12 Pitfall Avoidance Guidelines for Amazon Newbie Sellers

October 9, 2025

Reading time about 6 minutes

Kris has more than ten years of sales experience on the Amazon website. After observation, it was discovered that many novice sellers will step into the same pit no matter when they enter the market. Many novice Amazon sellers often fall into a “minefield” due to lack of experience or poor information during the initial stage, leading to loss of funds, account restrictions, and even closure of the store.

As a result, Kris has summarized the following 12 high-frequency pitfall points and organized them by risk category, with pit avoidance suggestions for you (whether you are a novice or not) to take precautions in advance:

1. Account security and compliance category (easy to block)

It seems like many sellers will be very careful. They all seem to know about this big hole, but every year a large number of sellers are blocked. It is necessary to remind everyone again.

1. Violation of platform policies

That is, everyone knows: shopping, false reviews, internal messages induce positive reviews (such as using sensitive words such as “five star”), infringement and follow-up sales, etc. Everyone is likely to be banned because of this, it's all due to a sense of luck
This may result in the link being removed from the shelves if it is light, and permanently blocked if it is heavy.

Amazon sellers should carefully read the “Amazon Seller Code of Conduct”, ban illegal rhetoric, and use trademark tools (such as USPTO) to investigate the risk of infringement before selecting products.

2. Ignoring performance indicators (ODR)

They are generally caused by product issues or return issues. For example, the order defect rate (ODR) exceeds 1% (including bad reviews, A-Z complaints, etc.), which are not handled in a timely manner. Generally, the product is removed first, and if you lose your shopping cart permission, you can resume sales if you need to file an appeal, but if you don't change it over and over, or if the same product is removed many times, your account will be suspended.

Avoiding pitfalls: You need to monitor the “Account Status” page and “Voice of the Buyer” page on a daily basis, set up performance alerts, and actively negotiate refunds for disputed orders.

II. Product and product selection categories (affecting long-term profits)

3. Blind Product Selection/Piling Up the Red Sea Category

This is a pitfall for most novice sellers. When they see what sells well and what sells a lot, they list whatever product, and as a result, they don't sell.

The main problem is that they don't understand the market, don't understand the Amazon platform's traffic rules, follow popular products (such as 3C accessories) or choose the same products as Amazon's own, and they don't have enough marketing experience themselves, so they can only fall into a price war.

It may result in: low profits, high advertising costs, difficult exposure, and finally a silent exit from the market.

Avoiding pitfalls: Use tools (such as Amazon's back-office product selection compass, business opportunity detector, etc.) to analyze market segments, or choose third-party tools to investigate, giving priority to stable demand and few competitors (such as Best Seller ranking < #5000）、无亚马逊自营的品类。

4. The product does not match the description

This is a common mistake experienced sellers make. It's easy to say that the more familiar they are with the product, the less likely they are to write a good description. I always think “the customer knows as soon as they see it; why should I put special emphasis on it”. The reason why the description is biased is that you think it's written clearly, but the customer can't read it or see it.

FAQ: The actual color, function, or material deviates from the listing description, and the size description of clothing is also a major problem.

This may result in: a surge in negative reviews, an increase in complaint rates, and account suspension.

Avoid pitfalls: Take a real picture of the product before listing, check every parameter on the detail page, and avoid using “approximate” descriptions.

5. Infringement issues (trademarks/patents)

This is intentional or unintentional behavior. Intentional is due to the feeling that the profit is high and the volume is large. Not because I don't know which ones would infringe.

Common behavior: Unauthorized use of brand terms (such as “Disney Co-branded”) and sale of imitations.

This may result in: product removal, fund freeze, legal action (there are currently no cases of sellers who have received understanding from the brand and continue to sell).

Avoiding pitfalls: At the product selection stage, check through patent databases (such as WIPO) and the brand's official website to avoid high-risk categories (dolls, electronic product accessories). Don't do unnecessary follow-ups, don't copy appearances, and don't copy images.

3. Operation category (prone to loss of capital/flow)

6. Combined discounts lead to loss

This is an annual reminder. Every year, a large number of sellers step into the hole, and there are even incidents where companies sue such sellers because of this.

The main problem is that if you activate the coupon+member-only discount+off-site promo code at the same time, the discount intensity is superimposed (such as a discount).

This may result in a short period of time but losing money on every order. There were sellers who lost tens of thousands of dollars overnight due to 80% off.

