This article is for sellers who have received a notice - in Seller Central or by email - saying something like "review within 72 hours," and who feel unsettled because listings or payouts have stopped. We walk through how to tell whether that 72-hour window is your own deadline or just Amazon's rough estimate, what to do and avoid while you wait, and how to submit documents or information when Amazon asks for more.
How to read a "review within 72 hours" notice
The word "review" in these notices isn't about product reviews - it means Amazon is checking your selling account or a transaction, what the Japanese screens usually call shinsa (審査). In notices with machine-translation-style wording, you'll sometimes see "review" (レビュー) used to mean "under review" (審査中), which is the more common Japanese term.
That said, we could not confirm any official Help page describing a fixed subject line or template that reads "review within 72 hours." The number "72 hours" appears in several different contexts across official Help pages and published notices, each with a different meaning.
This article is based on Seller Central Help and other official sources as of September 2026. Policies and on-screen labels can change, so always give priority to what your actual screen and the notice you received say.
As far as we could confirm, there is no official statement that "the review finishes within 72 hours" or that "things automatically return to normal after 72 hours." Treat 72 hours as a number whose meaning - who needs to do what, by when - you have to check for each notice.
For a broader look at how to read Amazon's review emails, see how to read Amazon's review emails.
Whose clock is that 72 hours on? Sorting notices into four categories
We've sorted the cases we could confirm into four categories, based on whose action the time period is for.
| Category | Main scenario | What the 72 hours means |
|---|---|---|
| A. Your own deadline | Account Health Assurance (アカウント健全性アシュアランス) (for Professional sellers) | The deadline to contact Amazon after you receive an outreach message asking you to resolve an issue |
| A. Your own deadline | The five-question quiz on Order Defect Rate / Cancellation Rate | The deadline to answer the quiz shown in the banner |
| A. Your own deadline | Reconsideration of an A-to-z Guarantee claim | The deadline to respond when Amazon emails asking for additional information |
| B. Amazon's own estimate | An example notice about a request for a funds disbursement (based on a single forum post; not covered in official Help) | Amazon's rough estimate for when it will contact you about additional documents or information |
| C. System processing time | Correcting tracking information | The time it takes for a correction to show up in reports and metrics |
| D. A different account entirely | A hold on an Amazon.co.jp buyer account | An example notice asking you to verify payment information |
A is time that won't move forward unless you act; B is time you simply wait out; C is time to wait without re-entering anything; and D is a separate matter from your selling account. Treat A as "just waiting for a result" and you risk missing your chance to respond. B is based on a single forum post and doesn't indicate when a review will finish or when you'll be paid.
How to classify a "72 hours" that isn't in the table
When a notice doesn't match any row in the table, pull out these three points from the body text.
- Who the sentence addresses, and how it ends: Treat wording like "please submit" or "please respond" as your own deadline (A); treat "we will contact you" or "we will review this" as Amazon's estimate (B)
- What happens if the deadline is missed: If the notice says something like "your account may be suspended," treat it as your own deadline and give it top priority
- The program name and where to submit: Which procedure the notice belongs to, and where it says to submit your response
If you can't tell, treat it as category A: get ready to act within the deadline while you confirm the details through an existing case or Account Health Support.
What to check on the day you receive the notice
The more a notice emphasizes a deadline, the more tempting it is to click its link in a hurry. On the day you receive it, confirm the facts in the following order.
STEP1. Don't click the link - log in to Seller Central directly
Amazon's Help states clearly that it does not ask for things like bank account information or passwords by email, and recommends accessing Seller Central directly rather than clicking a link in an email. Be just as cautious of any message that rushes you with wording like "urgent" or "within __ hours" while asking you to enter account or password information. Seller Central Help states that you can report a spoofed email as an attachment to stop-spoofing@amazon.com. Amazon.co.jp's Customer Help also lists messages that fake a sense of urgency as a red flag, and explains that you can verify a message you're unsure about by forwarding it to verify@amazon.co.jp. Because these addresses can change, check Help for the current address before sending anything.
STEP2. Work out whether it's about your selling account or your buyer account
A buyer account can be placed on hold when Amazon detects unusual payment activity. On the Seller Forums, there's an example where a notice asking sellers to verify payment information within 72 hours was pointed out as likely intended for a buyer account rather than a selling account. The process for a buyer-account hold is different, so see what to check when you can't use your buyer account.
STEP3. Check the delivery time and destination in the Notification Center
The Notification Center (通知管理センター) lets you check, for each notice you've received in the past 30 days, whether it was delivered successfully, where it went, and if delivery failed, why. Use it to check the timestamp and rule out mix-ups, such as a notice that only reached one staff member's address. For when the deadline starts counting, follow what's written in the body of the notice itself.
