Quick answer. “Under review” on Amazon usually means one of two things. Either Amazon is checking your identity, address, business, bank or tax details (a verification hold), or it is checking a performance or policy concern on your Account Health page. Neither has a single fixed length. For identity verification, Amazon says it may contact you within two business days of your upload, and it asks you not to resubmit documents or appeal while it reviews. For a seller performance review, Amazon says review can take up to two business days after it receives your documents. If Amazon asks you to resubmit during onboarding verification, you get 30 days. The review lasts as long as your documents keep failing, so the fastest route is one complete, consistent, genuine submission.

Most sellers searching for this are looking at a banner they did not expect. Listings may have gone dark and funds may show as held. The instinct is to upload everything again and open a case every day. That instinct turns a two day check into a month long loop.

Below we cover the status words Amazon uses, what triggers a review, what Amazon asks for, what you can do while you wait, and how to answer without making it worse. For timing once an appeal is filed, see our guide on how long appealing on Amazon takes.

What “under review” means on Amazon

Amazon’s help pages do not define one account status called “under review” that covers every case. The phrase appears in banners, emails and seller conversation to describe two different processes, and the right response depends on which one you are in.

A verification review, where Amazon is checking who you are

The first kind is a verification review. 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 upload documents. This happens at registration and can happen again later. Amazon’s seller performance review page lists examples of changes that may send an existing account through review. They include changing your registered address, your bank account details or your phone number, and a credit card that is out of date or invalid. Amazon notes the list is not exhaustive.

A verification review asks whether you are who the account says you are, at the address and business it names. Documents answer it, and it fails far more often on mismatches in genuine documents than on anything sinister.

A performance or policy review, where Amazon is checking how you sell

The second kind sits on the Account Health page. Amazon’s account health FAQ says Amazon regularly reviews the account health of all sellers, notifies them when there are issues to address, and may deactivate listings or the account. Here the question is whether the way you sell meets Amazon’s policies and performance targets. You answer it with an explanation, evidence and, where something went wrong, a plan of action.

The two can overlap. A policy concern can lead to identity or supply chain requests, and a failed verification can surface as a deactivation. Identify which review you are in from Amazon’s own words before you send anything.

The status labels Amazon uses, in Amazon’s words

Because “under review” is loose, anchor yourself to the labels Amazon does publish.

The inbox lists the status labels Amazon publishes for seller accounts. Open each one to see what it means and what it asks you to do next.

Two things follow. The rating measures policy risk, not verification progress, so a green score does not mean a verification hold will clear. And “suspended” is mostly the seller’s word. Amazon’s pages speak of deactivation and selling privileges. Use Amazon’s exact words in any reply.

What triggers a review

The trigger tells you whether you face a clean documentation task or a deeper question. Amazon’s pages name several triggers directly, and the notice usually reveals the rest.

Registration, re-verification and account changes

Every new account passes identity, address, beneficial owner and business verification, and Amazon can ask existing accounts to verify again. Amazon lists changes to your registered address, bank account details and phone number, and an out of date or invalid credit card, as examples of events that may lead to a review. Any change to core account data can restart verification, so plan changes instead of making them in a hurry.

INFORM Consumers Act verification and certification

Amazon’s INFORM Consumers Act page says the law took effect on June 27, 2023, and applies to third party sellers who, in any continuous 12 month period during the previous 24 months, sold 200 or more new or unused consumer products and had $5,000 or more in gross revenues. For those high volume sellers, Amazon must collect and verify a name, a government issued ID, a business address, bank account information, a working email, a working phone number and a tax identification number. It must verify again whenever that information changes and ask the seller to certify at least once a year. The Federal Trade Commission’s guidance on the INFORM Consumers Act gives the same thresholds and says that if a seller does not respond to a notice within 10 days, the marketplace must suspend future sales activity until the seller complies. Amazon says it may withhold payments or deactivate a selling account until the information needed to complete verification is provided.

Policy, performance and risk signals

Account Health reviews start from a policy violation, a performance metric, a complaint or a risk signal. Amazon’s Account Health Rating policy says it can deactivate immediately, regardless of score, if it suspects fraudulent, deceptive, illegal or otherwise harmful activity. A sudden jump in sales can also prompt questions about supply and fulfilment, which our article on the Amazon velocity limit suspension covers. These reviews may ask for invoices or supply chain records instead of identity documents.

