Amazon used to call itself "The Everything Store." But in 2025, they quietly changed their tune. Turns out "everything" was just too much.
Here's what's happening: Amazon launched a secret project called "Project Bend the Curve." They're deleting 24 billion low-value products! Their catalog was supposed to hit 74 billion items, but they want it under 50 billion.
If you're selling on Amazon, this should worry you.
When your product gets deleted, you lose everything. Your ranking history? Gone. Hard-earned reviews? Wiped out. That Buy Box you fought for? Someone else's now.
But here's the thing: Listing purge creates opportunities too. While other sellers panic, smart ones position themselves to win.
This guide will show you how to protect your listings from Amazon’s Bend the Curve purge and even get ahead.
“Bend the Curve” is Amazon’s massive internal cleanup project, and it’s already eliminating billions of product listings. The goal? Removing unproductive listings. That includes products with:
Why? Amazon aims to streamline the shopper experience, remove clutter, and cut costs tied to storing and processing billions of inactive listings across its AWS servers. The cleanup affects millions of Amazon seller accounts, from brand-new storefronts to long-established operations.
Amazon says the goal isn’t to remove selection but to “clean up” bad or outdated data. But early feedback from third-party sellers shows that even active product listings aren’t always safe.
Many have seen well-performing or recently updated ASINs get swept up in the purge, sometimes without warning.
What does that mean for you? Even if you’re doing everything right, managing your product catalog, staying compliant, and keeping your listings optimized, you could still be at risk.
A single outdated variation, a misused parent-child relationship, or an old SKU with no sales might be enough to trigger Amazon’s bots.
Amazon isn’t guessing when it decides which listings to remove. The Bend the Curve purge is driven by automated bots that scan every ASIN and score it based on performance, compliance, and content quality.
In other words, if your listings are outdated, inactive, or out of bounds, you’re already on the radar.
Here are the top red flags that can get your ASIN flagged for removal:
|
Red Flag |
Why It Matters to Amazon |
|
Zero or Low Sales Velocity |
If your listing isn’t selling, Amazon sees it as “dead weight.” It wastes crawl resources and clutters the marketplace. |
|
No Available Inventory |
Listings with no stock frustrate shoppers. Even if it’s temporary, Amazon may not wait around. |
|
Out-of-Date Data |
Old titles, end-of-life (EOL) variants, or missing specs confuse buyers and mess with search accuracy. |
|
Keyword Stuffing or Policy Violations |
Listings packed with irrelevant keywords or salesy language signal low-quality content and raise compliance risks. |
|
Duplicate ASINs or Variation Misuse |
If you’ve got multiple versions of the same item or variations that don’t follow the rules, Amazon sees that as catalog bloat. |
Individually, these issues might seem small. But Amazon’s system doesn’t look at your intent; it looks at patterns. And once a red flag is triggered, your listing might be taken down without warning.
So if any of these warning signs are showing up in your catalog, even on just a few SKUs, it’s time to act by removing low-performing products before Amazon does it for you.
Amazon’s “Bend the Curve” purge is fast-moving and often automated. That means the best defense is a solid offense. Below are nine proven strategies you can implement today to ensure your listings remain active, optimized, and protected.
Start with an Inventory Report. Sort for zero stock and no-sales-in-12-months SKUs. Decide whether to relist, merge, or retire these poor-selling items before they drag down your performance metrics.
Community reports suggest listings inactive for roughly two years are most at risk, so prioritize those for action. Clearing dead weight now reduces the chance of automated takedowns later.
Open the Stranded Inventory in Seller Central and enable alerts. Stranded offers often come from missing attributes, mismatched IDs, or compliance flags.
Fix the root cause or close the offer quickly; stranded records can cascade into suppressions. Use the Listing Quality Dashboard to find and repair data gaps before they trigger removals.
Duplicate ASINs and sloppy variation families look like catalog spam. Use your GTIN/UPC prefix and Brand Registry tools to identify and merge duplicates.
Keep variation families tight; size, color, flavor, and avoid grouping different products under one parent just to share reviews. Clean structure = lower risk.
