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Suppressed List On Amazon

What Does Suppressed Mean on Amazon

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If you are a seller whose listing has been suppressed on Amazon, you have come to the right place!

We understand the pain of a suppressed listing. Those who are new to the world of Amazon’s Seller Central might find it a bit shocking at first. But don’t worry, we will help you figure out a way to tackle this issue.

If you are experiencing a massive drop in orders, you might want to check your product listing. A suppressed listing can adversely affect your sales on Amazon.

For example, you might have noticed that the orders have suddenly stopped coming in at some point in time. No matter what you do, you can’t seem to figure out why that has happened.

Most of the time, the problem is caused due to a suppressed listing. In that case, you might want to log on to your seller central account and check your inventory.

There are several reasons why a product listing gets suppressed. Today we are going to look at all those reasons. But before we understand how to resolve this issue, let’s understand what a suppressed listing is.

What is a suppressed listing?

what surpressed listing means

If you want to sell your products on Amazon, you have to list all your products on the e-commerce platform.

The listing process is simple enough, but if you fail to meet Amazon’s standard’s your listing might get suppressed. A suppressed listing means that your product is not being shown on Amazon’s search results. 

To put it simply, it means that your listing has been deactivated. And that doesn’t feel very good. But once you get over the initial shock, you will understand that you can quickly fix this error.

Sometimes you might miss out on adding basic details; other times, it could be a significant issue. Either way, these mishaps are solvable. When you become a seller on Amazon, you get access to Seller Central. It is a separate portal that allows sellers to add all their products to Amazon.

When you add all the details of the products and hit publish, a product listing is created. As a seller, you might know that feeding in the information is a simple process. Sellers don’t usually have an issue while filling in these details.

You might have to add the title, descriptions, images, and so on. Sounds easy, right? Well, that is not always the case. 

Sometimes, there might be an issue with the length of the title; other times, your image quality might be insufficient. There are several reasons why Amazon might suppress your listings.

And unless these issues are not fixed, Amazon will restrict your product’s visibility.

Your potential customers will not be able to find your products in the search tabs. And that is not something you want. As you can guess, some sellers miss out on significant profits due to a suppressed listing.

The reason for a deactivated listing is usually relatively trivial. To understand the cause of the suppression, you need to understand Amazon’s product listing rules. Let’s get into the details of why Amazon might suppress a listing.

Causes for Suppressed Listing

Amazon couldn’t have made selling any easier. You can see all the guidelines mentioned on Seller Central’s support pages.

However, by failing to follow even a single rule, you might harm your product listing. Sometimes, the procedures might seem small, but they have a massive effect on search results. That is why you need to follow them religiously.

Most sellers face some difficulties while creating product listings. And even after the listing is created, it might get suppressed.

Here are some of the reasons why Amazon might have suppressed your product listing.

Title Errors

Amazon has a specific character limit for its titles. On top of that, each product category has a separate character limit.

For example, some categories require you to have 80 characters (including spaces), while other categories allow 200 characters (including spaces). If your title exceeds any of these limits, your listing might get blocked.

Use of Promotional Words

suppressed listing because of keywords

When you add a product to Amazon, you cannot use any promotional words. “Top-Rated,” “Best Product,” etc., are not words you want to add to your title.

You cannot add these words to your images either. If you have used any of these words, you have to remove them immediately. Amazon’s guidelines strictly prohibit the use of such terms.

Image Issues

All your products need to be photographed on a white background. When you add an image to your product listing, make sure the products cover 85% of the picture.

Sellers who don’t upload a photo of their products will end up getting their listing suppressed. If you fail to follow either of the guidelines, your product listing will be in trouble.

Item Prohibited for Sale 

Several items cannot be sold on Amazon. So first, check to see if your product falls in any of these categories.

If that is the case, Amazon will ban your product listing permanently.

Incorrect Product Details

While listing your products, you need to fill in a ton of details. Information such as UPC, ASI, Barcodes, and so on have to be added to the page.

At times you might forget to fill in some key details. In that case, Amazon will suppress your product listing.

Violation of Amazon’s Policy

You as a seller have to follow numerous Amazon Seller Policies.

If you fail to comply with any of the policies, Amazon will temporarily ban your products. So make sure you follow all of Amazon’s Policies.

Consumer Safety Complaints

Prohibited items

Sometimes consumers might complain about the quality and safety of your products. When Amazon receives one too many complaints, your listing will get banned.

So you need to make sure all your products are up to the mark. If your products cause harm, Amazon will permanently ban your seller account.

Selling Counterfeit Products

If Amazon has a reason to believe you are selling a counterfeit product, it will ban your listing.

The brand is stringent when it comes to counterfeit products. Make sure you give Amazon enough proof that your items are original.

Selling Used or Expired Items

When Amazon has a reason to believe that you are selling used or expired items, it will block your item. A suppressed listing can do significant damage to your sales.

Make sure your products are not used or expired. It is considered to be a significant problem by Amazon. You can get permanently banned as a seller.

Now that we have covered why a listing might get suppressed, we need to learn how to fix it.

How to Fix This Issue

resolve surpressed listing

Resolving a listing issue is easier than you think. All you need to do is follow some basic steps.

Now let’s look at a step-by-step guide to do so.

Step 1: Log on to Your Seller Central account

Step 2: Press the ‘Manage Inventory Button’ under the inventory tab.

Step 3: If your listing is suppressed, you will see a Suppressed Button on the side. When you don’t see that button, then none of your listings are suppressed.

Step 4: Click the suppressed button and select the products that need to be fixed. You can go through this one by one.

Step 5: Some errors might be image-related, while others might be title-related. Many mistakes might show up on the page. Go on and fix all the issues shown by Amazon.

Step 6: Once you’ve made sure all the errors on the Product Page are fixed, go on and click ‘Save’

Amazon has provided its sellers with practical resolution tools. You can see all the product errors on one page. All you have to do is resolve each of the mistakes one by one. Once you fix these issues, edit your listing your products will be back on Amazon.

Conclusion

If you are a seller, you need to make sure that all your product information meets Amazon’s guidelines.

And we all know how particular Amazon is about these rules. And rightly so!

You see, Amazon’s primary goal is customer satisfaction. The guidelines are put in place to ensure a pleasurable online shopping experience. 

So, when your listing doesn’t adhere to Amazon’s rules, it affects a buyer’s customer experience. And that is something Amazon wants to prevent at all costs.

Not abiding by their guidelines will take a significant toll on your business. And that is precisely what a suppressed listing will do. Since customers can’t see your products, they will not be able to buy them.

You see, 60% of the product searches in the world are done on Amazon. So now you understand the kind of hold Amazon has on the e-commerce market.

But the good news is, if you follow the simple guidelines, Amazon will show your products in these search results. It happens because Amazon has solid search engine optimization strategies in place. These guidelines make sure that your products are well optimized. 

It is a Win-Win situation for everyone. By following Amazon’s rules, you can make sure your products receive excellent visibility!

So make sure you follow the guidelines, and your product listing will not get suppressed. And if it does, you can fix it by following some simple steps!

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