Find out which review you are in

Before you gather a single document, use the path below to match what Amazon told you to the right next step.

The walkthrough follows an under review email back to its source in Seller Central. Step through to see which page tells you which review you are in.

Where to check your real status

The banner is a summary. The facts sit in specific Seller Central pages and, for some documents, government records.

Question	Where to check	What to look for
Is my account deactivated or only at risk?	Account Health page	Whether Reactivate your account appears at the top, the rating colour, and each listed violation with its severity
What exactly did Amazon ask for?	Performance, then Performance Notifications	The notice text, the policy named, and any View Appeal link in the Actions column
Is a verification step still pending?	Settings, then Account settings or Account Information	Pending verification action items and any notification banner on the verification page
Am I a high volume seller under INFORM?	Your own 12 month sales records, plus Account Health for INFORM items	200 or more new or unused units and $5,000 or more in gross revenue in any continuous 12 months within the last 24
Does my business record match my account?	Your state’s business registry, reachable through the National Association of Secretaries of State	Exact legal name, entity status (active), registration number and registered address
Is my tax ID record correct?	IRS employer identification number page	The name and EIN on your IRS notice. The IRS describes requesting Letter 147C or an entity transcript to confirm an EIN

Keep dated screenshots of each page for your own file, even though Amazon does not accept screenshots as verification documents.

This record shows the fields Amazon compares against your account during verification. Open each document to see what must match.

What Amazon asks for, and the standard each document must meet

Verification is passed by precision. Amazon treats a genuine document that does not match the account almost the same as a missing one.

Identity document

Amazon requires a government issued photo ID, such as a passport or national ID, that matches the proof of identity you selected. The ID must show a first and last name matching the primary contact on the account, a date of birth showing the holder is 18 or older, and the unique ID number, with both sides included if important information is on the back. Amazon says the date of birth, ID number and expiration date you type in must match the document exactly, and the copy must be in colour.

Business documents and beneficial owners

Business sellers provide government issued documents matching the registration details, such as a certificate of good standing or a recent business license. Amazon says these should be issued within the past 180 days and show the issuer, business name, registration number and issue date. Amazon also asks about each beneficial owner, director or trustee, meaning a natural person who directly or indirectly owns more than 25 percent of the shares or voting rights, or controls the business by other means. Where the registrant is not the owner, Amazon describes a dated letter of authorization signed by the legal representative, beneficial owner or trustee.

Proof of address

Amazon accepts documents such as bank statements, credit card statements, utility bills, lease agreements, mortgage statements and tax documents showing the address, and accepts a business license or extract from business sellers. Read the date requirement on your specific request. Amazon’s address verification page says proof of address must be issued within the last 180 days, while its seller performance review page says a utility bill must be issued within the past 90 days. Use the window stated on the request in front of you, and when in doubt use your most recent document.

The quality standard

Amazon says documents must be valid, high resolution, uncropped, a scan or photo of the original, authentic and unaltered, and not password protected. The global verification page accepts TIF, TIFF, PNG, JPG, PDF and JPEG under 50MB, with no special characters such as $, & or # in the file name. Documents in other languages need a notarized translation alongside the original.

Verification is passed by precision. Toggle the checks your package meets to see whether it is ready to upload once and completely.

What you can and cannot do while the review runs

Your obligations continue during a review. Amazon’s pages are specific about a few things, and sound operating practice covers the rest.

What Amazon says you cannot do

Sell before verification completes. Amazon’s seller performance review page says you cannot begin selling on Amazon until the verification is complete.
Resubmit or appeal mid review. Amazon’s global verification page says not to resubmit documents or submit an appeal while it is reviewing your information.
Flood the reviewer. The seller performance review page says not to repeatedly submit documents before Amazon has had sufficient time to review, or repeatedly send inaccurate documents.
Upload outside Seller Central. Amazon says that for security reasons it can only accept documents uploaded through Seller Central.

What you can and should do

Keep serving customers if the account still permits it. Fulfil existing orders and answer buyer messages.
Read every notification and reconcile your records against your documents, fixing any wrong detail through the proper settings page.
Check your emergency contact number. Amazon’s Account Health Rating policy says it may call sellers whose account health is degrading.
Contact Account Health Support if you are a professional seller, through Contact us or Call me now on the Account Health page. Our guide on how to contact Amazon Seller Performance explains the channels.

