How to Run an Amazon Account Audit (DIY Checklist)

Why quarterly audits matter

Amazon accounts accumulate problems silently. A suppressed listing here, an unclaimed reimbursement there, a PPC campaign bleeding money in the background. Individually, each issue might cost you $50-200/month. Together, they compound into thousands in lost revenue every quarter.

The sellers who consistently grow year-over-year aren't just better at selling; they're better at finding and fixing the leaks. A structured quarterly audit is how you find them before they become emergencies.

Think of it like a car service. You can wait until the engine light comes on, or you can do preventive maintenance. On Amazon, the "engine light" is often a suspended listing or an account health warning, and by then you've already lost weeks of revenue.

The 8-point audit checklist

A comprehensive Amazon account audit covers eight areas. Each one has specific metrics to check, thresholds to measure against, and actions to take when something's off. Here's the full breakdown:

1. Account health

What to check: Order Defect Rate (ODR), Late Shipment Rate, Valid Tracking Rate, policy violations, and intellectual property complaints.

Target thresholds: ODR below 1% (ideally below 0.5%), Late Shipment below 4%, Valid Tracking above 95%. Any active policy violations need immediate attention.

Why it matters: Account health is the foundation. If your ODR exceeds 1%, Amazon can suspend your selling privileges. Everything else becomes irrelevant if your account gets deactivated. Check your Account Health SOP for a detailed monitoring process.

2. Listing health

What to check: Suppressed listings, stranded inventory, listing quality scores, missing images, incomplete bullet points, and keyword indexing.

Common findings: Most sellers discover 1-3 suppressed listings per quarter that they didn't know about. Each suppressed listing is a product generating zero revenue while still incurring storage fees. Learn how to fix suppressed listings.

Action items: Resolve all suppressions immediately. Check that every listing has 7+ images, 5 complete bullet points, and A+ Content (if Brand Registered). Verify backend keywords are fully utilized within the 250-byte limit.

3. PPC efficiency

What to check: Campaign-level and SKU-level ACoS, TACoS, wasted spend on non-converting search terms, and impression share on top keywords.

Key metrics: Compare your ACoS to your break-even ACoS (the maximum ACoS where you're still profitable after all costs). Most sellers should target a TACoS of 8-15%. Any campaign with ACoS more than 2x your target for 30+ days needs restructuring or pausing.

Quick wins: Export your search term report and negate any terms with 20+ clicks and zero conversions. This alone typically saves 10-20% of wasted PPC spend. See our AI PPC optimization guide for more.

4. Inventory

What to check: Days of stock remaining per ASIN, aging inventory approaching 181-day and 365-day thresholds, stranded inventory, IPI score, and restock lead times.

Critical action: Create removal orders for any inventory approaching the 181-day mark if it's not selling fast enough. Long-term storage fees at 365+ days are $6.90 per cubic foot per month, which can exceed the product's value. Monitor your IPI score to maintain storage capacity.

5. Financials

What to check: True per-unit profitability (not just revenue minus COGS), fee changes, return rates by ASIN, and advertising efficiency.

The full cost stack: Product cost + referral fee + FBA fee + storage + PPC spend per unit + return cost allocation. Many sellers discover ASINs they thought were profitable are actually losing money once all costs are included. Build a proper P&L statement for accurate visibility.

6. Reimbursements

What to check: Lost inventory in FBA warehouses, damaged inventory, customer return discrepancies, incorrect fee charges, and weight/dimension errors.

The hidden money: Amazon's reimbursement window is 18 months for most claim types. The average seller has $1,000-5,000 in unclaimed reimbursements at any given time. Check shipment discrepancies (units sent vs. received), customer returns that were refunded but never returned to your inventory, and items marked as damaged by Amazon. See our full FBA reimbursements guide.

7. Brand protection

What to check: Unauthorized sellers on your listings, counterfeit reports, listing hijacking, and trademark violations.

Why it matters: Unauthorized sellers undercut your price, steal your Buy Box, and potentially sell inferior products that generate negative reviews on your listing. If you're Brand Registered, use the Report a Violation tool to file complaints. Monitor your top ASINs weekly for new sellers.

8. Reviews

What to check: Average star rating trend (improving or declining?), recent negative review themes, review velocity, and suspicious review activity from competitors.

Actionable insights: Group negative reviews by theme. If 3+ reviews mention the same issue (packaging damage, sizing confusion, missing parts), that's a product or listing problem you can fix. Respond to negative reviews professionally. Use the "Request a Review" button within the 4-30 day window for every order. Read our guide on responding to negative reviews.

Building a quarterly schedule

Here's a practical cadence: daily automated monitoring for account health and inventory levels, weekly manual checks on PPC performance and reviews, monthly financial reviews, and a full 8-point audit every quarter. The key is making it systematic rather than reactive.

Or you can ask Jarvio to run the entire audit for you: