Amazon Account Health Rating 2026: Scores, Metrics, Fixes

TL;DR

• The Amazon Account Health Rating (AHR) is a score from 0 to 1,000 that indicates a seller account's risk of deactivation due to non-compliance with certain Amazon selling policies. A score of 200-1,000 is Healthy, 100-199 is At Risk, and 99 or lower is Unhealthy, meaning the account is eligible for deactivation or already deactivated.
• The AHR is driven mainly by policy violations: you lose points for new violations and regain them when violations are successfully addressed. Seller-fulfilled accounts can also earn points from Buyer Contact Rate, Average Contact Response Time, and Buyer Dissatisfaction Rate, and points are granted when a minimum number of orders is fulfilled. Order Defect Rate and Late Shipment Rate have their own separate targets.
• For seller-fulfilled orders, Amazon's published targets are an Order Defect Rate under 1%, a Late Shipment Rate under 4%, a Pre-fulfillment Cancel Rate under 2.5%, and a Valid Tracking Rate above 95%.
• Intellectual property, product authenticity, and product safety violations are the most likely to drop an account health rating sharply. Critical violations can lead to immediate account enforcement.
• The fastest way to recover from At Risk status is to address every open violation with a root-cause appeal, not to wait for violations to age out.
• Weekly dashboard reviews and documented supply chain records prevent most account health emergencies.

The Amazon Account Health Rating is the score Amazon uses to show your seller account's risk of deactivation due to non-compliance with certain selling policies, on a scale from 0 to 1,000 inside Seller Central. It is displayed on the Account Health page, alongside customer service and shipping metrics that Amazon monitors separately. Knowing which number drives which risk is the difference between a quick fix and a suspended account.

What is the Amazon Account Health Rating?

An Amazon Account Health Rating is a numerical score from 0 to 1,000 that indicates a seller account's risk of deactivation due to non-compliance with certain Amazon selling policies. Amazon groups the score into three bands: Healthy (200-1,000, green), At Risk (100-199, yellow), and Unhealthy (99 or lower, red), where the account is eligible for deactivation or already deactivated. New violations cost points based on one of four severity levels (critical, high, medium, low), and repeat violations of the same policy cost more each time. You regain points when you successfully address violations. All new sellers start at 200, and the score reflects policy adherence and selling activity over the last 180 days.

It matters because the rating is Amazon's early warning system: a falling score signals that your selling privileges are under review, often before any formal suspension notice arrives.

How do you check and improve your Amazon account health rating?

You check your rating in Seller Central under Performance > Account Health, and you improve it by resolving every open policy violation listed under Policy Compliance with a documented appeal or corrective action. Shipping and customer service metrics are improved separately through operational fixes.

The most important factors include the severity of open violations, how quickly you respond, the quality of your documentation, your supply chain records, and consistent performance on shipping and order defects.

Key Criteria for Amazon Account Health Rating

• Policy violation severity: High-impact violations such as authenticity or safety complaints reduce the score far more than minor listing issues.
• Open and repeat violations: Unresolved violations reduce the score according to their severity, and repeat violations of the same policy carry higher point values. Amazon evaluates the last 180 days.
• Response to notifications: Amazon expects action within the time stated in each notification, and violations you do not address keep weighing on the score.
• Customer service metrics (seller-fulfilled): Buyer Contact Rate, Average Contact Response Time, and Buyer Dissatisfaction Rate can earn points. Amazon states it will not restrict selling privileges because of below-average performance on these three metrics.
• Documentation quality: Invoices, supplier authorizations, safety certificates, and trademark records determine whether an appeal is accepted.
• Order Defect Rate: Amazon's target is below 1%, measured across negative feedback, A-to-z Guarantee claims, and chargebacks.
• Shipping performance: For self-fulfilled orders, Late Shipment Rate, Pre-fulfillment Cancel Rate, and Valid Tracking Rate all have published targets.
• Brand ownership status: Sellers enrolled in Brand Registry (which requires a registered or pending trademark) have better tools to respond to IP complaints and hijackers.