Ensure all product listings adhere to Amazon’s latest formatting and quality standards:
Following Amazon’s listing style guides improves search visibility and protects against automated suppression.
Outdated pages can look abandoned. Refresh A+ Content with current lifestyle images, concise infographics, and tighter copy. If your ASIN is eligible, use Manage Your Experiments to A/B test modules and headlines.
Regular updates show active stewardship, which reduces the chance your listing gets flagged as “dead weight.”
Compare your CTR, conversion rate, and refund/return rate to category norms.
Low CTR usually points to weak images or uncompetitive pricing. Low conversion suggests gaps in copy, reviews, or offer quality. High returns hint at expectation mismatches.
Fixing these early cushions you against algorithmic down-ranking and purge scrutiny.
Stockouts and overstock both hurt you. Use Restock Inventory to protect velocity on winners and Manage Inventory Health to discount or retire aging SKUs. Consistent availability and clean sell-through reduce suppression risk and keep your KPIs attractive.
Keep a ready-to-send folder with invoices, SDS, COAs, brand/trademark letters, and clear product photos. If a legitimate listing gets removed, you can respond immediately with proof. Fast, complete documentation shortens appeal time and protects rank.
Amazon can suppress a listing with little or no warning. You need live visibility and a fast, consistent response.
Option A: In-house monitoring.
Turn on Seller Central alerts (Account Health, Listing Quality, Stranded Inventory). Layer in tools like Helium 10, Sellerboard, or DataHawk to watch traffic, Buy Box share, conversion, and listing edits. Enable instant alerts so your team gets pinged right away.
Option B: Outsource to specialists.
Use a dedicated catalog support team for continuous monitoring, instant suppression alerts, and rapid reinstatement workflows (appeals, flat-file fixes, duplicate merges, variation audits). If you want a customized option, check out Seller Candy’s service tiers.
If you manage a large or growing catalog, speed is everything. The faster you catch and fix a suppression, the less rank and revenue you lose.
By applying these strategies, you set your catalog up for long-term stability and growth, not just survival. Cleaner data, stronger product pages, and verified compliance give you an edge while the purge continues.
Next up, we’ll cover exactly what to do if a listing does get removed.
Even with careful planning, good listings can still get caught in Amazon’s automated purge. The system isn’t perfect, and some removals happen due to outdated data, false flags, or misinterpreted compliance issues.
If one of your ASINs gets taken down, act fast. Every hour your listing is offline means lost traffic, lost sales, and potential drops in keyword ranking and Buy Box eligibility. Here's how to respond effectively:
When Amazon takes down a listing, you’ll receive an email. The subject line tells you both that the listing is gone and why:
Each phrase maps directly to a specific policy. Open the email, note the wording, then look up that policy in Seller Central → Performance → Account Health or the Policy Enforcement FAQ to see exactly what needs fixing.
Once you’ve identified the issue, take corrective action right away. This could include:
Use the Listing Quality Dashboard or Fix Your Products tool in Seller Central to make the changes directly.
Amazon scans appeals quickly, so keep yours short and to the point. Use this four-step template:
Tone matters: Stay factual, avoid emotion or blame, and focus on the solution. If the suspension involves compliance, always include supporting files: Invoices, SDS, certificates of analysis (COAs), or trademark documents so Amazon can verify your claim on the first pass.
If 48 hours go by without movement on your case, it’s time to escalate.
You can:
Use escalations sparingly and stay professional. They’re your last resort when automated removals or slow responses put your listing at risk.
Amazon’s purge isn’t slowing down. Use the strategies in this blog to keep a streamlined and effective catalog that avoids risk and delivers a better customer experience.
And if something blindsides you, you shouldn’t be the one wrestling Seller Central.
Seller Candy handles the heavy lifting while you keep selling. Our team of seasoned Amazon experts monitors account health and proactively follows up on cases. We move fast on ASIN reinstatements with clear Plans of Action. We also clean up catalogs, fix variations, repair flat files, and resolve inactive or suppressed listings.
Ready to bend the curve your way? Book a free consultation today and see exactly where your catalog needs fixing before the next purge wave hits.