Hi all! I am NOT deactivated. but sales of me and my sister have been declining for 8 months. Since May 2023.
We both sell many of the same asins (and at same price point), and use the same prep center. I really can’t think of any way we’re linked besides the prep center? How can I ask Amazon if we’re related. OR should I tell Amazon that me and my sister share xyz. Asins we’re the only sellers on aren’t even moving. I’m talking 30k rank. It’s honestly just bizarre. can’t figure it out. Seller support is always worthless. Are the forums better? any particular mod to tag? Thank you for any insight.
If Amazon has not made an association, there would be no reason to ask Amazon this question. By simply asking, you may create more issues for yourself.
This has been happening to several sellers. There could be many factors like consumers turning away from the item to economic pressures on families to Amazon’s restructure of the listing attributes.
sellersasksellers forum should be a good choice to start with (as you have done). Results on NSFE with a mod tag will produces various results which can even include no responses.
Our first suggestion would be to revisit your ASIN listings to see if there are improvements to be made.
Be patient for now and wait to see what other seasoned sellers here on this forum have to offer.
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‘lost my marbles’. what an appropriate name for an amazon seller =) I thought if you have a family member on amazon, you’re supossed to disclose it?
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Nope. That I said in the very distant past I did send an email to Seller Performance, but it was different back then. There is no need to today and you for sure don’t want to open that can of worms based on what you’ve just told us.
Declining sales has nothing to do with related accounts. Amazon just doesn’t work that way.
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Years ago I reported to support that my wife had an individual seller account for selling educational books she had. Since our accounts were operating on the same IP address, I wanted to put it on record. I still have the support screenshots should I ever need it. But I agree with @oneida_books that the sales drop is not related.
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thank you everyone. what steps should my prep center use to safeguard against linked account?
There’s nothing you can do to prevent the linking of accounts. If either of you have ever sent something to each other from the Amazon buyer accounts, the links have already been established.
I operate 2 Amazon accounts for 2 businesses I own with separate EIN’s / addresses / phone numbers / email addys / bank account / credit cards but I am the primary user for both and Amazon knows it. When I created the second account, it was a requirement to request “permission” to operate 2 or more which I did and Amazon acknowledged it. That’s no longer the case or even an option to let Amazon know.
The accounts both sell in the same category but never cross paths on ASIN’s or brands. Selling the same ASIN’s and being linked isn’t a great idea.
Bottom line is those 2 accounts are more than likely already linked. Amazon has some great AI for this and uses things like social media and such to make those connections. Goes way beyond prep centers and email / IP addresses. AWS controls a good portion of the net and Amazon can and does use this data in the linking of accounts and other enforcement activities.
As long as neither account gets suspended, you won’t have a problem. If 1 does go down, the other one is going with it.
Declining sales / rank / whatever… has nothing to do with having an account linked to another. If Amazon has a problem with you, they will let you know by suspending both accounts. I will tell you that selling the same exact ASIN’s is a big problem and that’s what I would be most concerned about.
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It is possible that your listings are being shadow-suppressed.
You might consider using your internet browser in private/incognito mode, logging out of Amazon, and searching your listings to ensure (a) that they actually are live and (b) discoverable. Be sure that you have a zip code that is deliverable, to do this.
You should also investigate your listings for any “hidden” errors. Double-check everything!
- Are they in the correct categories? Amazon has been changing categories willy-nilly, without warning or notification.
- If FBM, has Amazon changed handling times or delivery estimates? Are they on the correct shipping templates?
- Are they Featured Offer (Buy Box) eligible? If not, why? If yes, are they winning?
- Are you using a repricer tool? Have you set your min/max outside of repricing?
- Reevaluate your search terms and keywords.
- Are your products or their competitors available or advertised anywhere else online, for lower prices?
- Check your most underperforming listings separately and thoroughly for any listing/template errors, from Manage Inventory.
…and that’s not even a full list of things to check, sadly. 
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99% of the time people say “their sales are declining” or “sales are slow” there’s no actual problem, it’s just that the product is declining or competition is increasing. There’s a reason why every successful company constantly releases new products and new versions of products.
Unless the sales suddenly stopped (which would indicate an actual problem), I wouldn’t spend too much time looking for a problem that likely doesn’t exist.
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We have sent each other items from Amazon business account
We’re business partners with our own accounts, so we do share many asins.
So as you say we’re likely linked. But shouldn’t I disclose this before we’re deactivated?
Amazon doesn’t search for things to deactivate sellers for. It only happens if the account gets suspended for something. Then they start looking for other accounts related to the suspended account to suspend.