Avoid pitfalls: Use the “Overlapping Offer Enquiry Form” (these forms are summarized by many sellers) before the event to avoid multiple activities in parallel. Also, for large-scale promotions, multiple people must test the discount. This is very important.

7. Frequently modify the listing

It's also a common occurrence for sellers. Generally speaking, if sales are stable, we don't recommend making extensive listing changes. If sales don't work, then it doesn't matter.

Common behavior: Make extensive changes to the title, main image, or keywords after launch.

Possible causes: A drop in link weight and a sharp drop in search rankings.

Avoiding pitfalls: Optimization is completed before listing, only fine-tuning (such as adding keywords) in the later stages, and no more than 3 revisions at a time.

8. Advertising blindly burns money

Many novice sellers believe in the “lose money first to rank” game, but it turns out that losing money is a bottomless hole.

FAQ: New products are highly competitive, and there are no phased ideas or strategies, no budget plans, and not much attention to return.

This may result in advertising costs eating up profits and suppressing organic traffic.

Avoiding pitfalls: Set a budget plan and establish an advertising structure based on the budget. For initial use, you can use automatic ad runners, filter high-converting words, and then start manually and accurately. The budget is very limited, and direct keyword targeting is possible.

4. Logistics and supply chain category (high hidden costs)

9. FBA labeling/packaging is not compliant

Inexperienced newbies often have this kind of problem. You must pay attention to product packaging that is delivered remotely across countries and is almost impossible to return, because if the packaging is not compliant, it will be a huge loss if it is detained or discarded.

Common problems: The “Made in China” origin landmark is not attached, the FNSKU label is vague, or the packaging is not sufficiently pressure-resistant.

It may result in: customs detentions, warehouse refusals, or damage during transportation, making it unsellable.

Avoid pitfalls: Check yourself according to Amazon guidelines (such as box size/label size) before shipping, and strengthen moisture-proof and pressure-proof packaging for shipping products.

10. Unbalanced stocking plans

Too few stocks, inventory can't keep up, affecting rankings. Too much inventory, and cash flow backlogs. Inventory balancing is an issue that Amazon sellers learn for a long time

FAQ: Inventory far exceeds sales volume (takes up capital), or is out of stock for more than 2 weeks (link weight returns to zero).

Possible causes: Long-term storage fees are superimposed or rankings decline and the need to be re-promoted.

Avoiding pitfalls: For stable sales, safety inventory can be calculated based on “average daily sales volume × replenishment cycle × 1.5”, and stock up 60 days in advance during peak season.

5. Customer and compliance details (affecting repurchases and ratings)

11. Overtime/poor quality of customer service response

This seller is relatively infrequent, but there is also a need to be reminded, as it will affect the store's rating.

Common issues: Responding to buyer messages or failure to resolve customer issues over 24 hours.

May cause: CRT (Contact Response Time) ratings to drop and negative reviews to rise.

Avoiding pitfalls: For common customer questions, you can use the customer service tool to preset templates and respond to important questions within 12 hours. Kris recommends using AI to respond efficiently and without templating.

12. Ignoring consumer feedback

Many sellers think that they have bad reviews, what can be done about them, and that they can't “turn bad reviews into good reviews.” However, sellers can still reduce negative reviews by optimizing products and updating page descriptions.

FAQ: I don't pay attention to product reviews or store feedback, and negative reviews are not handled.

Possible causes: the conversion rate continues to decline, and the Amazon algorithm downgrades.

Avoiding pitfalls: Product issues are fed back to supply chain optimization, page image issues, and all of them are optimized.

Summarize
Safety first, survival second, profit third! Always keep in mind that compliance is a high-voltage line, and don't take chances.
Cash is king! Don't blindly pressure your money; it's safer to run fast in small steps.
“Golden Triplets” for newbies:
1. Check in daily: View the “Performance Alerts” email + check the “Account Status” page.
2. Test the first 10 orders: Priority delivery of FBA (Amazon Logistics) to ensure fast and good delivery, and accumulate initial praise.
3. Steady and promote again: After the new link has accumulated 5-10 positive reviews, increase investment in advertising.

Selling on Amazon is a marathon, not a 100 meter sprint. Many old sellers have fallen into these pits. What you can do is read the road signs clearly in advance and avoid the traps. Bookmark this article and check it often. Steady and steady, keep an eye on the long term, and stick to the long-term principle!

The above content only represents the creators' personal opinions. The data is for reference only, and does not represent the official views of Amazon Global Store.