Written for online shops in the UK selling on their own site or on marketplaces: direct-to-consumer brands, private-label and FBA sellers, dropshippers and subscription sellers.
The short version
- Send one complete plan of action.Root cause, immediate fix, preventive steps and evidence, all in one appeal. One complete appeal beats several partial ones.
- Ask for the statement of reasons.The platform must give you one when it restricts or suspends your account. Ask for it if the appeal fails.
- Plan cash for weeks without payouts.Model the held money in your 13-week cash flow from day one. Keep any one marketplace under half your sales.
For a marketplace seller a suspension is the worst week in the business. Listings go dark, and the disbursements you were counting on are usually held while you appeal. IP complaints, 'inauthentic' claims and product safety flags cause most deactivations. Send one complete appeal, and plan your cash for the payouts held while you wait.
Why accounts get suspended
- IP complaints from a rights owner.
- 'Inauthentic' claims about the goods you sell.
- Product safety flags.
- Account health below Amazon's targets: order defect rate under 1%, pre-fulfilment cancellation rate under 2.5% and late dispatch rate under 4%. These are platform policy, not law. As of Oct 2026.
Writing the appeal
- Root cause.What actually went wrong, in plain terms.
- Immediate fix.What you have already done about it, for example listings corrected or stock pulled.
- Preventive steps.What changes so it does not happen again, for example a document check before any new listing.
- Evidence.Supplier invoices, the brand's authorisation letters and test reports, attached rather than described.
One complete appeal beats several partial ones, and every day you stay suspended is a day without payouts.
Your rights as a business user of the platform
The platform must give at least 15 days' notice of changes to its terms, a statement of reasons when it restricts or suspends you, at least 30 days' notice with reasons before it terminates you, and an internal complaint-handling system. As of Oct 2026.
P2B Regulation ((EU) 2019/1150 as it applies in the UK) Arts 3(2), 4 and 11
IP complaints against goods you resell
Reselling genuine goods
Exhaustion may permit resale of goods put on the relevant market with the trade mark owner's consent, subject to legitimate reasons, including a changed or impaired condition. The platform's own decision under its contract is separate. As of Oct 2026.
Trade Marks Act 1994 s.12
Keep provenance and condition records for everything you resell. Use the platform's IP tools to protect your own brand, but get IP advice on the unjustified threats rules before you allege infringement against anyone.
Keep the business running
Model the hold in your 13-week cash flow from day one. For example, a seller suspended over an IP complaint with £38,000 of disbursements held should appeal once with a full plan of action, ask for the statement of reasons, and plan 4 weeks without payouts.
One marketplace above half of your revenue is a cash risk and a valuation risk: buyers discount a brand for that dependence. The time to build a second channel is before a suspension, not during one.
Asked in Greymill
1. Root cause: what went wrong, in plain terms.
2. Immediate fix: what you have already done, such as listings corrected or stock pulled.
3. Prevention: what changes, for example a document check before any new listing.
4. Evidence: supplier invoices and the brand's authorisation letters, attached, not described.
If it fails, ask for the statement of reasons. The platform must give one when it suspends you.
Cash: plan for 4 weeks with no payouts while the £38,000 is held. Every day suspended is a day without them.
Then fix the 70%: that much on one marketplace is a cash risk, and buyers of your business would pay less for it. Once you are back, get Amazon under half. Build a second channel before the next suspension, not during one.
Shall I get MAYA to map the held money into a 13-week cash flow?
Ask it about your own business
Paste this into Greymill with your own figures, and Sales & Quotes works it through for your business.
I run an online shop in the UK. Amazon has [suspended my account or removed listings] because of [the reason in the notice]. Here is the notice: [paste]. Draft a plan of action with the root cause, the immediate fix, the preventive steps and the evidence to attach from what I hold: [invoices, authorisations, test reports]. About [£] of disbursements is being held.
More for online retail and ecommerce in the UK
- Knowing whether an order makes money after ads, free delivery and returnsWork out what each order really leaves behind on your VAT-exclusive price, then the ROAS you need just to break even on your ads.Read the lesson
- Paying for stock and ads weeks before the platforms pay youBuild a 13-week cash flow on each platform's real payout timing, allow for reserves, holds and chargebacks, and price any revenue-based advance before you sign.Read the lesson
- VAT when you sell on marketplaces, ship from abroad or sell into the EUWho accounts for VAT on each kind of online sale, what is changing for parcels of £135 or less (As of Oct 2026), and how to test whether the Flat Rate Scheme suits a reseller.Read the lesson
- Making sure what you import, own-brand or dropship is legal to sellIf you import, own-brand or dropship, the law can treat you as the producer: what that means for safety duties, markings, category paperwork and packaging.Read the lesson
- What your returns policy can say, and what the law has already decidedOnline customers have a right to cancel and a separate right to reject faulty goods, so write terms that match both and refund disputes stop costing you.Read the lesson
- Staffing the Christmas peak with agency pickers, temps and freelancersBlack Friday to the January returns needs extra hands: the agency, pay, safety and freelancer rules that apply to an online shop's peak team.Read the lesson
- Getting reviews, creator posts and email sales without a fineReviews, influencers, sale prices and email now carry direct fines for online shops; here is how to use each one within the rules.Read the lesson
Open the interactive lesson · Every online retail and ecommerce lesson · What Greymill knows about the trade
Sources
The primary sources behind this lesson, checked Oct 2026.
- Arts 3(2), 4 and 11 (Marketplaces: fees, account health and suspensions)
- Account Health help pages (Marketplaces: fees, account health and suspensions)
- When to register (Hard cases: tax, cash, marketplaces and exit)
- Art 4 (Hard cases: tax, cash, marketplaces and exit)
- regs 5 and 7 (Hard cases: tax, cash, marketplaces and exit)
- Green Claims Code (Sep 2021) (Advertising, influencers, green claims and brand protection)
- Fees (Advertising, influencers, green claims and brand protection)
- Costs (Advertising, influencers, green claims and brand protection)
- CDPA 1988 s.90(3) (Advertising, influencers, green claims and brand protection)
- www.gov.uk (Advertising, influencers, green claims and brand protection)
- Trade Marks Act 12(1) and (2) (Advertising, influencers, green claims and brand protection)
- GPSR 2005 reg 9 (Who must sign off, time-critical steps first)
- Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024, reporting provisions (Who must sign off, time-critical steps first)
- IPReg register (Who must sign off, time-critical steps first)