Reasons for Amazon EBC & Storefront Rejection – The Most Comprehensive Guide

Amazon's EBC and storefront rules are notoriously strict and difficult to navigate, especially if you are new to the Amazon world. If you have hired a team of freelancers or a designing firm with limited or no Amazon knowledge, then you probably are stuck in the Amazon rejection cycle. Here is exactly what's happening with you:

• You are a brand registered seller and want to make the most of it by creating an Amazon seller storefront or EBC. That's awesome!

• You hired the best designing firm you know and they created the most wonderful assets for your brand. The content beautifully represents your brand and has the capacity to sell your products like hotcakes. Wow, impressive!

• But as soon as you submit it for review, it keeps getting rejected.

Your time is too valuable to hunt down and fix minor technical errors. Yes, even a small mistake like a spacing error or an incorrectly sized image is enough to piss off Amazon. Believe it or not, this is one of the most frequently faced issues sellers face and the reason for it is simply because they hired the wrong team. Maybe they have designed the best EBC in the whole world, but what is the point of spending time and efforts on something that can't even get past Amazon's system? That is why it is essential that you or the team working on your graphics understand all the rules and regulations before even beginning with the design work.

In this article, we have listed all the specific rules of what you can include and not include in your EBC and storefronts, along with the most common reasons for rejection.

FAQs:

Q1: How does Amazon go about the approval process?

All the text and images submitted, including the text boxes, image and content tiles, image keywords as well as the text embedded into the images, will be subjected to automatic and manual review.

Q2: How long will it take for review?

Amazon takes about 7 business days (weekends and holidays not included) to approve or reject (God forbid) the EBC. But for some sellers, it does not even take 5 minutes to approve the EBC, well it all depends on Amazon, but the standard time is 7 business days. If it takes more than that, you must contact Seller Support immediately. Storefronts take about 24 hours for review, but in most cases, they are approved or rejected within just 3-4 hours.

Q3: Will I be notified after rejection?

For EBC, you won't be notified. You can just check the status in your A+ Content dashboard. For Storefronts, you will be notified via mail. Amazon will also clearly mention the reasons for rejection in the mail.

Q4: Doesn't Amazon have a rule book or something?

Exactly!! Amazon expects its sellers to educate its shoppers but has the retail giant ever bothered to educate its sellers? The biggest reason why daily hundreds of EBCs and storefronts get rejected is because Amazon hasn't mentioned the rules anywhere. This is the same case with account and product suspensions. Amazon, without even notifying the policy updates, expects the sellers to follow them. Remember the update? Hundreds and thousands of top-selling products were blocked just because it contained the word "." And the product was nowhere related to pesticides! The same is the case with EBC and storefronts. Amazon has never mentioned the dos and don'ts; it's up to sellers to learn, understand and follow.

Q5: How can I avoid rejections?

It is rightly said that prevention is better than cure; before investing your hard-earned money in hiring freelancers or a designing firm for creating EBC and storefront, make sure they have a thorough knowledge of Amazon. Otherwise, the chances are good that you will be stuck in a cycle of rejections.

Q6: Why is rejection important?

Every cloud has a silver lining. Similarly, every rejection is an opportunity to learn. Maybe there are some words that can flag your listing if you were not careful. Now that you know, you can remove them from your detail page copy as well. In short, if your EBC or storefront is getting rejected, it can be a warning sign for you as well. Ignoring that can lead to bigger problems in the future, which you definitely don't want.

Q7: Why is my EBC and Amazon Storefront Design getting rejected?

Well, that's what we are here for, aren't we? Since we are experts on this issue, we decided to write a dedicated blog post that clears the air on Amazon EBC and storefront rejection issues. We learned the hard way, but you don't have to - read on to know the reasons and how to fix them.

Reasons for Amazon Enhanced Brand Content rejection:

#1: Use of prohibited words

As mentioned above, the text that will be checked will be reviewed and this included text outside of the images, text inside of the images and alt tag keywords. Amazon has a list of prohibited keywords and incorporating any of these banned keywords can keep your Amazon Enhanced Brand Content EBCs in drafts. Some of them are normal, for example, names of some drugs, names, abusive language etc, but there are even some regular words you should be aware of. Here is a list of the words that can trigger Amazon:

• Cheapest, free affordable price, environment friendly, certificate, awards, buy now, FDA approved, guarantee, warranty, customer satisfaction, recommended by, certified, tested, approved, proven, validated, biodegradable, killing, recyclable, kill and healthier.

Amazon keeps on making changes to the list and adding new prohibited words without, of course, notifying the sellers. Until March 2020, FDA Approved, biodegradable, recyclable and healthier keywords were allowed, but now, all of a sudden, Amazon thinks they aren't fit for EBC. Nevertheless, we will keep on updating this list every now and then.

#2: Directing customers to your website

Nothing pisses off Amazon more than this. In your EBC, you should not mention any personal contact information. In fact, not just within your EBC, but contact information SHOULD NOT be anywhere in your detail page, images or storefronts. Similarly, referring yourself as an authorized seller is grounds for rejection. It is also important to note that if you are selling products from your own brand, anyone who lists your product will have the same images, content and images that you create.

#3: Using FDA Approved Icon/Logo

If your product claims that it's approved by the FDA, then there are good chances that your EBC will be rejected. FDA-approved products need to follow additional requirements and Amazon is pretty strict about this. To add to this point, you should also not make any FDA approved claims anywhere in your listing copy and images.

#4: Using copyright or trademark symbols

The use of the below symbols is prohibited:

®

©

™

If you are having a hard time getting the EBC approved from Amazon, double-check all of your images (especially the logo) and make sure none of them contains any of the prohibited symbols. Even though your logo is registered, Amazon still doesn't allow adding trademark and copyright symbols.

#5: Adding reviews or claiming that your product has been awarded or certified

Reviews provide social proof and give your shoppers the confidence they need to make a purchase. Although it might be very tempting to add reviews in your Enhanced Brand Content, Amazon doesn't like that thought very much. Your Enhanced Brand Content should not contain any of your customer reviews, even if you have hundreds and thousands of gleaming 5-star reviews.

Just like reviews, awards too dramatically improve shopper's trust. But amazon doesn't like that either. However, if you want to add awards and certificate information, you can mention the date and the awarding body in your EBC.

#6: Making unverified claims

Any claim should be backed by reliable evidence, or your EBC can get rejected. This includes health claims as well as energy-saving claims. Any claims about energy-saving, efficiency, fuel consumption must be truthful. This goes the same for health claims. You should be extra careful while making EBC for health products and supplements because any claim of curing or treating a disease can land you in big trouble. This goes the same for Amazon Listing Optimization - make no direct claims or Amazon may suspend the listing.

#7: Other reasons

• Mention of competitor's product or comparing your product with competitors in images or text

• Adding shipping information such as free shipping or timelines

• Claiming that your product is "top-selling product," "hottest item," "#1 Selling item", "on sale now," or "best new product of the year"

• Adding unreadable text or ALL CAPs text

• Using blurry or pixelated images

• Adding anything similar to Amazon logos, detail page headings or details

• Adding any reference to criminal activities

#8: None of the above

It is totally possible that your content isn't breaking any of the rules mentioned above and still, your EBC is getting rejected. Don't worry; it's not you; it's Amazon. Sometimes, the algorithm has really gone crazy and in such situations, you can either submit a new draft, talk with your Amazon Seller Consultant OR directly contact seller support.

Reasons for Amazon Store Design rejection:

#1: Content

Amazon expects that the text written in your store must be consistent and free of any spelling and grammatical errors for a high-quality customer experience. Here are all the guidelines Amazon has in terms of the copy you write:

• You should not denigrate another company or product. For example, using words such as better company/brand/named product is strictly prohibited

• The language of your store should be in the primary language of the Amazon site

• Your copy should be completely free of spelling, grammar and spacing errors

• Your store should not have any contact details such as email or web addresses or phone numbers; social media addresses; and QR codes

• Your text should not speak directly to the customer. For example, "Are you looking for xxx, try this" or "Not getting the weight loss results you want?"

• Your text should not be abusive in any way

• Your text should not make shipping claims or mention time-sensitive promotions

#2: Call To Action

CTA (call to action) is an integral part of your storefront, but if not used correctly, it can be the reason for your storefront rejection. Here is everything you need to follow:

• CTAs must be clear and direct. Nonspecific CTAs like "click here" are not permitted

• Any CTAs must be linked to the respective product detail page or another store page

• Here are some of the acceptable examples of CTAs: Shop now, Learn More, See more, See details

• Here are some of the unacceptable examples of CTAs: "Last Chance," "Don't Miss Out," etc

#3: Capitalization

• Amazon recommends using sentence case for all title and description text

• Capitalized words are acceptable for standard abbreviations (such as DIY) or registered brand name

• Toggle case is strictly prohibited: THIS headline is INCORRECT, or This headline Is Incorrect

#4: Unverified claims

Any claims you make in your store must be truthful and accurate. Amazon will want solid and reliable evidence in order to approve the claims. If you make any claims related to your brand, it must be substantiated within the store along with the date and evidence supporting the claim. If you make any claims related to your product, those products must be placed adjacent to the claim within the Store. These claims include health claims, accolades and awards, survey results (33% of people like XXX), performance claims (Reduces 99% of wrinkles), comparative claims (America's best hat, Hat Makers magazine, 2019) as well as customer satisfaction and lifetime warranty/guarantee claim.

#5: Customer reviews

Unlike Enhanced Brand Content, Amazon customer reviews can be added to the storefront. But no changes should be made to the language, including the correcting of spelling or grammar errors. Reviews with gross misspellings or significant grammatical errors must be avoided. Customer name must not be included and the reviews used must be verified on the associated detail page. Third-party customer reviews, star ratings or other elements that could be confused with Amazon Customer Reviews are strictly prohibited.

Takeaway

There are a plethora of reasons why your EBC or storefront is rejected. Paying attention to the rules above will help you save your valuable time, efforts and resources in going back and forth with the approval process. Obviously, the best way to deal with rejections is to avoid them in the first place by hiring experienced Amazon consultants from eStore Factory but if you have a draft already created and are facing constant rejections, you can always contact us. Our Amazon Marketing Consultants are always a call or a message away.