeat threshold. Accepting a violation to make it disappear quickly is not free if the same policy is likely to be cited again.
The Three-Day Window After a Critical Violation
When Amazon detects a Critical violation, it notifies you on the Account Health page and by email, the rating turns red at zero, and you have three days to address the violation before deactivation. Amazon says an Account Health specialist may try to call you during that time, which is why it asks sellers to keep the emergency contact number current under Emergency notifications in Notification preferences. If you address the violation successfully within the three days, Amazon states the account will not be deactivated and the score will update.
Three days is not long enough to build evidence from nothing, so the work is about speed and accuracy. Our sequence for a Critical notice is fixed.
- Confirm the violation, the policy, the ASINs involved and the deadline from the Account Health page and the email.
- Decide whether the violation is an error you can dispute with evidence or a real issue you need to appeal with a corrective plan.
- Remove or correct the cause on the listings involved, because a fix that is still live on the page contradicts the appeal.
- Gather the documents the policy calls for, such as supplier invoices for authenticity claims or authorization letters for intellectual property claims.
- Submit through the path on the Account Health page and keep the emergency phone line monitored until Amazon responds.
Professional sellers can also contact Account Health Support through the Contact us or Call me now button on the Account Health page. Amazon’s support FAQ says the team is available seven days a week and can help you understand a violation and what to submit. Ask the specialist which document type will resolve the specific violation before you upload anything.
Deactivations Outside the Score
A Healthy rating is not complete protection. Amazon states that if your AHR is Healthy, your account will not be deactivated for violations of the policies included in the AHR. It then adds that regardless of the score, it may deactivate an account immediately if required by law, if it suspects fraudulent, deceptive, illegal or otherwise harmful activity (including any activity that attempts to circumvent its systems), or if you violate other policies outside the AHR.
These cases tend to arrive as performance notifications rather than as a score change, so a green score next to a deactivation notice is not a contradiction. Read the notice itself for the policy cited. Common examples of enforcement outside the score include identity and business verification failures and, for high-volume sellers in the US store, not completing the verification or certification the INFORM Consumers Act requires.
For INFORM deactivations, Amazon’s help page says to follow the reactivation steps in the deactivation email or use Reactivate your account at the top of the Account Health page. It states the account will be reinstated 48 to 72 hours after both verification and certification are complete.
Policies Counted in the Rating
Amazon lists the policies currently included in the AHR and says the list will be updated as policies are added. It also notes that not all of Amazon’s policies are in the AHR. The current list covers the following.
- The Amazon Anti-Counterfeiting, Brand Name, Intellectual Property and Marketplace Fair Pricing policies.
- The ASIN Creation policy, the communication guidelines and the Customer Product Reviews policies.
- The INFORM Consumers Act requirements.
- The product condition guidelines and the product detail page rules.
- The product guidelines for adult products and for selling software.
- Product safety and compliance, and the Restricted Products policy.
- The Selling Policies and Seller Code of Conduct.
If the notice you received names one of these policies, it affects your score. For the most common notices, see our guides to inauthentic suspensions, intellectual property complaints, and code of conduct suspensions.
Order performance notices
Customer service metrics follow their own rules alongside the AHR. Amazon requires sellers to keep Order Defect Rate below 1 percent. ODR measures the share of orders in a 60-day period with negative feedback (1-star and 2-star seller reviews), A-to-z Guarantee claims or credit card chargebacks, and Amazon states it applies only to seller-fulfilled orders. An ODR above 1 percent may lead to suspension of Fulfilled by Merchant selling privileges or deactivation of the affected seller-fulfilled offers. The appeal for that case runs from the Account Health page through Submit appeal. A notice about ODR is a performance notice, and the response is a root-cause analysis of the defects, not a policy argument.
How to Read a Notice and Respond
Every notice we review goes through the same reading before any appeal is written. The order matters because each answer narrows the next.
- Identify the store and account. Confirm which store the notice covers and check that store’s AHR.
- Name the policy. Copy the policy name exactly as written and open Amazon’s page for that policy.
- Record the severity and repeat status. Check the Impact column for severity and the repeat label.
- Note the deadline. Use the date in your notice or the three-day window for a Critical violation, whichever applies.
- Choose dispute or appeal. A dispute says the violation was detected in error and needs evidence. An appeal accepts that a violation occurred and needs a corrective plan.