STEP4. Check the scope of the action on the Account Health page and in Performance Notifications
The basic way to check your status during a review is through the Account Health (アカウント健全性) page and Performance Notifications (パフォーマンス通知). Write down separately whether all your listings are affected or only your seller-fulfilled ones, whether payouts are also on hold, and exactly what's being asked of you. For each notice, keep a record of when you received it, the program name, where to submit your response and the deadline, what you sent, and the case ID.
When the 72 hours is your own deadline: how to act in time
If your notice falls into category A, you need to act within the deadline rather than wait.
If you're contacted through Account Health Assurance
Account Health Assurance (アカウント健全性アシュアランス) is a benefit for Professional sellers. To qualify, you need to have kept your Account Health Rating (AHR) at 250 or higher for at least six months (no more than 10 days below 250), and have a valid emergency contact phone number registered. Sellers who meet these conditions are enrolled automatically and notified by email and on the Account Health page. If you're enrolled, you have 72 hours from when you're contacted about resolving an issue to reach out to Amazon; as long as you're working with Amazon to resolve it, your selling account won't be suspended.
You'll be told how to contact Amazon by both phone and email, and if you miss the first call, Amazon will call again. You can call from the "I want a call now" button on the same page (as worded in Help text; your actual screen may differ), or submit a plan to resolve the issue instead. That said, if Amazon determines that fraud or illegal activity is involved, even an enrolled seller can be suspended immediately.
If a five-question quiz appears in the banner
According to Help for Order Defect Rate and Cancellation Rate, if your seller-fulfilled listings are at risk of suspension, eligible sellers see a five-question quiz in a banner at the top of the Account Health page. Answer it within 72 hours and pass, and you won't need a plan of action, and your listings won't be suspended. For reviewing the underlying metric, see reviewing your Order Defect Rate.
If Amazon asks for more information during reconsideration of a guarantee claim
For an approved guarantee claim, you can request reconsideration within 30 days of the debit. If Amazon needs more information after you submit, it will contact you by email, and you must respond within 72 hours of that request. The standard deadline to respond to a guarantee claim is within 48 hours; if you don't respond, the buyer's claim is granted.
If you're told you have a "three-day grace period" for a Critical violation
When a Critical (重大) violation is detected in your Account Health Rating, you're notified on the Account Health page and by email, and your rating turns red with a score of 0. According to the Help FAQ, there's a three-day grace period before suspension, during which an Account Health specialist may call you, and if you address the violation within three days, your account won't be suspended. However, the policy text also says suspension may be immediate, so act without waiting for the deadline. Reaching the limit for repeat violations is also treated as a Critical violation; if you don't respond, your account is suspended until you complete an appeal through the Product Policy Compliance (商品規約の遵守) dashboard. This is a separate program from the 72-hour cases above, so record its deadline together with the program name.
What to do while you're "under review" (レビュー中) for seller-fulfilled orders
One case where you're told your account is "under review" is a check on the delivery status of seller-fulfilled orders. According to Help, Amazon may put your selling account under review to protect buyers and verify the delivery status of your recent seller-fulfilled orders. This is said to take up to 30 days, though some example notices state you'll be informed if it takes longer.
While under review, your listings may be deactivated as a precaution; your funds stay in your account, but your ability to receive payouts is temporarily restricted. Help states that once delivery is confirmed, your listings are automatically reactivated and payouts proceed on your normal disbursement schedule - though there are cases where funds remain in a reserve even after listings come back (more on this below). If sufficient proof of delivery isn't found, your account may be suspended.
Factors that can trigger this kind of review include a limited sales history, multiple buyer claims of non-delivery, missing or invalid tracking information, a sudden change in your selling pattern such as a spike in sales, high-risk products, and incomplete business information; a combination of these is said to be able to trigger a review.
What to do 1. Keep shipping any unshipped orders
Help advises that if you have unshipped orders during the review period, you should keep shipping them, since proof of delivery is what moves the review forward faster. Stopping shipments also risks hurting other metrics, such as your Late Shipment Rate.
What to do 2. Check your tracking information and fix errors early
If you entered tracking information incorrectly, update it as soon as possible - ideally within 24 hours of sending your shipping confirmation - via "Edit Shipment Info" → "Confirm Shipment" in Manage Orders (注文管理). You can't make changes once the estimated delivery date has passed, so check orders with an earlier delivery date first. A correction takes 72 hours to show up in reports and metrics, so don't keep re-entering the same information just because the number hasn't changed yet. For how to check this, see improving your Valid Tracking Rate.
