Can Amazon Tell if I Have Multiple Amazon Accounts on ChannelReply?

“Does Amazon know if you have multiple Amazon accounts on ChannelReply?” It’s a question we get often, and for good reason!

Why Does This Matter?

Many customer service contractors run Amazon support for multiple companies. Naturally, they want to manage all those messages in one place, and ChannelReply makes that possible.

They worry, though. What if they or their customers get banned? Operating and maintaining multiple Amazon accounts is against the rules, after all, as people could exploit it to compete unfairly.

ChannelReply can’t be used for such nefarious ends. It only manages customer service—selling is still handled directly on Amazon. Amazon would likely find nothing wrong with customer service contractors working for more than one seller.

Still, it’s natural to worry Amazon will mistake you for the bad guy—some cackling mafia boss pretending to be eight companies at once.

There’s no real need to get all cloak-and-dagger here. But we know many customers (and their clients) feel safer knowing their info is separate. So, here’s how you can protect your data.

Can Amazon Tell I’m Helping Customers for More Than One Account with ChannelReply?

In most cases, Amazon can’t tell that any two accounts are connected to one ChannelReply account.

All messages sent through ChannelReply come from the same IP address: ours. No matter which account sends the message, Amazon just sees it as coming from ChannelReply. Not a specific user—literally any one of our customers.

Every Amazon account you connect also gets a unique ChannelReply email address. Amazon never needs to see the email address you normally use for your helpdesk, and you can’t use the same ChannelReply address for two accounts.

To learn how to create your ChannelReply email address, see "Amazon Integration Instructions."

Is There Any Way Amazon Could Figure Out I’m Supporting Multiple Accounts?

Since our launch in 2015, we’ve had no reports of this becoming an issue. But we have identified three ways Amazon could theoretically determine the accounts you’ve connected to ChannelReply are somehow related. All are avoidable.

1. Tracking During Setup

Any site can follow your actions while you’re visiting them, so Amazon could figure out that you configured messaging for multiple Amazon accounts from one computer.

You can hide your trail by using a VPN like HideMyAss! to mask your IP address. If you do, you’ll want to use Incognito / In Private mode on your browser. Close your browser every time you finish connecting an Amazon account to ChannelReply to clear the records of the session.

Alternatively, you can use a separate computer with a unique IP address to set up each account.

You can also just use Incognito / In Private mode on your browser to prevent some forms of tracking. However, this alone won’t hide your IP address.

2. Matching Signatures

If every one of your messages is signed the same way, it’s obvious they come from the same place. You can remove signatures from your helpdesk settings to avoid this problem.

3. Autoresponder Links

If you’ve used ChannelReply to turn your helpdesk into an Amazon autoresponder, there may be links back to your helpdesk instance in your automatic messages. Five Amazon accounts all linking back to one Zendesk account could blow your cover. You can dodge this by removing these links from your autoresponder templates.

Has Anyone Ever Been Banned for Using Multiple Amazon Accounts with ChannelReply?

No. Some of our customers run support for 10+ Amazon sellers, and not one has been banned or otherwise gotten in trouble for doing so, even when they haven’t gone to the lengths described above.

Again, we believe there’s nothing to worry about here. But by following the steps above, you can ensure your privacy and keep your clients feeling secure.