- Fix the cause before you submit. Correct or remove the listing content, inventory or practice the violation describes.
- Submit through the page and monitor email. For an account deactivation, Amazon’s appeal page directs you to Account Health, then Reactivate your account, where you may be asked to complete a questionnaire, acknowledge a violation, complete a quiz or provide supporting documents. Amazon says to expect a reply within two days and to use View Appeal when it asks for more information.
Dispute or appeal, and how each affects your record
Amazon defines a dispute as the seller providing evidence that the violation was detected in error, and an appeal as Amazon determining that a violation occurred but was not intentional and should be forgiven. A successful dispute or appeal reverses the violation and its effect on the score. The difference shows up later. An appeal where you did not dispute that the activity occurred may still count toward the repeat violation threshold for that policy within 180 days. Choose dispute only when you can prove the error, and choose appeal when the facts show the violation happened.
If your score is falling or your account is already red, our Amazon suspension and reinstatement team can read the notice with you and prioritize what to address first.
Mistakes That Make a Notice Worse
The same handful of errors turns manageable notices into deactivations.
- Deleting the listing to clear the violation. Amazon states that changing a listing’s status, including closing or deleting it, does not remove the violation from the Account Health page.
- Disputing a violation that happened. A dispute without evidence of error fails, uses up time and leaves the violation in place.
- Waiting out an At Risk status. Amazon warns that unaddressed At Risk violations will most likely lead to deactivation if it cannot reach you.
- Letting the emergency contact number go stale. During a Critical window, Amazon may call. A number nobody answers removes one of the few chances to resolve the issue inside three days.
- Treating a green score as immunity. Fraud concerns, legal requirements and policies outside the AHR can lead to deactivation at any score.
- Accepting repeat violations without a fix. Each repeat costs more points and moves the policy toward its threshold.
- Resubmitting during review. For verification cases, Amazon tells sellers not to resubmit documents or file an appeal while it is reviewing information.
When Violations Leave the Page
Amazon lists the situations in which violations are removed from the Account Health page. A successful dispute shows the violation was an error. A successful appeal leads Amazon to forgive the violation. For some violation types, you acknowledge the violation and confirm you do not want to reactivate the listing. A rights owner retracts an intellectual property complaint. You complete the required corrective action, such as removing infringing content. Or 180 days pass from the date the violation was added.
Deactivation changes that timeline. If the account is deactivated because of the AHR, Amazon says all violations stay static and do not age out after 180 days. They remain on the page so you can address them, and the account is reinstated once the score returns to 100 or higher. Waiting is not a strategy for a deactivated account. Each violation has to be disputed or appealed to restore the score.
Once violations are addressed, Amazon says the AHR updates within a few hours. Prevention after that is routine work. Check the Account Health page of every store you sell in at least weekly, fix No Impact items before they become scored, keep the emergency contact number current, and review any policy that has produced a violation before it produces a repeat. To stay in the green, see our Amazon account health maintenance service.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does “At Risk” mean on Amazon Account Health?
It means your Account Health Rating is between 100 and 199 and your account is at risk of deactivation. Amazon asks you to address the listed violations promptly, starting with the most severe.
Does one violation get my Amazon account suspended?
One Critical violation qualifies the account for deactivation, with a three-day window to address it. Lower-severity violations reduce the score without triggering deactivation on their own, unless repeats reach the threshold for that policy.
How long do violations stay on my Account Health page?
Generally up to 180 days unless resolved sooner. If the account is deactivated for AHR, violations remain until you address them.
Does deleting the listing remove the violation?
No. Amazon states that changing a listing’s status, including closing or deleting it, does not remove the violation from the Account Health page.
Can Amazon suspend me if my rating is Healthy?
Yes. Amazon may deactivate any account immediately if required by law, for suspected fraud, deception, illegal or harmful activity, or for violations of policies outside the rating.
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Sources
- Amazon Seller Central, Account Health Rating frequently asked questions
- Amazon Seller Central, Account Health Rating program policy
- Amazon Seller Central, Policies included in Account Health Rating
- Amazon Seller Central, Account health FAQ
- Amazon Seller Central, Account health support FAQ
- Amazon Seller Central, Appeal an account deactivation or listing removal
- Amazon Seller Central, Order Defect Rate
- Amazon Seller Central, About the INFORM Consumers Act
- Amazon Seller Central, Global seller identity, address, and business verification