What happens to your money

Amazon’s INFORM page says that if a seller does not respond within the requested timeline or Amazon cannot verify the information, Amazon may withhold payments or deactivate the account until verification is complete. If the account is deactivated under Section 3 of the Business Solutions Agreement, Amazon’s funds disbursement eligibility policy says it may withhold funds to cover liabilities such as refunds, A-to-z claims, inventory removal costs and fees. If the account is reinstated, funds are released on your disbursement schedule. If not, you can appeal separately for withheld funds through Amazon’s disbursement appeals address at any point after 60 days from the deactivation date, and Amazon may ask about your identity, financial instruments or supply chain at that stage. Our article on getting held funds back walks through that process.

A verification review has three exits. Only one complete, matching upload gets you to the green one without a second round.

How long a review lasts, by the windows Amazon states

Amazon gives no single number, because a review lasts until the information is verified and each failed submission adds a round. It does state windows for specific steps, and the FTC adds one more.

Step	What Amazon or the FTC states	Source
Identity and business verification after upload	Amazon may contact you for clarification, if needed, within two business days	Global seller identity verification
Seller performance review after documents arrive	Review can take up to two business days from receipt	Seller performance review
Resubmission during onboarding	30 days to complete the request, or the onboarding process is closed	Global seller identity verification
INFORM certification	Once on the Notice and Certification page, complete electronic certification within 10 days to avoid deactivation	Amazon INFORM Consumers Act page
INFORM reinstatement	Amazon says reinstatement in 48 to 72 hours after both verification and certification are complete	Amazon INFORM Consumers Act page
Appeal of a deactivation	Amazon says to expect a reply within two days	Appeal an account deactivation
Withheld funds after deactivation	Separate funds appeal possible at any point after 60 days from the deactivation date	Funds disbursement eligibility policy

These are Amazon’s stated aims, not promises about your case, and there is no published maximum for a review overall. Three partial uploads restart the clock three times.

Amazon publishes short windows for specific steps, each counted from its own event. Tap a day to see what starts that clock and what ends it.

Diagnose first, gather genuine evidence second, submit once, and only then explain.

Diagnose first, gather genuine evidence second, submit once, and only then explain. It sounds slow. It is faster than the alternative.

The desk lays every verification paper side by side. Compare each common gap with the honest fix that keeps the case to one submission.

When the review is a policy concern, write a plan of action

If the review comes from a policy or performance issue, documents alone are not enough. Reviewers look for the root cause, stated plainly without blaming buyers, competitors, carriers or Amazon. They look for the corrective actions already taken, with proof. And they look for the preventive measures now in place, each with a named control, an owner, a checkpoint and a start date. “We will be more careful” is not a preventive measure. “Our operations lead checks every change to account details against our document file before it is saved, from a named date” is.

When the review is a mismatch, fix the record, not the paper

Amazon’s own answer to a mismatch rejection is to update the name or address in Seller Central to match the documents, or to provide documents that justify the difference. Its FAQ gives the coworking example, where you provide the coworking company’s utility bill with a lease or rental agreement. Every honest mismatch follows that pattern. Find the true fact, make the account say it, and support it with genuine paper.

Stuck in review longer than Amazon says it should take?

Send us the notice and we will tell you plainly which review you are in and what one complete submission needs.

Submit Case →Book a call

Worked examples

Both cases below are hypothetical and simplified, and each reflects a pattern we see often.

The moved warehouse

A hypothetical seller moves to another suite in the same building, updates the address in Seller Central, and uploads a utility bill still showing the old suite. It is rejected for a mismatch. Editing the bill is not the fix. The seller has the utility update its records and waits for a new statement, or uses another accepted document already showing the new suite, such as a lease or bank statement, and uploads once.

The high volume seller who ignored an email

A hypothetical seller passes 200 units and $5,000 in a 12 month window and receives an INFORM request, which goes to a mailbox no one checks. Payments are withheld. Once the seller completes verification and certification, Amazon’s INFORM page says reinstatement follows in 48 to 72 hours. The preventive control is a monitored email address on the account, a calendar reminder for annual certification, and one named person who owns it.

Mistakes that keep an account under review

Almost every long review we see has at least one of these behind it.

