Amazon Submission Under Review: What It Means, Where You See It, and When to Chase It
Under review is the status Amazon shows while it has not yet decided something a seller sent: compliance documents, an appeal, identity papers, a brand or category application, or the account itself. What each review is waiting on, how long Amazon's moderators say it takes, and when waiting stops being the right move.
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"Under review" is one of the most common statuses in Seller Central and one of the least explained. An Amazon submission under review can be compliance documents, an appeal, identity papers, an application to sell a brand or category, or the account itself. In each case the status means the same thing, that Amazon has what was sent and has not decided, and in each case the right response is different. Some reviews finish in days and should be left alone, some stall and need a case, and one holds the account's money while it runs.
This article takes the five places a seller meets the status, what each review is waiting on, what Amazon's moderators have said about how long it takes, and when to stop waiting. Amazon's help pages behind the sign in were not read; the statements below come from Amazon staff on the Seller Forums, with how old they are, and from sellers' reports, labelled as such.
1. Compliance documents
When a listing is asked for safety or compliance documents (test reports, certificates, photographs of labels and manuals), the submission sits under review on the compliance page until Amazon's team checks it. This is where the longest waits are reported. A seller posting in July 2026 had submitted test reports, a certificate and photographs at the end of June and was still waiting, and was told by another seller that a second submission tends to take longer than a first. Others describe compliance reviews of a month or more, with the listing unavailable in the meantime.
Answering a seller whose compliance review had run past a month, Glenn_Amazon found a different problem: the review may have completed without the compliance page updating, since the product was already eligible for sale. So the first check on a long compliance review is whether the listing is actually blocked. If it is, the documents decide the wait: a complete set that matches the product exactly is reviewed once, and an incomplete one comes back. Amazon's testing, inspection and certification process sets out what a complete submission contains for the categories that need third party testing.
2. An appeal
An appeal sent from the Account Health dashboard shows as under review until somebody reads it. Amazon publishes no timeline for this outside Seller Central, and sellers' reports range from days to weeks. What costs the most time is an appeal that comes back incomplete, so the useful work happens before it is sent: a root cause, the actions taken, the prevention and the documents, in the form Amazon account health and getting reinstated describes.
3. Identity and verification documents
A utility bill or bank statement uploaded to verify an address or an identity also shows as under review. Stevie_Amazon told a seller that the review of a utility bill for global seller identity verification "can generally take anywhere from 24 to 72 hours", sometimes longer, and advised checking performance notifications, the case log and email regularly. Where Amazon asks for a video call instead, the call is the review, and the article on the video verification interview covers it. The yearly INFORM Act certification is a separate check with its own ways of failing, set out in INFORM Act verification on Amazon.
4. An application to sell a brand or category
Applications made through Add Products and Apply to Sell show as under review until decided. The automated emails sellers quote promise an answer within a few business days, and most arrive in that time. The ones that do not tend to be applications made in answer to a notice, when the listings are already inactive. One seller in late 2024 applied for a brand with supplier invoices after a performance notification, saw the listings deactivated a week later and the application sit under review for nearly a month, and had it approved only after a case was escalated. The invoices decide these, and brand approval and ungating explains what Amazon looks for in them.
5. The account itself: a temporary review
The review that matters most is the account under temporary review. The notice, as sellers quote it, says the account "has been placed under temporary review", that the review period "should not exceed 30 days, but we will inform you if additional time is required", and that funds "will remain in your account, but you will not be able to receive any disbursements during the review period."
Emet_Amazon, answering a seller whose review had run on for weeks, said such a review looks at completed orders and requests proof of fulfilment, so open orders can extend it, and pointed to the expedite steps in the review notice and on the Account Health page. Sellers report reviews following a sudden rise in sales, a change of bank details or a policy flag on the dashboard. One seller in 2026 traced theirs to updating payment details, and another replied that a change of payee is checked against the legal entity and its tax information. Those are reported causes, not Amazon's list.
What shortens a temporary review is whatever it is checking: tracking for every seller fulfilled order, proof of delivery where tracking is not enough, invoices for the stock sold, and bank and tax details that match the registered business. Sent once, complete, through the route the notice gives.
When to wait and when to chase
Wait while the review is inside the time Amazon has given: a few days for identity documents, the thirty days the temporary review notice sets for itself. Chase when it runs past that, when a listing or the money is blocked and the status has not moved, or when the status may be stale because the product is selling.
Chase with one case, not several. Sellers report that opening new cases on the same review does not help, and Amazon's moderators consistently ask for the existing case ID before they will look. Seller support cases that actually get resolved sets out how that case should read. And read everything that arrives while you wait: several of the longest reviews in the threads were waiting on a request for more information the seller had not seen.
How we handle it
We keep the documents a review is likely to ask for ready before it asks: the compliance file for each product, the supplier invoices, the identity and banking records. A submission then goes in complete and is reviewed once. When a review stalls, we work out which of the five it is and what it is waiting on before chasing it. That is the marketplace compliance work we do.
Frequently asked questions
The questions that come up most often on this subject.
That Amazon has received something a seller sent, such as compliance documents, an appeal, identity papers or an application to sell, and has not decided it yet. The status is the same in each place; what it is waiting on and how long it takes are not.
The notice sellers quote says the review period should not exceed 30 days and that Amazon will say if it needs more time. Funds stay in the account but are not paid out until it ends. Sellers report longer reviews where orders are still open or a request for information went unseen.
Amazon publishes no figure outside Seller Central. Sellers report anything from a couple of weeks to over a month, and longer for second submissions. If the product is eligible for sale while the status still says under review, an Amazon moderator has said the review may have finished without the page updating.
Not a new one each week. Sellers report it does not speed anything up, and Amazon's moderators ask for the original case ID when they escalate. Open one case when the review runs past the time given, name what was submitted and when, and keep that case updated.
During a temporary account review, yes: the notice sellers quote says funds remain in the account but no disbursements are made until the review ends. An Amazon moderator described the review as checking completed orders, with open orders able to extend it, so tracking and proof of delivery are what bring it to a close.