The Amazon Account Health Dashboard: Three Pillars

The Amazon account health dashboard is divided into three pillars: Customer Service Performance, Policy Compliance, and Shipping Performance. The Account Health Rating is shown alongside them and is driven mainly by policy compliance.

What it is

The dashboard is a single Seller Central page summarizing every signal Amazon uses to judge whether your account meets its standards. Each pillar has its own targets and measurement windows.

Why it matters

In our experience, most sellers fixate on the AHR number and ignore the other two pillars. An AHR of 300 does not exempt an FBM seller from separate shipping requirements: if the Late Shipment Rate drifts above target, Amazon can act on that metric independently.

Impact

When sellers misread the dashboard, they miss compounding risk. One of our clients in the home goods category had a green AHR but an Order Defect Rate climbing toward the threshold due to a carrier problem. Because nobody watched the Customer Service pillar, the issue surfaced only when Amazon issued a performance warning.

How to fix

• Review all three pillars, not only the AHR, at least weekly.
• Filter metrics by fulfillment channel: FBA and seller-fulfilled orders are tracked separately.
• Route account health emails to a monitored inbox, not a founder's personal email.
• Log every notification in a shared tracker with the date received, deadline, and owner.

For the preventive systems behind this, see our complete guide to preventing Amazon account suspension.

Which Violations Lower Amazon Account Health Rating the Most?

The violations that lower an Amazon account health rating the most are intellectual property complaints, product authenticity complaints, product safety and restricted product violations, and serious listing policy violations. Amazon assigns points to each violation based on one of four severity levels: critical, high, medium, and low.

What it is

The Amazon policy compliance score reflects open violations across categories such as Suspected and Received Intellectual Property Complaints, Product Authenticity and Product Condition Customer Complaints, Food and Product Safety Issues, Listing Policy Violations, Restricted Product Policy Violations, and Customer Product Reviews Policy Violations.

Why it happens

The most common cause of a sudden AHR drop is an IP or authenticity complaint against a resold or private label listing. In our observations, these often stem from a rights owner filing complaints against all sellers on a listing, a supplier that cannot produce traceable invoices, or customers flagging a damaged or repackaged item as "not as described" or "counterfeit".

Impact

High-impact violations can push a healthy account into the yellow band from a single notification. Amazon describes critical violations as the most serious and states they can lead to immediate account enforcement. It also states that, regardless of the score, it may deactivate an account immediately if it suspects fraudulent, deceptive, illegal, or otherwise harmful activity. A strong rating is not a shield against a critical violation.

How to fix

• Respond to invalid IP complaints by requesting a retraction from the rights owner or appealing with evidence. If a listing does violate policy, correct or remove it and still address the violation itself on the Account Health page.
• Keep supplier invoices showing your business name, address, product names, and quantities that match your sales volume.
• Maintain safety documentation (test reports, certificates, safety data sheets) for every ASIN in regulated categories.
• Use Brand Registry tools to protect your listings: eligibility requires a registered or pending trademark in the relevant marketplace.

Listing hijackers are a frequent source of authenticity complaints against legitimate brands. Our guide on removing Amazon hijackers and protecting your listings covers the enforcement side, and our Amazon brand protection service handles it end to end.

Amazon Order Defect Rate: The Customer Service Pillar

The Amazon order defect rate is the percentage of orders in a 60-day window that receive negative feedback, an A-to-z Guarantee claim, or a credit card chargeback. Amazon's target is below 1%.

What it is

ODR is the primary metric in the Customer Service Performance pillar and applies only to seller-fulfilled orders. It is the percentage of orders with one or more defects, so an order with several defects counts once.

Why it matters

ODR is Amazon's direct measure of customer service quality. An ODR above 1% may result in suspension of Fulfilled by Merchant selling privileges or deactivation of seller-fulfilled offers, independent of your AHR. In our experience, low-volume accounts are especially exposed because a small number of defects can push the percentage over the target.

Impact

One of our clients in the supplements category with roughly 400 seller-fulfilled orders per 60 days saw ODR rise to 1.25% after A-to-z claims on five separate orders, all tied to a single delayed shipment batch. At low volume, one bad week can trigger a warning.

How to fix

• Respond to every buyer message within 24 hours, including weekends.
• Resolve issues before buyers escalate to an A-to-z claim: proactive refunds or replacements usually cost less than a defect.
• Request removal of negative feedback that violates Amazon's guidelines (for example, feedback that is entirely a product review or relates to FBA fulfillment).
• Dispute chargebacks with tracking and delivery confirmation.
• Audit detail pages for inaccuracies that create "not as described" complaints.

Amazon Late Shipment Rate, Cancellations, and Valid Tracking Rate

The Shipping Performance pillar applies to seller-fulfilled orders and covers metrics such as Late Shipment Rate, Pre-fulfillment Cancel Rate, and Valid Tracking Rate. The targets below are Amazon's standard benchmarks for seller-fulfilled orders; requirements can differ by marketplace and shipping program.

What it is

The Amazon late shipment rate is the percentage of orders confirmed as shipped after the expected ship date, measured over 10-day and 30-day windows, with a target below 4%. Pre-fulfillment Cancel Rate measures seller-initiated cancellations over 7 days, with a target below 2.5%. The Amazon valid tracking rate measures shipments with a valid tracking number over 30 days, with a target above 95%.

Why it happens

The most common cause of shipping metric failures is a mismatch between handling time settings and actual warehouse capacity. In the accounts we manage, some sellers set very short handling times to offer faster delivery promises, then fall behind during peaks. Cancellation spikes usually come from inventory sync errors when the same stock is sold across multiple channels.

Impact

Breaching shipping targets can lead Amazon to restrict seller-fulfilled selling privileges or remove Prime eligibility for self-fulfilled programs. Poor shipping performance also hurts the customer experience, so the commercial cost can appear before any formal warning.

How to fix

• Set realistic handling times and update them before holidays and stock counts.
• Confirm shipment the same day the carrier collects, not when the package is delivered.
• Use supported carriers and make sure the carrier and tracking number you confirm match the actual shipment.
• Sync inventory across channels in near real time to prevent overselling.
• Consider moving high-volume ASINs to FBA to remove shipping metric exposure for those units.

How to Recover an At-Risk Amazon Account Health Rating

To recover an At-Risk Amazon account health rating, resolve each open violation individually with a specific appeal that identifies the root cause, the corrective action, and the preventive measures. Waiting is the slowest path.

What it is

Recovery is the structured process of clearing violations from the Policy Compliance page. You regain points when you successfully address violations, and the score reflects activity over the last 180 days.

Why it matters

An account health rating below 200 means Amazon has flagged your account for review. At 99 or lower, the account is eligible for deactivation or already deactivated. Every additional violation received while At Risk carries proportionally more danger.

Impact

In our experience, sellers who respond to At Risk status with generic, copy-paste appeals face repeated rejections that extend time in the yellow band.

How to fix

• Export open violations and rank them by severity and deadline.
• For each violation, document what went wrong, why, and what you changed.
• Attach evidence: invoices, retraction emails from rights owners, test certificates, or corrected listing screenshots.
• Correct or remove listings that cannot be defended, and still resolve the related violation on the Account Health page.
• If your account is already deactivated, follow our recovery guide for suspended Amazon accounts.

Sellers who want a team monitoring this daily can explore our Amazon account management service.

Amazon Account Health Metrics Comparison

Metric	Amazon Target	Measurement Window	What It Measures	Primary Fix
Account Health Rating	200 or higher (Healthy)	Last 180 days	Policy compliance, order activity, FBM customer service	Resolve violations with documented appeals
Order Defect Rate (seller-fulfilled)	Below 1%	60 days	Negative feedback, A-to-z claims, chargebacks	Fast customer support, proactive resolution
Late Shipment Rate	Below 4%	10 and 30 days	Orders confirmed after expected ship date	Realistic handling time, same-day confirmation
Pre-fulfillment Cancel Rate	Below 2.5%	7 days	Seller-initiated cancellations	Inventory sync across channels
Valid Tracking Rate	Above 95%	30 days	Shipments with valid tracking	Integrated carriers, correct uploads

The key difference between the AHR and the other metrics is that the AHR is driven mainly by policy compliance, while ODR and shipping metrics measure operational execution against their own targets. FBA-heavy sellers should prioritize the AHR, while FBM sellers need equal attention on ODR and all shipping metrics.

