It is no secret that Amazon is strict when it comes to seller practices and transparency. Even some minuscule changes in the selling patterns can trigger a review from the e-commerce platform. Amazon, on its part, uses several techniques to make sure that quality-rich sellers are promoted throughout the store. It also means limiting some sellers when needed. Amazon velocity limits and velocity review would be two of those things that Amazon regularly uses.
Knowing less about Amazon velocity review or ignoring one could lead to the suspension of your Amazon seller account. Even worse, the company may take stringent measures to stop you from accessing the client base or product reputation you have built. Nevertheless, many people do not still understand the concept behind Amazon velocity and velocity reviews. We wanted to change that with the help of this article — an ultimate guide on why Amazon velocity is essential.
We have answered some of the important questions you may have about how Amazon does review velocity through the following subsections. As you can guess, we will start this Amazon velocity review with an introduction to Amazon velocity.
What Is Amazon Velocity?
Amazon sales velocity, better known as Amazon velocity, is a metric that Amazon uses to analyze the sales performance of Amazon sellers. It combines two factors: the number of sales and the amount of money (in USD) that the seller has received in a month. Amazon uses a 28-day rollover system to calculate and analyze sales velocity. Therefore, when you see a number representing the velocity, it refers to the past 28 days of activity on the e-commerce platform.
Based on several factors, including the time you have spent as an Amazon seller, the platform may also set up a velocity limit. Crossing this particular limit would entail some actions from Amazon, but we will talk more about this in a minute. For now, keep in mind that Amazon’s velocity is an essential factor that decides how your future with the online selling platform will move forward. Therefore, an Amazon velocity review is also something you should not ignore.
When Amazon finds some discrepancy with the velocity limit, the company may subject the seller account to a velocity review. Understanding when you are under review and taking the right set of follow-up steps will simplify your selling experience on Amazon. In the end, those who religiously follow the instructions as provided by Amazon tend to be on the safe side even when the industry is troubled. Now, we will answer a few crucial questions.
How to Know If You Are Under Review?
If your Amazon account is under velocity review, you will receive some sort of notification from Amazon. It is also possible to know if you are under review by looking at the signs. You should see an email from Amazon saying that your account is under velocity review in most cases. Even if you miss this email, you can see some changes on the Amazon account.
According to the official support page from Amazon, you can notice the following changes in your account.
- During the velocity review of your account, Amazon may place a temporary hold on your funds. It means you would not be able to withdraw the funds you have received from sales. So, if you seem to be having trouble withdrawing funds from the Amazon seller account, the seller account may be under review by the team. This condition may continue for a few weeks, up to 30 days.
- If Amazon finds serious discrepancies with your account velocity, it may suspend your product listing as well. However, when the issue is severe, Amazon wants to investigate how you managed to increase the sales velocity. The company may ask for some kind of proof while trying to solve the issue. Again, the condition may still be problematic for up to a month.
- Quite interestingly, though, Amazon may choose to do nothing when your account is under velocity reviews. It should not surprise you because velocity reviews are routine affairs in the end. If Amazon does not see any significant issue with the account but wants to proceed with the review, your account will stay normal.
- If you find you haven’t received any reviews lately or perhaps the recent reviews are not showing up. First step would be to check you emails and Seller Central notifications and see if Amazon has reached out to you.
Therefore, if you find these things happening with your Amazon account, like reviews being deleted by Amazon you should consider checking your email inbox first. Then, you would be able to find an email from Amazon. If you cannot find an email for an unknown reason, you should try logging into Amazon Seller Central. You must be able to find a notification on the Seller Central webpage.
How Long Does a Velocity Account Review Take?
According to official sources, Amazon may take up to 30 days to finish the velocity review. However, you do have to consider that it is not a static figure. The team may complete the review process sooner or ask for some kind of extension. The actual time a velocity account review takes will depend on the severity of the issue.
If Amazon finds that your sales figures are not in sync with the customer feedback and product reputation, the company may spend more time investigating the issue. You do not have to worry, though. You will receive an email from Amazon when the review is complete. At that point, you can resume using the Amazon seller account as you used to.
