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[01] Amazon Brand Health Audit

The Amazon Brand Health Audit: Score Your Brand Out of 100

A one-time, scored look at the whole Amazon brand: account health, listings and catalog, Buy Box and pricing, reviews and returns, ads, Brand Registry and inventory. Each check has a point value and a pass line, so you end with one number and a ranked fix list.

Last reviewed October 27, 2026Sources checked October 2026By Ian Smith

Short answer

An Amazon brand health audit scores seven areas: account health (15 points), listings and catalog (20), Buy Box and pricing (10), reviews and returns (15), advertising structure (15), Brand Registry and protection (10) and inventory (15). Each check passes or fails against Amazon's own targets where they exist. A score under about 65 means cleanup comes before growth.

Book a Free 30-Minute Call →Jump to how to run the audit

200+

Account Health Rating Amazon describes as the Healthy range; under 100 is eligible for deactivation

Amazon Seller Forums staff post, Mar 2024

Under 1%

Order defect rate target over a 60-day window

Amazon performance targets help document

Under 10%

Return Dissatisfaction Rate target for seller-handled returns

Amazon performance targets help document

181 days

Age after which FBA charges a monthly aged inventory surcharge

sell.amazon.com FBA, Oct 2026

How scoring works Health and listings Buy Box and reviews Ads and protection Inventory Run the audit Help or DIY Sources Author FAQ

[02] Start here

How the Brand Health Audit Is Scored

Disclosure: Evolve Media Agency sells Amazon brand management, and an audit like this is how we start every new account. You can run every check yourself for free, and the section near the end says when that is the right call. Amazon facts come from Amazon's own public pages, opened October 27, 2026 and listed at the bottom. The point values and score bands are our own judgment, not an Amazon standard.

Our Amazon brand management checklist is the recurring routine: what to look at weekly, monthly and quarterly. This audit is different. It is a one-time snapshot you run when you take over an account, before you hire or switch a brand manager, after a bad quarter, or once a year. It answers one question: how healthy is this brand on Amazon right now, and what should be fixed first?

Each check is pass or fail. A pass earns the full points; a fail earns zero. Weights follow how much damage a failure usually does, in our experience: account health and listings can take a brand off the shelf, so they carry the most points.

Amazon policy changes. Targets below are as of October 2026; confirm each one in Seller Central before you act on it.

AreaPoints

1. Account health15

2. Listings, catalog and variations20

3. Buy Box and pricing10

4. Reviews and returns15

5. Advertising structure15

6. Brand Registry and protection10

7. Inventory15

Total100

Score (our bands)What it usually means

85 to 100Healthy. Spend time on growth: content tests, launches, new keywords, a second channel

65 to 84Fixable. A focused month on the failed checks usually moves the brand into the top band

Under 65Cleanup first. Growth spending will leak until the failed checks are fixed

Any failed account health checkFix it this week, whatever the total score

[03] Areas 1 and 2: 35 points

Account Health and Listing and Catalog Quality

Start here because a failure in these two areas can stop sales completely. Pull Performance, then Account Health, and Manage All Inventory before anything else. Our account health guide covers what to do when a check fails.

1a. Account Health Rating is 200 or higher (5 points)

An Amazon staff post in the Seller Forums from March 2024 describes 200 and up as Healthy, below 200 as At Risk, and below 100 as eligible for deactivation. The rating reflects how well the account follows Amazon policy, often driven by listing violations.

1b. Customer service metrics on target (4 points)

Amazon's performance targets document sets order defect rate under 1% over 60 days. Defects include negative feedback, A-to-z Guarantee claims and chargebacks. For orders you ship yourself, it adds a cancel rate under 2.5% over 7 days, late shipment rate under 4% and valid tracking rate above 95%. Pass only if all apply and all are on target.

1c. No open policy notices past or near their deadline (4 points)

Every notice in Account Health has an owner and a response. A notice nobody answered is a fail even if nothing has happened yet.

1d. Seller Central users reviewed (2 points)

Everyone with access still works with the brand, and each has only the permissions their job needs. Our agency onboarding checklist lists what an outside team actually needs.

2a. No suppressed, inactive or blocked listings on sellable ASINs (6 points)

Filter Manage All Inventory for inactive and suppressed listings and check the listing quality screens. Any ASIN that should be selling and is not is a fail.

2b. Top 5 ASINs have complete, current content (5 points)

Full title, five bullets, a full image stack with video, A+ Content and backend search terms, written from search data rather than guesses. Our listing quality scorecard scores one listing in detail.

2c. Variation families are built correctly (5 points)

Functionally different products belong on separate pages. Since February 12, 2026, Amazon shares reviews only between variations with minor differences, such as color, same-function size or pack count. Families built on the wrong theme can lose shared reviews.