How to Manage Amazon Account Health Step by Step

1. Open the dashboard weekly: Review all three pillars under Performance > Account Health, filtered by fulfillment channel.
2. Log every notification: Record each violation, warning, and deadline in a shared tracker with a named owner.
3. Triage by severity: Address authenticity, safety, and IP violations first, since these carry the highest deactivation risk.
4. Diagnose the root cause: Identify the specific process failure behind each violation, such as supplier documentation gaps or listing errors.
5. Submit a specific appeal: Explain the root cause, corrective actions, and preventive measures, with evidence attached.
6. Fix operational metrics in parallel: Adjust handling times, carrier integrations, and support response times to keep ODR and shipping metrics within target.
7. Build preventive controls: Create document archives, listing review checklists, and supplier vetting rules so violations cannot recur.
8. Review quarterly: Audit your catalog for restricted keywords, outdated claims, and missing compliance documentation.

Common Patterns

Across the 100+ brands we have managed, several patterns repeat:

• IP complaints cluster around resellers: Accounts buying from distributors without written authorization receive a disproportionate share of IP and authenticity complaints.
• Product condition complaints spike after returns: Sellers who restock FBA customer returns as new without inspection see more "used sold as new" complaints.
• Low-volume accounts are fragile: In the accounts we manage, sellers with under a few hundred monthly orders cross ODR thresholds from small clusters of defects.
• Listing changes trigger violations: Bulk edits, new claims such as "antibacterial" or "FDA approved", and imported templates are frequent sources of listing policy violations.
• Peak season exposes shipping gaps: Late Shipment Rate problems concentrate in Q4 and around Prime events, when FBM capacity is stretched.
• Generic appeals fail: Common mistakes include: blaming Amazon, blaming customers, and submitting appeals without evidence. Specific, evidence-backed appeals perform far better in our experience.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a good account health rating on Amazon?

A good Amazon account health rating is any score of 200 or above, which places the account in the green Healthy band. The practical goal is zero open high-impact violations, because a single serious complaint can move the score quickly and some violations trigger action regardless of the number.

Why is the Amazon account health rating important?

The Amazon account health rating is important because it is Amazon's primary indicator of whether your account follows its selling policies, and a score of 99 or lower means the account is eligible for deactivation or already deactivated. It also shows you, before any suspension notice, which policy areas need immediate attention.

How do you fix an Amazon account health rating below 200?

You fix an Amazon account health rating below 200 by resolving every open violation on the Policy Compliance page with a specific, evidence-backed appeal or corrective action. Start with the most severe violations, document root causes, attach proof, and remove listings you cannot defend. Fixing the underlying process prevents new violations while you recover.

How long does it take for the account health rating to recover?

Recovery time depends on how quickly you successfully address violations: you regain points when a violation is resolved, and the score reflects activity over the last 180 days. In our experience, sellers who submit strong, documented appeals recover far faster than those who wait.

Do FBA sellers need to worry about shipping metrics?

FBA sellers are largely protected from shipping metrics because Amazon handles fulfillment for those orders, and ODR applies only to seller-fulfilled orders, so FBA-only sellers should focus on policy compliance. Mixed accounts need to monitor ODR and shipping metrics for their seller-fulfilled orders.

Conclusion

The Amazon Account Health Rating indicates deactivation risk on a 0 to 1,000 scale and is driven mainly by policy compliance, while Order Defect Rate and shipping metrics measure operational execution against their own targets. IP, authenticity, and safety violations are the most damaging, and critical violations can lead to immediate enforcement. Protecting your account requires watching all three dashboard pillars, not just the headline number.

Our recommendation, grounded in years of compliance work across EU, UK, and US marketplaces, is to treat account health as a weekly operational process rather than an emergency response. Account health is not a number you fix once: it is a system you maintain every week. Sellers with clean supply chain records, accurate listings, and fast customer support rarely face the crises that cost others their accounts.

If you need professional implementation, see our Amazon brand protection service or book a free audit.