Amazon account health is Amazon’s way of telling you whether your seller account meets its performance targets and policies. You see it in Seller Central under Performance > Account Health, where a score called the Account Health Rating (AHR) summarizes how you are doing. Keep that score healthy, answer every notification quickly, and you stay selling. Ignore it, and a small issue can grow into a deactivation.
This guide explains what the rating measures, where to find the dashboard, which metrics matter most, what happens when the score falls, and how to respond when something goes wrong.
TL;DR
- Account Health lives in Seller Central under Performance > Account Health. It shows your AHR, performance metrics and policy notifications in one place.
- The AHR is a score from 0 to 1,000. In Amazon’s policy documents, 200 and above is Healthy, 100 to 199 is At Risk, and below 100 is eligible for deactivation.
- Watch order defects, late shipments, cancellations and tracking, plus policy compliance such as intellectual property and listing rules.
- Deleting a listing does not clear a violation. Fix the root cause, then appeal with a clear plan of action.
- Eligible Professional sellers are covered by Account Health Assurance, which gives you a 72-hour window to fix issues.
Table of Contents
- What Amazon account health actually means
- Where to find the Account Health Dashboard
- How the Account Health Rating works
- The metrics that move your account health
- What happens when your account health drops
- How to fix a policy violation
- Account Health Assurance: the safety net
- Our perspective
- A weekly account health routine
- Common mistakes that hurt account health
- Learn the full seller playbook
- FAQ
- Sources
What Amazon account health actually means
Think of account health as your seller report card. Amazon describes it as a view of how well your account meets its performance targets and policies. The AHR sits at the top as a color-coded score from 0 to 1,000, reflecting both policy adherence and customer experience.
Two things feed it:
- Customer service performance. Orders that go wrong, ship late, get canceled or arrive without valid tracking.
- Policy compliance. Listing rules, product authenticity, product quality and intellectual property.
The score is not a vanity number. It is the signal Amazon uses to decide whether your account is safe to keep open. A seller with a strong AHR still needs to respond to individual notifications, because Amazon’s guidance warns that failing to address an issue can risk deactivation even when the overall AHR looks good.
Where to find the Account Health Dashboard
Log in to Seller Central, open the Performance menu and choose Account Health. Amazon’s own seller training material places the dashboard there and tells sellers to use it to monitor performance metrics and notifications and to resolve issues in a timely manner.
The page is laid out in blocks. Here is how to read it:
- The AHR gauge. Your current score and its color band.
- Customer service performance. Order Defect Rate, cancellations, late shipments, tracking and delivery metrics.
- Policy compliance. Counts of listing, authenticity, quality and intellectual property issues.
- Account Health Assurance status. Whether you are enrolled, if you are eligible.
- Notifications. Warnings and requests that need a reply.
If you sell in more than one Amazon store, check each separately. Amazon’s guidance recommends checking Performance Notifications daily, store by store. Make it a morning habit, the same way you check inventory.
How the Account Health Rating works
The score and its bands
Amazon’s published policy documents state that new sellers start at 200 and that the score is near real time. Unresolved violations lower it, and successfully addressing violations can restore points. The bands:
| AHR | Status | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 200 to 1,000 | Healthy | Account meets policy and performance expectations |
| 100 to 199 | At Risk | Violations are pulling the score down; act now |
| 0 to 99 | Unhealthy | Account is eligible for deactivation |
The score reflects your selling activity and policy adherence over the preceding 180 days. That window matters: one bad month does not disappear next week, and one clean month does not erase a pattern.
How violations cost you points
Amazon sorts violations as severe, high, medium and low. Typical deductions are 2 to 8 points, but a severe violation sends the score straight to zero. At that point you have three days to address the issue before deactivation.
Repeat violations count too. Amazon’s policy document says that repeated infringement violations (up to 5) or restricted-product violations (up to 2) within 180 days can put an account at risk of immediate deactivation. Three similar complaints are not three separate problems. They are one pattern, and Amazon treats them that way.