What to do 3. Put together your proof of delivery
Examples of information Help lists for submission
- Confirmation that tracking information for your recent seller-fulfilled orders has been updated and is accurate
- Proof that your recently shipped orders were delivered (such as buyer confirmation of receipt or proof of delivery)
- The location of another store that carries similar products and can vouch for delivery (a URL or a physical store address)
- Materials that identify your business and support your transaction history (such as your company website or email address)
- If shipping was delayed by a logistics issue, the reason for the delay along with supporting materials
If you believe there's an error, or want to speed up the review, you can submit evidence through the channels described later, even while the review is still in progress. Sellers using Amazon Easy Ship are said not to need extra information about tracking or logistics issues, but are advised to mention their use of Easy Ship again when filing their appeal. Also see what to check when merchant fulfillment is disabled for the scope of the restriction.
What to avoid while you wait
- Opening case after case for the same issue: Guidelines call for one case per issue, and say not to open a new one if you already have a case in progress. If it's taking a while, you can ask to have your existing case kept open rather than closed.
- Resubmitting documents repeatedly: Help cautions against resubmitting before enough time has passed for the review to finish.
- Rushing to collect reviews: You're allowed to request reviews, but pressuring buyers or offering them something in return is prohibited.
- Selling on, or opening, another account: Under the Seller Code of Conduct, you may hold only one account per region you sell in, unless you have a legitimate business reason and every account is operating in good standing. Using or creating another account to get around the restrictions of a review may be judged a policy violation, so don't do it.
- Rushing to change your registered information: Changing your address, bank account, or phone number can itself trigger a seller performance review, and updating your bank account delays the start of payout processing by three days. If something is wrong or Amazon asks you to update it, make the change through Seller Central, following the instructions in the notice - not through a link in an email.
- Submitting explanations that don't match the facts, or altered documents: The Seller Code of Conduct prohibits misleading conduct in your communications with Amazon.
How to respond to a follow-up request: telling submission channels apart
Where you submit depends on the procedure, so before replying to any email, confirm the submission destination stated in the notice within Seller Central itself.
| Procedure | Main submission channel (as worded in Help) | Notes and guidance |
|---|---|---|
| Seller-fulfilled order review | An appeal from the Account Health tab, or the address given in the notification email | You can submit additional evidence even while the review is in progress |
| Appeal against a suspension | "Reactivate your selling account." For requests for more information, "View Account Health case requests" | A response typically takes up to around two days |
| A review triggered by a change to your registered information | "Submit new information," or "View appeal" in a Performance Notification | Identity document review can take up to two business days |
| A hold on your funds | The hold notice, or the procedure described in Seller Central | Generally 90 days, though it can be extended |
| Reconsideration of a guarantee claim | Amazon's email request | Respond within 72 hours of the request |
If your actual screen differs from how Help describes it, confirm the submission location from the steps in the notice itself or from an existing case.
STEP1. Go back to the original notice and confirm what's affected and the deadline
Help for the product-related appeal questionnaire states that the list of products under review appears at the bottom of the original notice, and instructs you to check the document submission deadline there. For other procedures too, going back to the original notice - not just the follow-up email requesting more information - helps you avoid missing anything about what's affected and when it's due.
STEP2. Stick to the facts, and meet the document requirements
The same Help guidelines call for you to stick to the facts that led to the problem, write clearly and concisely, present the root cause and the action you took along with the date and any supporting documents, and provide evidence for every product under review. Documents for a seller performance review must be valid (not expired, suspended, or terminated) and show the whole document clearly; screenshots are generally not accepted.
STEP3. After you submit, wait for the result - don't repeat yourself
For a suspension appeal, guidance says to wait for the result by email after you submit, and if Amazon requests more information, to submit it through "View Account Health case requests." Guidance for identity verification during registration likewise states clearly not to resubmit documents or file another appeal while a review is in progress.
Below is a sample message for submitting proof of delivery during a seller-fulfilled order review (a hypothetical example, not a real case). Rather than words of request, spell out concretely what you checked, corrected, and attached, and rewrite it to match the facts of your own business.
After receiving the review notice, we checked the delivery status of the orders shipped during the period in question. Those orders were shipped using a method with a tracking number, and we corrected a tracking number that had been entered incorrectly through Manage Orders.
Attached are the carrier's delivery-completion records, a list of the tracking information, and our company website and contact details.
To prevent this from happening again, starting on [Month] [Day], we added a step in which a different staff member cross-checks the tracking number before the shipping confirmation is sent.
