When Amazon questions your sales history: preparing transaction records and an explanation

This article is for sellers who have received a notification from Amazon citing the reason that their account is "not supported by buyer feedback or an established sales history" (購入者からの評価や確定した販売履歴に裏付けられていません), and whose disbursements or listings have been put on hold. We cover how to tell which stage you are at, the factors Amazon looks at in its review and the supporting documents that match them, how to build your transaction records, how to write your explanation and submit it, and where to check on your sales proceeds.

What the notification asking you to substantiate your sales history is: wording and authenticity

This notification appears to be sent when Amazon determines that it cannot confirm buyer feedback or a sales history that justifies your current sales volume.

A notification from around 2021, which a Japanese seller reposted on the Seller Forums, opened by stating that the account was under review, that sales proceeds would not be disbursed until the review was complete and would remain in the account balance, and that the seller should continue shipping orders. The reason itself appeared further down, under the heading "Why you received this message."

This article is based on Help content and Seller Forums posts as of September 2026. Notification wording, screen names, and procedures can change, so give priority to what the notification you actually received says and instructs.

Verify in Seller Central that the notification is genuine

Company bank information is listed as one example of supporting evidence in this review, but Amazon states that it never asks for bank account information or passwords by email. Don't use any links in the email. Instead, log in to Seller Central directly and check whether the same notification appears under the menu (the "≡" icon in the top left of the screen) > Performance (パフォーマンス) > Performance Notifications (パフォーマンス通知). Submit your documents through the channel given there, and even if you send them to the address listed in the notification email, first confirm that the same notification appears in Performance Notifications.

Identify your current stage: under review, deactivated, or suspended

Notifications with the same reason can come with different account statuses, and what stops and what you should keep doing depends on the stage. Start by confirming your own status.

Stage	Main status	What to keep doing
Under review	The account is active and orders still come in, but your ability to receive payments is temporarily restricted. Sales proceeds remain in your balance	Ship unshipped orders (as one effective step, avoid listing items you can't dispatch by the expected ship date, to help keep your Valid Tracking Rate from worsening)
Deactivated	The account is temporarily deactivated and listings are removed. Sales proceeds are held	Ship unshipped orders and prepare the requested documents
Suspended	The account is suspended and you cannot list (in an example reposted by a US seller, the account went from deactivated to suspended because the information could not be verified)	File an appeal as the notification instructs and check how your sales proceeds will be handled

The criteria that determine which of these applies are not published. According to the current Help page "Seller-fulfilled selling account review" (出品者出荷の出品用アカウントの審査), Amazon may place an account "under review" to protect buyers, in order to verify the delivery status of recent seller-fulfilled (出品者出荷) orders, and the review lasts up to 30 days. If buyers may be affected, restrictions such as deactivating all of your listings are also possible.

Once deliveries are confirmed, your listings are reactivated automatically and payments proceed on the normal settlement schedule. Without sufficient proof of delivery, the account may be suspended entirely. When the period ends, you receive an email informing you of the action taken, but you can appeal before then if you have additional evidence, so it's important to submit your documents within the review period.

For how to read each type of email, see How to tell review emails apart.

The factors Amazon looks at, and the supporting documents that match them

The six factors listed in Help

The current Help page lists the following six factors as examples of what can lead to a review, noting that an account may be placed under review when several of them overlap.

1. Insufficient past sales history (for example, selling for the first time or not having sold for a long period)
2. Multiple buyers claiming they did not receive their items (refund requests, A-to-z Guarantee claims, negative feedback)
3. Missing or invalid tracking information
4. Unusual changes in selling patterns (a sudden spike in sales, a major change in the types of inventory listed)
5. High-risk products (electronics, computers and peripherals, trending products, and so on)
6. Insufficient business information (website, address, contact details, and so on)

Around 2021, the same Help page stated that Amazon monitors sales velocity every month based on the number and value of transactions. Under the seller agreement, Amazon can also set "transaction limits" on the value or number of transactions, but the thresholds are not disclosed, so working from the factors above is the practical approach.

The information the current Help page asks you to submit

Help lists the following five items to include in your appeal.

1. Updated tracking information for recent seller-fulfilled orders, and confirmation that the information already uploaded is correct
2. Proof that recently shipped seller-fulfilled orders were delivered (buyer confirmation of receipt, proof of delivery, and so on)
3. The URL of another store where you list similar products and can prove delivery, or the address of a physical store
4. Evidence that identifies your business and supports a good transaction history (company website, email address, company bank information, and so on)
5. If logistics problems are causing shipping delays, the reasons and supporting evidence

Sellers using Amazon Easy Ship are said not to need tracking information or additional logistics information and should simply state that they use the service. Business information is not mandatory, but it is described as helpful for verifying your identity and speeding up the review.

