What is a Section 3 review?

Section 3 of Amazon's Business Solutions Agreement covers suspension and termination of selling privileges. Sellers use the shorthand for deactivation notices issued under it, which in the current round are resolved through a live video identity check.

Has Amazon announced a policy change?

No. Video identity verification is long-standing and documented in Seller Central. What trade press reported on September 20, 2026 is the scale and the timing of a review round ahead of peak season.

Are established accounts affected?

Seller trade coverage describes accounts that have traded for years receiving the same notices as new ones, so account age is not protection.

What happens to my money during a review?

Disbursements are typically held while the review runs. Supplier payments, freight and advertising invoices are not, so the cash gap is the immediate risk rather than the verification itself.

How do I prepare before being asked?

Read every field in Account Info as a stranger would, make sure the named legal representative can attend a call and describe the business, keep original documents current in that name, and know how many weeks of commitments you could cover with payouts paused.

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Breaking

Operations

Amazon Section 3 sweeps hit sellers with video identity checks

Matthieu

September 21, 2026

5 min

Summarize with AI

CTO at Nova Analytics

Matthieu oversees product development at Nova Analytics, creating innovative tools that help Amazon sellers make smarter, data-driven decisions to grow their business.

Quick Summary

•Trade press reports a centralised review of around 20,000 accounts ahead of peak season
•Reinstatement runs through a live video identity check, and some sellers report being rejected
•Listings are pulled and disbursements held while the review runs
•Amazon has not announced a policy change; video verification itself is long-standing
•Action: read every Account Info field as a stranger would and plan for a payout pause

Nova surfaces every Amazon fee, refund, and margin shift in your live P&L, across 23 marketplaces. View it in Nova

Account verification used to be a new-seller ritual. This month it is reaching accounts that have traded for years. Cross-border trade press reports a large round of Amazon account reviews built on Section 3 of the Business Solutions Agreement, with a live video identity check as the way back in and funds held while the review runs.

What happened

Reporting on September 20 describes a centralised review of roughly 20,000 accounts ahead of peak season, centred on video identity verification, with some sellers rejected even after answering every question correctly because reviewers judged that they sounded rehearsed rather than like the person running the business (HeyCross, September 20, reporting AMZ123).

Seller-facing outlets in the same market have been describing the pattern since early September: an email naming a deactivation date under Section 3 of the Business Solutions Agreement, listings pulled, disbursements held, and a video interview as the route to reinstatement, with established accounts caught alongside new ones (Maijiazhijia, September 17).

Amazon has not published a policy change. Video verification itself is long-standing and documented in Seller Central (Amazon Seller Central, identity verification). What is being reported is the scale and the timing, not a new rule.

Why it matters

The damage in a verification hold is mostly cash and calendar. Disbursements stop while the review runs, but supplier payments, freight and advertising invoices do not. Landing that in the weeks before peak is the worst possible timing, because it coincides with the period when inventory has to be paid for and inbounded.

The second cost is rank. Listings that go inactive during a review do not come back to the position they left. A reinstatement three weeks later is not a return to normal.

Where accounts get caught

The named legal representative on the account is not the person who runs it day to day and cannot answer operational questions.
The bank account, credit card and charge history point at a different person or entity from the one on file.
Address, phone or entity details were updated for convenience years ago and never corrected.
Documents were prepared by an agency, so nobody available for the call knows what they say.

What to do before you are asked

Open Account Info and read every field as a stranger would. Legal entity, registered address, beneficial owner, bank, card. Anything you would have to explain away is a risk.
Make sure the named person can actually attend a call. If they cannot describe the business, fix the account details rather than rehearsing them.
Keep originals to hand. Registration certificate, utility bill, bank statement and photo ID, in the name on the account and current.
Plan for a disbursement pause. Work out how many weeks of supplier and advertising commitments you could cover with payouts stopped, before peak rather than during it.
Do not treat a warning email as final. A deactivation notice with a date is a deadline to verify, not a verdict.

The Nova angle

If payouts stop, the question you need answered is which SKUs still carry the business. Nova keeps per-SKU contribution current so a pause is a planning problem rather than a guessing game. See Nova Profit & Loss and winners and losers.

Verified Sources

All information verified from official Amazon sources and trusted industry analysts as of publication date.

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Amazon Section 3 sweeps hit sellers with video identity checks

Quick Summary

What happened

Why it matters

Where accounts get caught

What to do before you are asked

The Nova angle

Verified Sources

Deep Dive: Related Guides

Ask Claude about your Amazon data

Ask Claude about your Amazon data

What happened

Why it matters

Where accounts get caught

What to do before you are asked

The Nova angle

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Section 3 review?

Has Amazon announced a policy change?

Are established accounts affected?

What happens to my money during a review?

How do I prepare before being asked?

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Section 3 review?

Has Amazon announced a policy change?

Are established accounts affected?

What happens to my money during a review?

How do I prepare before being asked?