Check listing reinstatement and fund release separately
Even once your listings are reinstated, that doesn't necessarily mean a hold on your funds is released right away. In response to a Seller Forums post from someone whose selling had resumed but who still couldn't withdraw funds, a respondent who appeared to be from Amazon explained that seeing an "account-level reserve" in your payment reports is normal, and that a Performance Notification describing the next steps may already have been sent.
What to check about your funds
- The amount and reason for any "account-level reserve" (such as an unresolved guarantee claim or your account being under review - more than one can apply at once)
- If the reason for the payment delay is "account under review," the details Amazon gives in the Performance Notification
- Whether the hold falls under the funds reserve policy (売上金留保ポリシー) (if it isn't released, you can separately file a dispute to disbursement-appeals@amazon.co.jp once 60 days have passed from the hold date)
When listings are reinstated after a review, Amazon does not officially state when your funds will be released, so avoid planning your cash flow around an assumption like "it should come in with the next payment." The process for requesting a disbursement is explained in checking your funds after a suspension.
Setting up your contact channels for the next "72 hours"
Miss a notice for even a single day, and a short deadline shrinks fast. Check your contact channels regularly, before anything goes wrong.
| Where to check | What to confirm |
|---|---|
| Settings (設定) → Notification Preferences (通知設定) | Whether the addresses receiving "Emergency Notifications," "Returns and Guarantee Claim Notifications," "Account Notifications," and the like are actually being read |
| Emergency Notifications phone number | Whether the tag is green (verified). If it's red (verification needed), verify it with a one-time code |
| Your selling account's home page | Whether there's a delivery-error alert, such as a full mailbox |
| Notification Center (通知管理センター) | Whether you've overlooked any notice from the past 30 days, including ones you've muted by email |
| Your LINE Official Account connection | Only one person per company can receive notices this way - don't rely on LINE alone |
Professional sellers can enter their phone number through "Contact Us" on the Account Health page to have an Account Health specialist call them. You can review what to prepare beforehand in preparing to contact Account Health Support.
Frequently asked questions
Q. Does the review finish automatically once 72 hours have passed?
A. As noted earlier, there's no official statement that a review finishes within 72 hours. Even the review of seller-fulfilled orders is said to take up to 30 days, and some example notices state it can run longer.
Q. I missed my own 72-hour deadline to respond.
A. How this is handled after the deadline varies by program, and Help doesn't cover every case. First, check your current status in your Performance Notifications. On the Account Health page, if your listings were suspended after the quiz, submit a plan of action from "Request Reconsideration"; if your selling account itself was suspended, file an appeal from "Reactivate your selling account."
Q. It's been more than 72 hours and I still haven't heard from Amazon.
A. "We will contact you within 72 hours" is Amazon's own estimate, and some posts report not hearing back even after that. Check the Notification Center and your Performance Notifications for anything you may have missed, and if you already have a case open for the same issue, ask about the status through that case. If it drags on, also see what to check when a review stalls.
Q. The Japanese wording of the notice is confusing, and I can't tell what's being asked of me.
A. Don't act on guesswork - confirm it through an existing case, or, if you're a Professional seller, through Account Health Support. You can also consult the free "Digital Platform Transaction Consultation Desk" (デジタルプラットフォーム取引相談窓口), a project commissioned by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and for anything requiring a legal judgment, consult a professional such as a lawyer.
Summary
What matters most is reading the body of the notice carefully enough to tell whose action that 72-hour window is actually about.
- "72 hours" means different things in different contexts - your own deadline, Amazon's estimate, or system processing time. For a notice that isn't in the table, judge it by its phrasing and by what it says will happen if you miss the deadline
- Don't click the link - verify it through Seller Central, and confirm which account it concerns, when it was received, and the scope of the action taken
- If it's your own deadline, complete your outreach, quiz answers, or response to a request for additional information within the time given
- While a seller-fulfilled order review is in progress, keep shipping and gathering proof of delivery, and avoid opening multiple cases or resubmitting repeatedly
- For a follow-up request, go back to the original notice to confirm what's affected and the deadline, and submit through the channel specific to that procedure
- Check listing reinstatement and the release of your funds separately
If it's hard to judge on your own, organize your records of the notices and your responses, and consider consulting a specialist as well.
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Further reading
When Amazon disables merchant fulfillment: checking restrictions and reinstatement requirements Read article → 
When Amazon questions your sales history: preparing transaction records and an explanation Read article → 
Reviewing Amazon's Order Defect Rate: affected orders and corrective actions Read article →