Amazon no longer has a workflow that supports sellers letting them know that they either are or wish to operate more than 1 account. That’s not even the case here since you are technically sort of separated.
My advice to you is to totally separate what you are selling (ASIN’s). What you are doing can be seen as rank manipulation in Amazon’s policy.
There’s no way to get in touch with Amazon to let them know that you’re linked. They already know anyway.
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Back when I worried about connected accounts, I was directed to email Seller Performance. Here was the reply. This was in 2019.
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Here’s my message from Amazon back from 2019. Note the part about selling the same products @Becca
I find it quite magically interesting that the original email has vanished out of the Amazon inbox it was in. Thankfully I forwarded it to my personal email which is the reason I was able to find it just now for show and tell.
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Did you have 2 accounts?
So in theory. Would be and my sister need 2 prep centers? Or we’re already linked?!!! Prep center said they use a VPN . It’s so infuriating. I’m lucky if i get to 10 sales a day. Today 2:40 I’m at 2.
So we have seen that other bad actor sellers have been linked via a prep center address, but since you are not deactivated Amazon either has not linked your accounts, or has, but finds nothing wrong to suspend either of your accounts.
This is an ASIN issue, not a linked account issue.
I have 2 accounts. First started in Jan of 18, the other July of 19.
I don’t understand what your fixation is on the prep center? The inventory is shipping from there? If that’s the case, it 100% does not matter.
There are 3PL’s and contract manufacturers that ship for hundreds of Amazon clients to FBA.
I’ve never seen an instance reported where someone was deactivated because of where their inventory comes from. This is literally the last thing you need to worry about with a linked account.
Having 2 accounts is not a problem. There are sellers with a lot more than that. The issue comes up when one of them gets in trouble for something and that’s when they all go down. You can’t get the rest of them back up without clearing the one that got actioned against.
What you can get in trouble for is selling the same ASIN’s as an account you are linked to and you’re doing that so I would strongly advise that you stop ASAP.
If one of the accounts is doing poorly, close it down and sell through your partner’s business. It’s cleaner and easier and a lot less risky as long as you trust each other and have a financial structure in place.
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Excellent responses here.
Bottom line: It’s not an issue and don’t put yourself in the spotlight. Declining sales are unrelated to having 2 accounts. And the only relatively related checks are what @papy mentioned. Could just be product life cycle as @GGX mentioned.
The way to check is if you have Brand Registry (BR) you can check Brand Analytics (BA) and look up keyword (KW) volume for your specifc product type. Paste ASIN and you can find top kw and then see the associated volume now vs whence your sales were high/er (kw SFR rank). That should immediately lead you down to the demand/sales association/ratio.
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Not going to rehash what the “Aces” here have said. However, selling the same items will get you into a manipulation problem.
NOTE and warning, the following statement is NOT political, just the facts.
As it relates to sales declining, we have been doing this for 34 years now. Yes, before eCommerce. COVID was a tough time, some people took on debt to keep staff on board. The world and national events then went south, this has an effect on buyers. Now if your items are Needs, not Wants, then not so much. If your items are wants, hold onto your hat, it is going to be a bumpy ride.
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More than likely there are hundreds if not thousands of sellers using that very sane Prep center. If you and your sister have sent each other merchandise as you have stated, I will put my neck out there and say YES more than likely you’re connected. Not sure why you would be selling the same items other than thinking if one account goes down you have a safety net but more than likely you DONT.
I also have two accounts which are registered as two individual businesses, separate EINs, separate bank accounts in different banks, different telephone contacts, separate addresses (not even in the same town), separate individual named contacts, the “original” account owns the building it operates out of. Neither account logs into Amazon from any electronic devices that are housed in the opposite location or shared. We have no overlap in any way, no connection. We sell entirely different items, the “original” account has had its own brand for many years and sells only that brand. The other account works under a different business model. Can and has Amazon “connected” us? Possibly, but it would not in any way be through a VPN, MAP address, IP address, bank account, name or physical address.
I agree with the professionals here, their advice to you is 100% correct.
Drop/decrease/loss in sales more than likely has nothing to do with the way you and your sister have structured your businesses. Look at other things that may have caused these changes. Some sellers are reporting a decrease in both sales dollars as well as units sold, while others are seeing growth. It’s completely individual and often seasonally based.
Many variables here.
If you’re not comfortable with the business model you have set up, would be wise to make a new one. New Year, New Start,
Best of luck to you.
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