The information requested also varies by country and period. Around 2021, the Japanese Help page also asked for the sources of your inventory and your projected monthly sales on Amazon, and a notification example from outside Japan asked for a tax ID. Answer each requested item truthfully, based on your records. Note that Help includes other Amazon accounts among the examples of "another store," but this appears to assume you hold a separate account in line with the policies. As a rule, you may have only one account per region where you sell, and creating a new account to support your case violates the policies, so don't do it.

Decide what will support each factor

Which of Help's five items you should strengthen depends on which factors apply to you.

Factor that applies	Focus of your explanation	Example documents to prepare (numbers refer to the submission items above)
Insufficient sales history	That your business is real and how you started selling	Mainly 3 and 4, plus tracking information for recent shipments
Claims of items not received	That the orders in question were delivered	2: Tracking information showing delivery was completed, and receipt confirmations from buyers (contact buyers only within the Communication Guidelines)
Tracking information problems	That you updated it to the correct information	1: A list of corrected tracking numbers (for orders that could not be corrected because the estimated delivery date had passed, the correct tracking numbers) along with carriers and shipping services
Sales spike or inventory change	Why sales increased and that your operations can keep up	The reason (new products, seasonality, sales events, and so on), invoices showing purchase volumes, and an explanation of your inventory and shipping operations
High-risk products	Where your inventory comes from	Supplier invoices and the supplier's business information
Insufficient business information	That you can be identified as a business	The evidence in item 4, and updated Account Info

How to organize your transaction records: trace each order from sourcing to delivery

If you create a list that traces sourcing, shipping, and delivery for each order on a single row (we'll call it a transaction trace sheet here), it becomes easier to show which document supports which order. However, this is a list you create yourself to organize information, and it is not evidence on its own. Submit it together with the original records, such as carrier tracking information and supplier invoices.

Column	What to enter	Source record
Order	Order ID, order date, SKU and quantity	Manage Orders
Sourcing	Supplier name, invoice date and number	Supplier invoices and delivery slips
Shipping	Ship date, carrier, shipping service, tracking number	Shipping confirmation records
Delivery	Delivery date	Carrier tracking information
After purchase	Feedback, inquiries, and any returns or refunds	Feedback and message history

If the notification specifies a period, cover that period. If not, start from your most recent seller-fulfilled orders, and be sure to include every order that had a non-receipt claim or a refund. Cross-checking the shipping columns against the Valid Tracking Rate report described below helps prevent transcription errors. Mark any order without records as "being confirmed," and don't fill in the gaps with guesses.

Get your tracking information into the correct state

In Japan, packages with an order value of ¥1,000 or more per package (excluding consumption tax, including shipping) count toward the Valid Tracking Rate (追跡可能率). The rate is calculated over 30 days for each product category, and for any category below 95%, your eligibility to sell seller-fulfilled items may be suspended. Errors in tracking numbers and similar details cannot be changed once the estimated delivery date has passed, so update them right away. You can check your Valid Tracking Rate under Shipping Performance (出荷パフォーマンス) on the Account Health (アカウント健全性) page, and you can also download the report. For details, see How to improve your Valid Tracking Rate.

Check the quality of your sourcing documents

Although they are not stated to apply to sales history reviews, the invoice requirements for "policy violation" appeals are a useful benchmark for document quality.

• Required conditions: issued within the 365 days before you received the notification, quantities that cover your sales volume and inventory, product codes listed, supplier contact details listed
• Examples that are not accepted: quotes, invoices issued by the seller themselves, editable formats such as .xlsx or .docx, digitally altered documents

Amazon may also contact suppliers to verify, so check whether your suppliers can confirm where your inventory comes from.

Make sure your business information matches reality

Professional sellers, corporations, and individual sellers who list on an ongoing basis must display their business name, a phone number and business address actually in use, the name of the person responsible for operations, the store name, and any required license numbers (such as a secondhand dealer license number) on their seller profile page. You enter this under Settings > Account Info (出品用アカウント情報). Also check that there are no discrepancies with the addresses and names in the documents you submit.

Writing your explanation and submitting it

STEP 1. Write out the notification's instructions one line at a time

Write out the requested information, where to submit it, and the deadline, one line each, and decide which document corresponds to each. Help also says that following the instructions in the email keeps the time needed for verification to a minimum.

