What Is the Seller Code of Conduct?
The Seller Code of Conduct defines the basic principles of conduct that everyone selling on Amazon must follow. Unlike product policies, these rules focus not on a particular product but on the seller's overall behavior toward Amazon, customers and other sellers. Account deactivation notifications often refer to violations of these principles, so knowing which behaviors count as violations is the first step to protecting your account.
What is the Seller Code of Conduct?
Amazon expects sellers to act fairly and ethically, to provide accurate information and not to misuse Amazon's services. These expectations are binding together with the seller agreement and other policies. If the rules are broken, Amazon can remove listings, hold payments, restrict selling privileges, or suspend and close the account. Even if you have no bad intentions, a violation can happen through lack of knowledge or a misunderstanding.
Core principles
- Accurate and up-to-date information: Product pages, business and contact details, and identity and payment information must be accurate and up to date.
- Fair behavior: Not misusing Amazon's tools and services, not harming competitors, and not manipulating listings, ratings or sales rankings.
- Not interfering with reviews and feedback: Asking for reviews in return for something, having fake reviews written or steering a customer to change their review is prohibited.
- Customer communication: Communication with customers takes place only through Amazon's Buyer-Seller Messaging and only on order-related matters; directing customers outside Amazon is not acceptable.
- One account: More than one seller account is not used without a legitimate business reason and Amazon's permission. For details, see our article on related account suspensions.
- Compliance with the law: Practices that breach price-fixing, competition and consumer protection laws are avoided.
The most common violations
- Selling counterfeit or inauthentic products: On this topic, see our product authenticity issues service page.
- Review manipulation: Reviews in exchange for money or products, having acquaintances write reviews, fake negative reviews on a competitor's product.
- Prohibited tools and automations: Bots and services that artificially increase sales, traffic or rankings.
- Misleading product pages: Inaccurate product information, or creating duplicate detail pages (more than one page for the same product).
- Drawing customers away from Amazon: Directing them to other channels with package inserts, or promising something in return for a review.
- Deceptive pricing and sales practices: On this topic, see our article on the Fair Pricing Policy.
- Intellectual property violations: Products that infringe someone else's trademark, copyright or design. Details in our article Intellectual Property on Amazon.
If the notification mentions "Section 3"
In suspension notifications, the violation may be described with reference to the relevant section of the seller agreement (often referred to as "Section 3") and the Seller Code of Conduct. Read the notification carefully: an appeal written without clearly understanding which behavior Amazon considers a violation will not work, because it does not address the root cause. For such cases, see our Section 3 service page.
Checklist for not breaking the rules
- Ask for reviews only through permitted channels offered by Amazon, such as "Request a Review".
- Do not engage with reviews and ratings from family, employees, acquaintances or competitors.
- Correspond with customers only through Amazon messaging; do not direct them to other channels.
- Work with a single account unless you have a legitimate business reason and Amazon's permission.
- Know what the tools and agencies connected to your account do; actions taken on your behalf are reflected on your account.
- Keep your business, contact and product information accurate and up to date.
- Check your Account Health page regularly; catching warnings early often lets you solve a problem while it is still small.
If your account has been suspended
First read the notification word for word and understand the behavior Amazon is pointing to. Gather the relevant evidence, such as orders, correspondence and invoices. Then prepare a Plan of Action that honestly and concretely explains the root cause, what you have corrected and the measures that will prevent a recurrence. Generic template texts usually do not work. To see the process step by step, see our guides My account was suspended: first steps and How to write a Plan of Action.
Frequently asked questions
Is giving a small gift in return for a review a problem?
Yes. Influencing a review with anything in return is a violation of the Seller Code of Conduct; however small the incentive, the risk is the same.
Is it a violation if my relatives write reviews on their orders?
Reviews from your relatives, employees or acquaintances can be considered manipulation. Reviews must be based on genuine customer experience.
Can I open a second seller account?
Not without a legitimate business reason and Amazon's permission. Unauthorized additional accounts can be treated as related accounts and as a violation of the conduct rules.
How serious is a Code of Conduct violation?
Violations that damage trust, such as review manipulation, are treated seriously and require a carefully prepared appeal. That is why we recommend not submitting your first appeal unprepared.
If your account has been suspended because of the conduct rules, we can assess your situation together through our account review service or a one-to-one meeting with Orçun Uyar. You can find the overall picture of why accounts are closed in our article Why does Amazon suspend accounts?