The metrics that move your account health
Amazon’s seller guidance sets clear targets. These are the ones to track weekly:
| Metric | Target | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Order Defect Rate (ODR) | Under 1% | All orders |
| Late shipment or dispatch rate | Under 4% | Seller-fulfilled orders |
| Pre-fulfillment cancel rate | Under 2.5% | Seller-fulfilled orders |
| Valid tracking rate | Above 95% | Seller-fulfilled orders |
| On-time delivery rate | Above 97% | Seller-fulfilled orders |
The targets come from Amazon’s seller-health guidance, which also notes that some metrics apply only to seller-fulfilled orders. Amazon’s dashboard overview adds that a late shipment rate over 4% and a cancellation rate over 2.5% may lead to suspension.
What to do about each metric
- Order Defect Rate. This reflects negative feedback, A-to-z Guarantee claims and chargebacks. Fix the cause upstream: accurate listings, honest photos, sturdy packaging.
- Late shipments. Set realistic handling times. A one-day handling time you cannot hit is worse than a two-day time you always meet.
- Cancellations. Usually caused by stock-outs. Sync inventory across channels and pause listings you cannot fulfill.
- Valid tracking. Upload tracking with a recognized carrier and make sure the number actually scans. If you ship your own orders, our guide to Amazon Carrier Central covers how carrier details fit into the process.
- Policy compliance. Check that you have the right to sell each brand, that your product claims are accurate, and that your listings follow category rules.
FBA sellers have fewer shipping metrics to worry about, but they are not off the hook. Inbound mistakes, product condition and authenticity complaints still show up on the dashboard. If you are building your FBA operation, our step-by-step FBA playbook and our guide to shipping to Amazon FBA help you avoid the early errors that lead to complaints.
What happens when your account health drops
A falling AHR rarely arrives without warning. The usual sequence looks like this:
- A notification appears. A listing is flagged, a complaint is filed or a metric crosses a target.
- Points are deducted. The size depends on severity.
- The band changes. You slide from Healthy toward At Risk.
- Amazon restricts or deactivates. Listings can be removed, selling privileges suspended, or the account closed.
The good news is that the path back is documented. Amazon’s policy says an account deactivated because of its AHR can be restored when its score reaches 100 or higher. Violations you resolve properly can give points back.
If you are already facing a hold or suspension, start with our guide on how to fix an Amazon account on hold and our FAQ on recovering a suspended or closed account.
Serious violations are a separate track
A healthy score does not shield you from every kind of enforcement. Fraud, deception or other harmful activity can lead to immediate action regardless of your rating, and Amazon says so in its Account Health Assurance FAQ. Legal exposure like this exists on every commerce platform, and merchants dealing with a suspended store elsewhere will recognize the pattern in these suspended account tips. If your case involves allegations of that kind, bring in a lawyer who handles marketplace disputes rather than relying on a standard appeal alone.
How to fix a policy violation
When a notification lands, move in this order:
- Read the whole notice. Note the policy cited, the ASINs affected and the deadline.
- Find the root cause. Was it a supplier problem, a listing claim, a process gap or a misunderstanding of the rule?
- Fix the actual problem. Deleting a listing does not clear it. Amazon’s guidance states that deleting a listing without resolving the violation will not remove it from Account Health. If the content violates policy, remove the offending content and file an appeal to have the listing restored.
- Write a plan of action. Amazon advises a concise, factual plan covering each issue, its root cause, the actions taken, and the steps to prevent further problems. Include supporting evidence for the products or ASINs under review.
- Submit through Seller Central. Use the Performance > Account Health workflow, then watch your email and the View Appeal screen for requests for more information. All of this is laid out in Amazon’s appeal guidance.
A short plan of action checklist
- State the root cause in one or two plain sentences.
- List what you changed, with dates.
- Describe the process that now prevents a repeat.
- Attach invoices, photos or supplier documents where relevant.
- Keep the tone factual. No pleading, no blaming the buyer.
We keep a set of real-world examples in our plan of action examples book, which shows how these documents are structured.
Account Health Assurance: the safety net
Account Health Assurance (AHA) is a free program for eligible Professional sellers. According to Amazon’s FAQ, Amazon works with an enrolled seller to resolve an account issue instead of deactivating right away, as long as the seller responds within 72 hours and fixes the issue.