STEP 2. Ship unshipped orders and update tracking information

Even during a review, you are advised to process pending orders promptly. We also recommend that you stop listing items you cannot dispatch by the expected ship date (past notification examples have included the same caution). Also check that the tracking numbers you've already uploaded are free of errors.

STEP 3. Number your documents and link them to your explanation

Give each file a name that shows its number and content, such as "Document 1_Transaction trace sheet" and "Document 2_Supplier invoices," so that your explanation can refer to them with phrases like "as shown in Document 2." Save the transaction trace sheet as a PDF rather than in an editable format, and use it as a table of contents that ties your documents together. Attach the underlying invoices and tracking screens as original PDFs or images, without any alterations.

STEP 4. Write your explanation

The following sample assumes a seller whose sales spiked because of a seasonal product. It is a hypothetical example rather than a real case, so rewrite it to match your own facts.

This summer, orders for seasonal appliances such as electric fans at our store rose to about three times the previous month's level. To keep up with the increase, we made additional purchases from our supplier, and the invoices are attached as Document 2.
For orders shipped during the period in question, we have compiled the ship date, carrier, tracking number, and delivery date in Document 1. Among the orders with incorrect tracking information, those still before their estimated delivery date have been updated with the correct tracking numbers, and for those we could not update because the deadline had passed, we have listed the correct carrier and tracking number in Document 1. We have added staff to our shipping operations and now ship orders on the day they are placed or the following day.
Going forward, we will list only as much inventory as we can dispatch by the expected ship date, register tracking numbers on the day of shipment, and check our Valid Tracking Rate once a week.

Here is also an outline for sellers who have only just started selling and have little history (this, too, is a hypothetical example rather than a real case).

Our store began selling kitchenware through seller fulfillment this year. We source our products from the supplier shown in Document 2. For orders shipped during the period in question, we have compiled the details, including delivery dates, in Document 1. Our business information is registered in Account Info, and the URL of our other sales channel (or the address of our physical store) is as shown in Document 3. For the time being, we will limit our listings to the quantities we can dispatch by the expected ship date.

In both cases, the basic approach is to describe "the state of your business and sales," "the fact that you actually delivered," and "how you will operate going forward," linking each point to a document number.

STEP 5. Submit through the channel you were directed to

If your account is under review, click "Appeal" (申し立て) on the Account Health tab, or send your documents to the address listed in the notification email (if you use the address, first confirm that the notification is genuine using the steps described at the start of this article). For appeals filed while under review, Amazon does not officially state an expected response time. If you cannot send to the address in the notification (this happened in a Japanese example from around 2021), check the submission channel via "Contact Us" (お問い合わせ) on the Account Health dashboard. If your account has been suspended, go to "Reactivate your account" (出品用アカウントの再開) at the top of the Account Health page, follow the instructions to file your appeal, and click "Submit" (送信). If you are asked for more information, submit it via "View Account Health requests" (アカウント健全性の要請を見る); a response is said to take up to about two days.

STEP 6. Keep a record of your submission and be ready for follow-up requests

Keeping a record of the submission date and time, a list of the documents you sent, and a copy of the submission screen lets you respond to follow-up requests with a consistent explanation. For a pre-submission review, also see Checks before submitting a plan of action.

Checking your sales proceeds when disbursements stop: tell four mechanisms apart

If your disbursements stop, first determine which mechanism is responsible.

Mechanism	What it is	Where to check
Standard reserve based on delivery date	Funds are held for a set number of days after the delivery date (7 days by default) to cover refunds	Payments Report, payment management
Account-level reserve	Funds are held for reasons such as guarantee claims, chargebacks, or "account under review" (for example, when there is an unexpected change in sales performance)	Summary tab of the Payments Report
Payment restriction during a review	Sales proceeds remain in your balance, but your ability to receive them is temporarily restricted	Performance Notifications
Funds withholding policy	If a risk is identified, funds are generally withheld for 90 days (this can be extended)	Notifications and guidance in Seller Central

The funds withholding policy (資金留保ポリシー) is a rule that may come into play if a review drags on. In cases such as when the withholding is not lifted through an appeal, you can file a separate appeal to disbursement-appeals@amazon.co.jp once 60 days have passed since the funds were withheld, and you may be asked for identity verification or sourcing documents. This address can change, so check the latest Help content before filing. It takes up to five business days from the completion of disbursement processing for funds to arrive in your account.

Shipping costs and payments for inventory continue even while you are under review. There is no guarantee of when disbursements will resume, so work out your cash flow outlook early. We cover this in more detail in Checking your sales proceeds after a suspension.