Uploading again and again. Each new upload can reset the review and suggests the first one was not reliable.
Appealing a verification that has not been decided. An appeal is for a decision, not for a wait.
Altering a document. Editing a date, name or address turns a fixable mismatch into a fraud case. Amazon’s funds policy names falsifying or misrepresenting your identity as deceptive activity. See our article on forged or manipulated documentation suspensions.
Screenshots, cropped or angled photos. Amazon’s quality standard rejects all three.
Changing several account details at once. Each change can need its own verification.
Clicking links in emails. Sign in to Seller Central directly.
Opening another account to keep selling. That creates a new violation on top of the old one. Our list of things never to do after a suspension covers this and similar traps.

When genuine documents cannot be obtained

Sometimes the document Amazon wants does not exist yet. A new business may not have a utility bill. A seller who just moved may not have a statement at the new address. Never create one. Get an accepted alternative that is genuinely true, or wait until one exists.

Check the full list of accepted documents on your request. Bank, card and payment provider statements, certified bank letters, leases and tax documents are often already in hand. If none can be obtained before a deadline, say so plainly and explain what you are doing to get one. If a 30 day onboarding resubmission window closes, complete the requirements properly and approach Amazon again through the legitimate path. If the mismatch is in the business registration itself, correct it with the state agency first. Our guide to a business verification suspension covers that recovery in more depth, and our page on video screenings explains what to expect if Amazon asks to verify you on a live call.

This article is educational information about Amazon’s published processes, not legal advice. If a review involves questions about your legal entity, tax status or obligations under the INFORM Consumers Act, speak with a qualified professional.

A routine that keeps reviews short

The best review clears on the first upload, and that comes from keeping records in order before Amazon asks.

Monthly. Clear anything new on Account Health and Performance Notifications, and confirm the account email is monitored and the emergency phone number is current.
Before any change to account details. Get the new document first, check it shows the exact legal name and address you will enter, and make one change at a time.
Every year. Complete INFORM certification if you are a high volume seller, confirm your entity is active with your state registry, and refresh your file of ID, address proof, business license and beneficial owner list.

Give one named person ownership of this file and calendar.

If you are not sure whether your account is under verification, under a policy review or already deactivated, our Amazon suspension service starts with exactly that diagnosis.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does an Amazon account stay under review?

Amazon publishes no overall maximum. It says it may contact you within two business days after a verification upload, and that a seller performance review can take up to two business days from receipt of documents. Each rejected submission adds another round.

Can I sell while my Amazon account is under review?

Not if the review is a verification hold. Amazon says you cannot begin selling until verification is complete. If the review is an Account Health issue without deactivation, you may still be selling, but address each violation promptly.

Should I resubmit my documents if I have not heard back?

No. Amazon says not to resubmit documents or submit an appeal while it is reviewing your information. Wait for Amazon’s response and answer exactly what it asks.

Why was my verification rejected when my documents are real?

Usually a mismatch. A name, address, number or date does not match the account exactly, or a document falls outside the stated date window. Amazon’s guidance is to update the account to match the documents or provide documents that justify the difference.

What does At Risk mean on Account Health?

Amazon’s Account Health Rating policy says a yellow rating of 100 to 199 means the account is at risk of deactivation. Red, 99 or lower, means the account is eligible for deactivation or already deactivated.

Will Amazon hold my money during a review?

It can. Amazon says it may withhold payments if it cannot verify INFORM information, and it may withhold funds after a deactivation under its funds disbursement eligibility policy. A separate funds appeal is possible after 60 days from the deactivation date.

How fast is an account reinstated after INFORM verification?

Amazon’s INFORM page says reinstatement follows in 48 to 72 hours after both verification and certification are complete.

Get Help With an Amazon Account Under Review

If your review has outrun Amazon’s stated windows, your documents keep coming back, or the review has become a deactivation, a careful diagnosis is worth more than another upload. You can submit your case for our team to review, or book a consultation to go through your notice and documents.

This article is for general educational purposes and reflects Amazon’s published help pages and government guidance at the time of writing. It is not legal advice. Amazon’s policies, document requirements and timelines change, so always follow the instructions in your own Seller Central notices. No outcome or timeline is guaranteed.

You can also see all our marketplace suspension services.

What Each Amazon Seller Account Under Review Status Means and What to Do