Eligibility, per the same FAQ:
- An AHR of at least 250 for six months
- No more than 10 days below 250
- A valid emergency contact number
Enrollment is automatic once you qualify. Serious fraudulent, deceptive, illegal or harmful activity can still bring immediate action. Seller Assistant’s write-up of the program notes that enrollees work with an Account Health Specialist during the 72-hour window.
The practical lesson: keep your AHR comfortably above 250 and keep a working phone number on file. That small habit turns a potential emergency into a manageable task.
Our perspective
Most sellers meet account health the hard way: a notification at the worst possible moment. In our experience, the sellers who keep their accounts are not the luckiest. They are the ones who treat the dashboard as a daily operating tool, not an emergency room.
We have shared our own selling experiences across the site for years, and the pattern holds. Small process gaps, such as sloppy tracking uploads, unrealistic handling times or listings that stretch the truth, compound quietly. Fixing them early costs an hour. Fixing them after a suspension costs weeks of revenue.
That is why we publish step-by-step guides, plan of action examples and candid walkthroughs. If you want everything in one place, our lifetime course access gives you a structured way to learn the practical side of selling online without piecing it together from scattered posts.
Nathaniel
A weekly account health routine
You do not need an elaborate system. This routine takes about 20 minutes:
- Daily (5 minutes). Open Performance Notifications for every store you sell in. Respond to anything flagged.
- Weekly (10 minutes). Compare ODR, late shipment, cancellation and tracking numbers with the targets above. Note any trend, even if you are still inside the limit.
- Monthly (30 minutes). Review your listings for claims you cannot back up, check brand authorization paperwork, and review any customer complaints about authenticity or condition.
- Before launching a product. Confirm category rules, required approvals and any restricted-product limits. If you are still deciding whether you can list something at all, see our guide on whether you can sell items on Amazon.
The point of the routine is speed. Amazon’s own guidance stresses responding promptly to notifications. A fast, accurate reply is the best defense you have.
Common mistakes that hurt account health
- Treating the AHR as the only number that matters. Notifications can threaten deactivation even when the score is Good.
- Deleting listings to make a warning disappear. The violation stays.
- Using one generic appeal for every issue. Each ASIN and each cause needs its own explanation.
- Skipping the emergency contact number. It is part of AHA eligibility.
- Ignoring repeat issues. Several claims of the same type inside 180 days can escalate quickly.
- Waiting for the weekly report. The score is near real time, so your checks should be too.
Learn the full seller playbook
Account health is one piece of running a stable Amazon business. If you want the whole process, from sourcing to listing to fulfillment, in a structured format, we offer Instant Course Access for Life for a one-off $97.
It is built for entrepreneurs who want practical, real-world guidance they can return to whenever a new question comes up. You can also browse the free resources and guides across the site.
FAQ
What is a good Amazon Account Health Rating?
In Amazon’s policy documents, any score from 200 to 1,000 is Healthy. New sellers start at 200. If you want access to Account Health Assurance, aim for 250 or more and hold it for six months.
Where do I find my Amazon account health dashboard?
Sign in to Seller Central, open the Performance menu and select Account Health. You will see your AHR, performance metrics and notifications. If you sell in several stores, check each one separately.
How do I improve my account health quickly?
Fix the root cause of every open violation, then file an appeal with a concise plan of action and supporting evidence. Resolved violations can restore points. Keep your late shipment, cancellation and defect rates under Amazon’s targets so new deductions do not appear.
Can Amazon deactivate my account even if my rating is healthy?
Yes. Amazon’s guidance says an unaddressed issue can risk deactivation even when your AHR shows Good, and serious fraudulent or deceptive activity can bring immediate action. Respond to every notification promptly.
Sources
- Amazon Account Health Guide for Sellers
- Account Health Rating program policy and FAQ (Japan)
- Account Health Rating program policy and FAQ (China)
- Account Health and Compliance overview
- How to Maintain Amazon Seller Account Health (Part I)
- How to Maintain Amazon Seller Account Health (Part 2)
- How to Maintain Amazon Seller Account Health (Part 3)
- Amazon Account Health Assurance FAQ
- Amazon Account Health Assurance