What not to do: actions that backfire and what to do instead

• Asking for feedback in exchange for something, or pressing buyers hard: Help allows you to request feedback but prohibits pressuring buyers or offering incentives. For the correct way to ask, see the FAQ below, and for review-related warnings, see Product review warnings and rethinking how you request reviews.
• Building a track record with orders from yourself or people you know: Orders paid for by the seller are cited as an example of sales rank manipulation, and the funds withholding policy also lists "fictitious transactions" as problematic conduct. Show your track record with tracking information for orders you actually delivered and your sourcing records. Also see Responding to a sales rank manipulation warning.
• Creating a new account to keep selling: Under the Seller Code of Conduct, you may have only one account per region where you sell, unless you have a legitimate business need to open a second account and all of your accounts are in good standing. A new account opened so you can keep selling while an existing account is under review or suspended does not meet these conditions and violates the policies. Continue your appeal with your current account.
• Altering invoices or recreating them yourself: Altered documents are said not to be accepted. If you don't have an invoice on hand, ask the supplier for a copy (reissue) that reflects the actual transaction date, items, and quantities. Having a supplier produce an invoice with changed dates or quantities, or an invoice for a transaction that never happened, constitutes document forgery. For transactions where even a reissue is difficult, explain them separately as "unable to confirm."
• Overstating the size of your business or your projected sales: The Seller Code of Conduct prohibits registering false information. Write only figures you can explain from your records.

Operating to prevent a recurrence: a system where supporting evidence builds up naturally

Setting things up so that records accumulate through your day-to-day work prepares you for the next review.

Records you are legally required to keep also form a foundation of evidence

Both corporations and individuals are required under tax law to keep books, invoices, and similar records for a set period, and since 2024, invoices and other documents exchanged (received or sent) electronically must be kept as electronic data in accordance with the requirements. Licensed secondhand dealers are required to record the transaction date, items and quantities, distinguishing features, the other party, and other details in a ledger or similar record when purchasing secondhand goods, and to keep these records for three years from the date of the last entry (there are exceptions where records are not required). Check with a tax accountant or the police station about retention periods and whether the requirements apply to you. Handling your accounting during a suspension may also be helpful.

Frequently asked questions

Q. I've only just started and have hardly any feedback. How should I explain this?

A. Amazon has not indicated any threshold for how much feedback is enough. Rather than the amount of feedback, focus on using documents to show that your recent shipments were delivered and that your business is real. The second sample in STEP 4 is a useful reference for your explanation.

Q. Can I ask buyers to leave feedback?

A. Asking is itself permitted. Send the request from the "Contact Buyer" (購入者に連絡する) or "Request a Review" (レビューのリクエスト) page as a "permitted proactive message" within 30 days of the order being completed. Wording that encourages positive feedback or reviews (including offers of compensation, discounts, refunds, or other incentives), requests to remove or change existing reviews, wording that asks only satisfied buyers to respond, and repeated requests for the same order are not allowed.

Q. I sell only through FBA, but I received a notification with the same reason.

A. The current Help page focuses on seller-fulfilled orders, but outside Japan there have been cases of FBA-only sellers receiving a notification with the same reason. We have not been able to confirm how this is handled in Japan, so give priority to the items requested in the notification and prepare documents that show your business is real and where your inventory comes from.

Q. I sent my documents, but the reply said my account is "still under review."

A. Check whether any requested item has gone unanswered and whether the connection between your documents and your explanation comes across clearly. If anything is missing, submit it as additional evidence. We outline how to follow up in What to check when your review isn't moving forward.

Summary

The basic way to respond to a notification asking you to substantiate your sales history is with fact-based records and explanations.

• Don't use links in the email; check Performance Notifications to confirm the notification is genuine and to see which stage you are at
• Keep shipping unshipped orders even during a review, and get your tracking information into the correct state
• Identify which factors apply and match documents to each factor
• Create a transaction trace sheet and link your explanation to your documents by number
• Determine which mechanism stopped your disbursements, and check your cash flow early
• Incentivized feedback, self-placed orders, new accounts, and altered documents violate the policies and can lead to suspension or withheld sales proceeds

If you're unsure which documents to choose, consider consulting a specialist once you've organized your records.

*This article provides a general explanation. The appropriate response in individual cases depends on the circumstances.

Further reading

Improving Amazon's Valid Tracking Rate: carriers, tracking numbers and shipment confirmations Read article → Checking funds after an Amazon suspension: holds, disbursement requests and video interviews Read article → Amazon's 72-hour review notice: what to check while waiting and how to handle further requests Read article →