Account Health Assurance: What is it and how does it stop Amazon suspension?
With Amazon tightening the belt around its account health requirements, sellers are now facing the risk of account deactivation or suspension. One day, you go about opening your Amazon Account Health Dashboard, expecting to resume “business as usual”, but wait – what’s this? You see that your Account Health Rating has turned yellow which means it is ‘At Risk’. Naturally, you’d want to get this load off your shoulders as soon as you can because it could lead to an account suspension.
What is Account Health Assurance and how does it work?
Account Health Assurance or AHA is a new benefit Amazon has extended to sellers who have a Professional selling plan but who also have been consistently achieving a high AHR (Account Health Rating).
Account Health Assurance assures you that your selling account will not be deactivated as long as you consistently achieve a high AHR but there is a catch: if you performance has not been up to par and you’ve received a notification stating the same, then you have to contact Amazon within 72 hours of them contacting you, in order to resolve issues.
There’s another catch (Doh!): irrespective of your Account Health Rating or your enrolment in Account Health Assurance, Amazon has the right to remove you without warning from the AHA programme and even deactivate your seller account as per the guidelines contained in Amazon Services Europe Business Solutions Agreement or if/when required by the law. Amazon typically takes this action against your account if they have reason to believe that you are currently involved or have been involved in illegal/harmful activities, deceptive or fraudulent behaviour or selling practices, or if you’ve simply failed to comply with the current regulations.
So, what is AHA good for then and how does it work to your advantage?
With AHA, if you ever face an issue on your seller account that may lead to account deactivation, Amazon will keep your account running/active – so that means you’ll continue to sell while working with Amazon to resolve issues as quickly and comprehensively as possible.This last part is really important, if you don’t comply with this, it’s bye-bye account.
If you think about it, Amazon Health Assurance offers you psychological comfort, because guidance and support is always on hand in case you run into any account issues. Just make sure you are proactive in your communication!
Here’s a more detailed description of how AHA works:
AHA lets you communicate with Amazon’s dedicated account specialist before your account is deactivated (either due to not consistently making sales or other reasons, some of which we mentioned above). Each time you face an account related problem which might lead to account suspension or deactivation, Amazon will notify you so that you at least have a winning chance at fixing it and keeping your account running.
When Amazon believes that an issue might affect your account health, they will ask one of their Account Health Specialists to get in touch with you. They will typically contact you within 72 hours, and if you respond within the next 72 hours, all is good. That means your account will not get deactivated or suspended and you will be given a chance to explain the ‘situation’, correct any errors or clarify misunderstandings to prevent your account from being deactivated. Oh, and participation in this programme is absolutely free, so you’ve no reason to not respond within 72 hours to make things right!
How to know if I’m eligible for AHA?
Good question!
AHA is available at the moment to Professional Sellers only, whether they be operating in the US, UK, or Canada/
If you want to qualify, then you have to be active on Amazon for a minimum of 12 months. In addition, you must be on a Professional selling plan and have a generally ‘good’ account health status.
Furthermore, to be eligible, you must maintain an AHR score of at least 250 or more for a minimum of 180 days. If your AHR score drops below 250, then it can’t stay there for more than 10 straight days or you’;; lose out. Finally, you need to have a valid emergency contact number on Seller Central.
If you qualify for Amazon Health Assurance, you’ll get an email confirming your eligibility and enrolment, after which you’ll be able to check your enrolment status via the Account Health dashboard. If you want to check your eligibility process (as it can sometimes take a while), you can visit Account Health Assurance to have a look.
If I’m eligible, do I automatically get enrolled in AHA?
Oh, you do! As we mentioned, you’ll get an enrolment notification via email, and your enrolment status can be viewed through the Account Health dashboard.
However, in the event that you meet all the requirements for AHA but do not have an emergency contact number on your Seller Central account, Amazon will still notify you that you are eligible for Amazon Health Assurance, asking for your emergency contact information in order to get you enrolled.
Always see to it that your emergency number is up to date and accurate – it helps Amazon reach you in case they need to without any back and forth.
Sometimes, you may not be eligible for AHA, but you can become eligible later and still enrol. What Amazon does is that it continuously monitors and reviews Professional Seller accounts for AHA eligibility. When it comes across an eligible account, it will send the seller an enrolment confirmation email, allowing them to view enrolment status later via Account Health.
What if I’m enrolled in AHA but lose access?
This is actually a very commonly asked question about Amazon Health Assurance as it’s known to happen. Sellers do lose access due to not meeting the AHA program’s requirements, which include:
- Engaging with the Account Health team within 72 hours of the seller being contacted that attention is needed to work on an issue
- Fully cooperating to resolve issues while working with Account Health support staff
- Preventing your AHR from sinking below the 250 score for more than 10 days in a row
- Always keeping an accurate and up to date emergency contact number on your Seller Central account
- Maintaining your Professional Seller plan
- Meeting all of Amazon’s local and national regulatory compliance requirements, both in the online stores and region or country where you operate – this includes (without limitation) cooperating with Amazon’s ‘Value Added Tax’ and ‘Know Your Customer’ regulatory policies
As we pointed out at the start of the article, even if your Account Health rating is good and even if you are actively enrolled in AHA, you can lose access either due the conditions mentioned in Amazon Services Europe Business Solutions Agreement or if/as required by the law. And, just to reiterate, such an action is only taken if Amazon has suspicions about your account being involved in illegal, fraudulent, deceptive or harmful activities, or if you have simply failed to meet the various regulations.
Is there help or guidance available if I am not eligible?
If you are 100% certain that you do not qualify for AHA, you may still approach Amazon by either contacting them through Seller Support or by reviewing the guidelines on the Amazon Seller Forums. If you want to directly contact Account Health Support, you can do so through the “Call Me Now’ link on your Account Health dashboard.
My AHR score has fallen below 250 but I don’t have any violations in Account Health
You’re probably wondering “Now what?” or “Should I just wait it out and see what happens?”
Here’s what you need to know, mate:
The Account Health Rating rises based on the total number of orders you successfully fufilled in the last 180 days of your Amazon selling and the ‘policy violations’ you were able to resolve. So, any points you lose is based on the total number of policy violations which occurred.
Now, let’s say you have a seasonal business or you generally fulfil fewer orders after enrolling in AHA – it’s quite possible for your Rating to sink below 250 even if there have been no violations. Life’s so unfair, isn’t it?
But hang on – if your Account Health Rating sinks below 250 after enrolling in the AHA programme, but no policy violations are flagged in your Account Health dashboard, you will remain enrolled. Yay!
As before, there’s a catch: if you run into any new policy violations, you must appeal and resolve those within a span of 10 days (not to be confused with the Amazon Health Assurance specialist contacting you, which needs to be responded to within 72 hours). If you don’t, then it’s bye-bye Account Health Assurance, along with its plethora of benefits.
Closing thoughts
You can always learn more about the Account Health rating here to better understand how the AHA program’s policy works or you can consult us directly to ensure that you are able to quickly enrol into AHA and keep your enrolment too. Ah, talk about getting your cake and eating it too!