Amazon is helping sellers diagnose their account health with a new “holistic” metric so they can see if their account is in danger of suspension for accumulated policy violations.
The new version of the Account Health Rating (AHR) metric does not change Amazon’s existing policies, but rather, it aggregates violations of certain Amazon policies into a single score that shows sellers their overall account health status: “Healthy,” “At-Risk,” or “Unhealthy.”
Amazon had launched the Account Health Rating feature in 2020 that included “At Risk” and “Critical” designations.
A spokesperson pointed EcommerceBytes to a blog post written by Amazon executive Dharmesh Mehta on Thursday where he said in part, “Account Health Rating enables sellers to better understand exactly where their account health stands, better prioritize potential issues, and ensure that their account status remains healthy so sellers can focus their energy on selling products and growing their businesses.
A help page provides some background information:
“The AHR is a color-coded score that ranges from 0 to 1,000 and provides near real-time status of your account’s health, letting you know if your selling account in a particular store is at risk of deactivation. Upon detection of any new policy violations associated with your selling account, you lose points. You gain points when you successfully address those violations.
“To ensure your account health is evaluated in the context of the size of your business, points are also granted when a minimum number of orders are filled. All new sellers start with a score of 200, and over time, sellers will see a score that accurately reflects their account health based on policy adherence and selling activities over the last 180 days.
“If your AHR is green (“Healthy,” based on a score of 200-1,000), that means your account is not at risk of deactivation based on the policies comprising the score. If your AHR is yellow (“At Risk,” based on a score of 100-199), your account is at risk of deactivation. When your AHR is red (“Unhealthy,” based on a score of 99 or lower), your account is either eligible for deactivation or already deactivated.”
In calculating the AHR, Amazon assign a certain number of points to each policy violation based on the severity of the violation (critical, high, medium, and low) by considering factors such as the degree to which the violation negatively impacts the customer experience and whether the policy violation contravenes applicable laws and regulations.
In addition, violating the policy more than once can be dire:
“Multiple violations of the same policy impact your account health in two ways. First, the point values associated with violations included in your AHR increase each time that policy is violated. That means that repeat violations will cause your AHR to degrade faster, with higher severity repeat violations having the most impact.
“Second, your account may be at immediate risk of deactivation if you reach the maximum number of repeat violations for infringement-related policies or restricted products policies in a 180-day period, regardless of your AHR. In most cases, the maximum number of repeat violations is five for infringement-related policies and two for restricted products policies.”
Amazon will begin to roll out the new version of the Account Health Rating in August to sellers in its U.S. and Canada stores, and to sellers in its other worldwide stores in 2023.
Amazon blogged about the new seller account-health metric on the corporate blog and posted a notice on the Amazon Seller Announcement board. Sellers are usually quick to respond to such announcements, but as of Thursday afternoon, there were no comments; that could change when the new version rolls out in August.
Amazon explained how the new version of the Account Health Rating was a response to feedback from sellers:
- First, rather than a list of policy violations that could lead to suspension of their account, sellers have asked to understand exactly where they stand overall – the new Account Health Rating is that holistic metric and will be the determining factor for account suspension based on accumulated policy violations.
- Second, if there are any outstanding policy violations negatively impacting the Account Heath Rating, a seller will be able to see the level of severity for each violation – ensuring that they are prioritizing the most important issues first.
- Third, sellers have asked for more help in adhering to Amazon’s policies. That’s why Amazon makes it easy for sellers to contact the company anytime they need support or have questions, and Amazon’s team of dedicated Account Health Specialists is ready to support sellers over the phone or via email in getting their account back on track.
