Amazon's New Policy on Related Accounts

Amazon's policy on multiple accounts has changed.  A seller no longer has to obtain permission from Amazon in advance to open a second seller account.  Now, all you need to have is a first account in good standing (not suspended or deactivated) and a legitimate business interest for the second account.  
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This may sound simple, but Amazon's robots are still scanning and comparing data to find related accounts and are suspending them on a daily basis.  

To open a second Amazon seller account, you must have a legitimate business reason. Whether or not the reason you give is legitimate is up to Amazon in its own discretion.

​Usually, a legitimate business reason means you have a company which is selling a completely different product line that has no relation to your first seller account and the products you sell on it.  If you have a legitimate business reason for a multiple seller account, then you must also follow these steps to the letter:

• You must have a separate bank account for each Seller Central account. Amazon will not approve multiple seller accounts that use the same bank account within the same region.
• Each seller account must have a separate email address.
• The products and services sold in each account must be different.
• Your Performance Metrics and your account must be in good standing.

To make sure you can show a legitimate business interest and keep safe from suspensions, it is suggested that you follow the following practices when opening a second seller account:

• Separate business entities with different owners
• Separate IP addresses
• Separate Credit Cards
• Separate Email Addresses
• Separate Telephones
• Separate physical addresses
• Separate management
• Separate points of contact
• Separate EINs
• Separate employees
• Separate domains and separate domain hosts
• Separate warehouses
• Separate products
• There must be no crossover whatsoever between the two accounts.​

If your account is suspended for being a related account, don't despair.  Even if you have not followed these best practices, with a good appeal, we can often get it reinstated, but it takes time.