2d. No catalog errors on brand ASINs (4 points)

No duplicate ASINs for the same product, no wrong category or product type, and no detail page content that other sellers changed without your approval.

[04] Areas 3 and 4: 25 points

Buy Box, Pricing, Reviews and Returns

These checks cover whether shoppers can buy from you at a fair price and what they say afterward. Amazon calls the Buy Box the Featured Offer: the offer with the Add to Cart button. Its pricing guide says competitive pricing against major outside retailers, fast or free shipping such as FBA, good customer service metrics and staying in stock all help, and that eligibility varies by category.

3a. You hold the Featured Offer on every hero ASIN (4 points)

Turn on the Featured Offer column in Manage All Inventory or check Featured Offer percentage in Business Reports by ASIN. Any hero below where it was last month, or held by another seller, is a fail.

3b. No offers deactivated for pricing errors (3 points)

In Pricing Health, the Inactive Offers tab lists offers Amazon deactivated for potential pricing errors, with suggested fixes. Any deactivated offer is a fail.

3c. Prices fit the Fair Pricing Policy (3 points)

Amazon's pricing guide warns against prices well above recent prices for the same product, multi-packs that cost more per unit than a single unit, and excessive shipping fees. Check each multi-pack against its single unit.

4a. Hero ASINs average 4 stars or higher (4 points)

This pass line is our own; Amazon does not publish one. Read the most recent 12 months of reviews, which is what the Customer Reviews tool shows, and log each negative review by theme.

4b. Critical reviews handled at least every 30 days (3 points)

Amazon's Customer Reviews tool lets Brand Registry brands contact customers who leave reviews under three stars to offer a refund or help, and suggests resolving them at least every 30 days. Never ask anyone to change or remove a review. Our review strategy guide covers the safe tools.

4c. Return reasons logged and acted on (4 points)

Pull FBA customer returns and group reasons by ASIN. Pass if the top reason on each hero has a written fix, such as a sizing image, a clearer bullet or a manufacturer change.

4d. Seller-handled returns on target (4 points)

Amazon's performance targets ask for a Return Dissatisfaction Rate under 10%, counting negative return feedback, replies later than 48 hours and invalid rejections. If all returns run through FBA, give the points when 4c passes.

Want a second set of eyes on this? Book a free 30-minute call, email Ian at [email protected], or call or text 719-257-3557. Send us your score sheet or your store link and we will tell you which lost points to win back first.

[05] Areas 5 and 6: 25 points

Advertising Structure and Brand Registry Protection

The ad checks look at structure, not just last month's results. Amazon's ACOS guide defines ACOS as ad spend divided by ad sales, calls ROAS its inverse, and says ACOS has to stay below your profit margin to make money.

5a. Break-even ACOS set per product (4 points)

Each advertised ASIN has a written break-even ACOS from its margin after fees. One target for the whole account is a fail, because margins differ by product.

5b. Campaigns are split by intent (4 points)

Separate campaigns for brand terms, proven exact-match terms, research (broad and auto) and competitor targeting, so budgets can be set by purpose. Everything in one or two auto campaigns is a fail.

5c. Search terms reviewed in the last 30 days (4 points)

Wasted search terms are added as negatives and converting ones are moved to exact match.

5d. TACoS tracked monthly (3 points)

TACoS is total ad spend divided by total sales. It shows whether ads build organic sales or replace them. Pass if it is in the monthly report, by ASIN or at least by brand. See our brand manager KPI guide for the full report.

6a. Brand enrolled in Brand Registry with correct roles (3 points)

Brand Registry is free and needs a registered or pending trademark. It gives access to A+ Content, Brand Stores, Vine, Brand Analytics and the protection tools. The trademark owner should hold the rights owner role; agencies should be added as users.

6b. Brand Analytics used in the last 30 days (2 points)

Brand Analytics comes with Brand Registry. If nobody has opened its search query data in a month, listings and ads are being run blind.

6c. Violations reported and tracked (3 points)

Search your brand and top keywords for counterfeit, copied images or misused logos. Pass if every live problem has a Report a Violation case on file in Brand Registry.

6d. Advanced protection considered (2 points)

Project Zero needs, among other things, trademark reports in the last six months with at least a 90% acceptance rate. Transparency, a paid program, puts a unique code on each unit. Pass if you have decided, in writing, whether either fits. Our brand protection playbook covers both.

[06] Area 7: 15 points

Inventory Health: Stock, Age and Capacity

Inventory failures cost twice: once when you run out and lose rank and the Featured Offer, and again when aged stock draws fees. Amazon also links storage costs to your Inventory Performance Index (IPI) score.

7a. Hero ASINs have stock beyond lead time (5 points)

Units on hand and inbound cover the manufacturer's lead time plus shipping to Amazon at current sales speed. Any hero that will run out before the next shipment can land is a fail.

