How to Write an Amazon Plan of Action (2023)
Originally Published: What is the Amazon plan of action template? (Quora)
An Amazon Plan of Action (POA) is written by sellers who have received notification from Amazon that there has been a breach of Amazon’s policy. If supporting evidence is available, this can usually be appealed; however, if the seller is liable for the issue or the documentation is hard to find, a well-written POA can be the easiest way to resolve things quickly and minimise disruption to a seller's account.
Amazon has a very specific format for POAs and is mostly a box-ticking exercise. It can be tempting to write with emotion (especially given the business impact of account suspensions and similar); however, this rarely works with Amazon, preferring their guidelines to be met, no more and no less.
Amazon needs detail in these POAs and specifics for all sections I’m about to discuss. There’s a balance between waffling and going too much into the weeds and not deep enough, but generally, the more serious the issue, the more detail I include. Make sure you also provide dates for each section in a POA.
I like to start POAs with an apology (yes, even if it’s technically not your fault) to increase the likelihood of its acceptance, along with a short acknowledgement of the issue.
Root Cause
Here, Amazon wants you to explain what causes the issue. As well as an acknowledgement, you should include exactly what happened to cause the issue. While this could be explained in a sentence, it does help to make it a paragraph, as Amazon can sometimes come back on your POA and request more detail, which we want to avoid.
Short Term Actions (Corrective Measures)
Short-term actions are those you immediately take upon receiving the notification. Include that the issue was immediately investigated and the outcome of that investigation. Show you acted decisively with the aim of reducing any inconvenience to Amazon and its customers and ensuring your account is compliant.
Long-Term Actions (Preventative Measures)
Long-term actions are commitments you make to Amazon to ensure this issue doesn’t happen again. While short-term actions cover how you “fix” the issue so you can continue selling, long-term actions are bigger pictures of steps you will take to avoid its recurrence. This could be things like staff training reading Amazon policy but include something specific to the root causes, too.
In this section, I also like to include more generic statements such as “committed to checking all sections of Account Health every day.” I don’t know if it helps tip the scales in your favour, but it won’t hurt to add a couple in.
Conclusion
To end your POA, provide a timeframe based on the dates you would have already identified in each section. State that the plan of action is effective from x date and the long-term measures that will be completed by y.
Documentation
Sometimes, you will also need to provide Amazon with documentation to support your Plan of Action. Make sure you provide the file names in each section where you reference how your evidence supports your case.
If you follow the format above and present a compelling case, you put yourself in the best possible position to have your POA accepted. Let me know if you have any questions about writing yours in the comments.