However, you do not have to wait for 30 days for Amazon to complete the review. Some steps might allow you to speed up the review process. Before we discuss those steps, you should understand that your account is under review for the sake of clarity. Therefore, you can appeal to Amazon, proving that you have been a credible Amazon seller and followed all the requirements.
To do that, you can write to the Amazon seller support team. But, first, you should send the reply to the major notification you received on the Notification page of your Seller Central account. You have to mention the following things in the response.
- You should mention how long you have been in the business. It does not necessarily have to be the time you have spent as an Amazon seller. Broad experience in the industry can be a way to prove your credibility.
- You must talk about the anticipated monthly sales on Amazon. It is a figure you can calculate based on the promotions/optimizations you have done.
- You should mention the source and availability of the inventory. It would also be great if you can add the current status of the shipping.
- If you have any retail locations or an office, you should add its details on the reply.
- If you are already selling some products on a third-party website, you can add the links to the product pages. Once again, if those products have a good rating, it will expedite the velocity review process.
- If you had shipped some orders before your account became under review, you can grab the tracking information and share it with the Amazon team.
- Amazon also recommends that you share the tax ID, DUN, and Bradstreet number. These details may assist Amazon in verifying the credibility of your account.
In addition, Amazon may also consider information regarding credit card chargebacks, hidden costs, unshipped orders, personal information, etc.
Following this step can increase the chance of getting the velocity review completed sooner. You may also get the velocity limits updated. We must take into consideration that Amazon generally puts new accounts under review. So, you should not miss any way you can convince Amazon that you are a reliable seller with utmost transparency regarding the inventory, shipping, etc.
How Do I Check My Sales Velocity Review?
Unfortunately, you cannot check your velocity review on demand. As we said earlier, Amazon will send out an email when your account has come under review. In the same email, Amazon would ask you to wait for up to 30 days, which is the standard time. There is little you can do during these 30 days. Of course, you can send a response to Amazon to expedite the account review process. Even in that case, you should not expect instant replies or review completion.
Therefore, instead of trying to speed up the velocity review, you should try to increase your credibility. For instance, if you think your product has fewer reviews, you can ask existing customers for buyer feedback. Now, do not forget that you should force/incentivize the customers while asking for reviews. However, doing so might lead to the suspension of your account.
As we mentioned earlier, Amazon will send you an email when it has completed the review process. The best thing is to wait until that mail arrives.
Velocity Limit Explained
The velocity limit is an essential factor that decides whether your account will be under velocity review. When you get started as an Amazon seller, you will have the basic velocity limit. As you start selling more products and get funds, the limit will begin to get exhausted. When it is on the urge, Amazon will consider increasing the limit.
At this point, Amazon will look at the credibility of your Amazon account to determine the velocity limit. If Amazon is satisfied with what you have done, it will increase the velocity limit. Otherwise, you may find your account under velocity review. The company uses a few metrics to understand whether your account must be put under review. One vital point would be the correlation between your sales and the product’s ratings/reputation on Amazon.
It means you should be able to justify the current sales volumes and growth in sales using customer feedback and other aspects. If that does not happen, Amazon’s algorithms would assume that you have done something unethical. Soon, you will have the not-so-great mail about the Amazon velocity review in your inbox. Therefore, if you want to stay away from these reviews, you should be aware of the limits.
Could you check Velocity Reviews and Velocity Limits of Competing Sellers on Amazon?
You cannot check the velocity review of competing sellers on Amazon. As you may have noticed, the velocity limits and review are integrally connected to your Amazon seller account. Therefore, even though Amazon may use it to rank your product internally, it is not available publicly.
Therefore, unless you have access to your competitor Amazon sellers’ account, you cannot check their velocity reviews on Amazon. We are also sure that any Amazon seller would not share this privileged information with you.
More importantly, you do not have to compare your velocity review to someone else’s. Instead, you can try to improve your status by expediting the account reviews. After all, you do not want your account to have multiple account reviews from Amazon.
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