7b. No units aged past 181 days (3 points)

Amazon's FBA page says the aged inventory surcharge is charged monthly for items stored more than 181 days. Any units past that line are a fail; plan a removal, promotion or price change.

7c. No excess inventory (3 points)

Amazon's inventory guide counts more than 90 days of supply, or any unit aged over 90 days, as excess, and suggests about two months of supply. Fail if any SKU is over 90 days of supply without a seasonal reason written down.

7d. No stranded inventory (2 points)

Amazon defines stranded inventory as sellable stock in a fulfillment center that is not listed for sale. It usually traces to a listing problem from area 2. Any stranded units are a fail.

7e. IPI tracked and trending flat or up (2 points)

Amazon bases IPI on replenishing popular products, holding the right stock levels and fixing listing problems. Amazon does not publish a fixed pass line on the page we opened, so we score the trend: pass if the score is recorded and has not fallen over the last two quarters.

Our FBA storage and aged inventory fee guide covers what each fee costs and how to avoid it.

[07] Step by step

How to Run a Brand Health Audit in One Afternoon

For a catalog of roughly 5 to 30 ASINs, this takes us about three to five hours. That estimate is from our own work; a large catalog or a heavy ad account takes longer.

Pull the reports first

Download Account Health, Manage All Inventory, Business Reports by child ASIN for 60 days, Pricing Health, FBA inventory and returns, and the last 30 days of ad search terms.

Pick the hero ASINs

Sort by sales over the last 60 days. The top five, or the ASINs that make up most of revenue, are the heroes several checks refer to.

Score areas 1 and 2 before anything else

If any account health check fails, stop and open the fix that day. Then work through listings and variations.

Score areas 3 through 7

Pass or fail each check, write one line on why, and add up the points. Do not give partial credit.

Rank the failed checks

Order them by points lost, then by how fast they can be fixed. A 6-point suppressed listing you can fix in an hour goes above a 4-point ad restructure that takes a week.

Write a 30-day fix plan

Assign an owner and a date to each failed check. Most brands can fix the account health, pricing and inventory fails inside a month; content and ad structure can take longer.

Rescore in 90 days

Run the same audit with the same rules. The change in score is a fair way to judge whether a brand manager, an agency or your own team is moving the brand. Our page on the first 90 days with a brand manager shows how this fits a new engagement.

[08] When to get help vs do it yourself

Run the Audit Yourself, or Have a Brand Manager Run It

Run it yourself if you have Seller Central access, a free afternoon and a catalog small enough that you know every product. Nothing here needs paid tools. The score sheet alone tells you where to spend the next month, and for many smaller brands that is enough. If you only want a second opinion on your listings, our free Amazon listing audit covers that part at no cost.

Get help when the score comes back under 65 and nobody has the hours to work the fix list, when the failed checks span ads, content and inventory at once, or when you are about to hire or switch providers and want an outside baseline.

Do it yourself

Small catalog, a score of 65 or higher, and someone who can work the failed checks within a month.

Buy one fix

If the failures sit in one area, buy that piece. Our prices, as of October 2026: listing optimization is $495 per listing, a PPC audit and restructure is $995 one time, and main image or infographic design runs $295 to $595.

Hand it to a brand manager

If failures span several areas, or you want one owner to raise the score and keep it there.

How Evolve helps. Every Amazon brand management engagement with us starts with this audit, and we rescore at 90 days. Our prices, as of October 2026: Brand Support, 5 hours for $750 a month; Brand Manager, 10 hours for $1,250; Brand Manager Plus, 20 hours for $2,000; and Full Brand Management, 40 hours for $3,600. Plans are paid upfront, month to month, and hours do not roll over. Work beyond a plan is $150 an hour, and ad spend and fixed-price production are billed separately. In our experience, a brand scoring 65 to 84 is usually well served by the Brand Manager plan, while a score under 65 often needs Brand Manager Plus for the first two or three months, then a step down. Full prices are on our pricing page.

Evolve was founded in 2017 by Ian Smith, who has sold on Amazon since 2015. We are a husband-and-wife team in Colorado backed by AI agents, and we make photo and video in house, so content fails get fixed without another vendor. To talk through your score, email Ian at [email protected], call or text 719-257-3557, or book a free 30-minute call. If your brand scores well and you can keep it there on your own, we will tell you that.

[09] Sources

Where These Facts Come From

Amazon Seller Forums: Introduction to Account Health Rating (AHR), Amazon staff post (Mar 28, 2024)

sellercentral.amazon.com · Open source →

Amazon: Monitor your account health, performance targets (help document PDF)

m.media-amazon.com · Open source →

Amazon Seller Forums: Changes to review sharing across product variations starting Feb 12 (Jan 7, 2026)

sellercentral.amazon.com · Open source →

Amazon Selling Partner Blog: Amazon pricing strategies (Oct 18, 2024)