Case Study: ASIN Reinstatement for Regulated Product Brand

The Problem

This home and garden brand sold EPA-regulated products on Amazon. Pest control items that required specific compliance documentation. They’d been selling successfully for two years when Amazon flagged 9 of their 14 ASINs overnight.

The violation: “Restricted product policy.” Amazon required updated Safety Data Sheets, EPA registration numbers, and establishment numbers for every regulated ASIN. The brand had these documents, but they weren’t formatted to Amazon’s specifications. And the listing details didn’t match the documentation exactly.

The brand tried to fix it themselves. They uploaded their existing SDS files and submitted a reinstatement request. Denied. They reformatted the documents and tried again. Denied. The rejections gave no specific feedback beyond “insufficient documentation.”

Nine ASINs down meant $145K per month in lost revenue. The three remaining ASINs couldn’t carry the business.

What We Found

We reviewed the brand’s documentation against Amazon’s requirements for EPA-regulated products. Three problems stood out.

SDS formatting didn’t match Amazon’s template. The Safety Data Sheets were valid documents, but Amazon’s compliance team expected specific sections in a specific order. The brand’s SDS files were formatted for their retail partners, not for Amazon.

EPA registration numbers weren’t on the detail pages. Amazon requires the EPA registration number and establishment number to appear in the listing’s product description or bullet points for regulated items. The brand had the numbers but hadn’t added them to the listings.

Product claims didn’t match label claims. Two ASINs had bullet points that made efficacy claims not found on the physical product label. Amazon’s restricted products team flags any mismatch between listing claims and label documentation.

What We Did

Day 1-3: Documentation overhaul. We reformatted all 9 Safety Data Sheets to match Amazon’s preferred structure. We created a compliance cover sheet for each ASIN mapping the EPA registration number, establishment number, active ingredients, and approved claims to the exact listing content.

Day 4-5: Listing corrections. We rewrote bullet points for the two ASINs with claim mismatches. Every claim in the listing now matched the physical label exactly. We added EPA registration and establishment numbers to all 9 product descriptions.

Day 6-7: Appeal submission. We submitted each ASIN’s reinstatement request individually with a complete documentation package. Each package included the reformatted SDS, a compliance mapping document, photos of the physical label, the EPA registration certificate, and the corrected listing content.

We didn’t submit all 9 at once. We started with the 3 strongest cases to establish credibility with the review team. Once those were approved, we submitted the remaining 6.

Day 8-14: First batch approved. The first 3 ASINs were reinstated within a week. We submitted the next 6 immediately.

Day 21: Full reinstatement. All 9 ASINs were live. Revenue resumed at pre-suspension levels within the first week.

The Results

• All 9 flagged ASINs reinstated within 21 days of engagement.
• $145K per month in revenue recovered. The brand was back to full catalog within three weeks.
• Zero subsequent compliance flags in the 6 months following reinstatement.
• Compliance monitoring system in place. We set up quarterly documentation reviews and listing audits to catch issues before Amazon does.

The brand estimated they lost approximately $105K during the total suspension period (including their initial DIY attempts). Our documentation-first approach resolved what two rounds of self-submitted appeals couldn’t.

Key Takeaways

Regulated product reinstatement isn’t about writing a better appeal. It’s about documentation. Amazon’s restricted products team wants proof that your product is compliant, your documentation is current, and your listing accurately represents what you’re selling.

The brand’s original documents were valid. They just weren’t formatted for Amazon’s review process. That’s a common problem we see with EPA, FDA, and other regulated product categories. The compliance is there. The presentation isn’t.

That’s exactly what Altus Commerce’s reinstatement service handles. We know what Amazon’s compliance teams want to see and how they want to see it.