I work for a book store that sells roughly 40,000 items on Amazon (some but not all of those via FBA), and since I've been in charge of the Amazon sales, I've had our account "permanently" shut down several times. Each time, I've written an appeal that gets our account reinstated in just a week, and I can tell you that, based on this article, the seller did not write the correct kind of appeal.
When you're kicked off, Amazon very clearly says (I'm paraphrasing) "If you appeal, explain why this happened and how you're going to prevent it from happening again". At this point, your only option (if you want to continue selling on Amazon) is to suck up your pride and do exactly that. You can not argue against their decision. You have to tell them you messed up and tell them you're going to fix it, whether or not you messed up and whether or not you're actually going to change anything. It's essentially that simple. Just try to make your "changes" sound as bullet proof as possible, and if possible, mention that you've already implemented them.
I am by no means excusing Amazon, mind you. I completely sympathize with the OP, and dealing with Amazon in any way is the worst kind of bureaucratic BS I've ever dealt with. (It once took me over 6 months to get the title of a book corrected, and during that entire time I had the book in my possession and sent Amazon copious pictures of it with the corrected title.) The only reason I knew how to write successful appeals was because another seller once told me. Otherwise, I would have done exactly the same thing, and suffered exactly the same problems.
edit: I should add that it seems as though all correspondence with Amazon is handled by very very low level employees, and there always seems to be a checklist or script they're always working off of. Unless you hit certain points on their presumed checklists in your emails (including your appeals), nothing gets done at all.
He talks quite a bit about how he did the appeal and talked to his "Amazon contacts" about the appeal. His resulted in a lawsuit and I'm assuming none of yours has had that outcome. I can't imagine Amazon would've re-stated the above account if Warner Bros, for example, had sued your company as a result.
I apologize for the confusion, but I meant the official Amazon appeal that you can do when you're kicked off. It's a one-shot thing, and his description of the appeal said that he tried to ask for more details and state that he has a good Amazon record. It makes no mention of suggesting fixes or anything like that. I admit, he may have said that, but from what Amazon seems to want in the appeal, the tactics he says he details trying are completely wrong.
What went on after his official appeal (including talking to his "amazon contacts") is the bureaucratic BS I briefly mentioned. Almost nothing gets done that way, especially if one's previous official attempts (ie. the official appeal) were already concluded (and failed).
When you're kicked off, Amazon very clearly says (I'm paraphrasing) "If you appeal, explain why this happened and how you're going to prevent it from happening again". At this point, your only option (if you want to continue selling on Amazon) is to suck up your pride and do exactly that. You can not argue against their decision. You have to tell them you messed up and tell them you're going to fix it, whether or not you messed up and whether or not you're actually going to change anything. It's essentially that simple. Just try to make your "changes" sound as bullet proof as possible, and if possible, mention that you've already implemented them.
I am by no means excusing Amazon, mind you. I completely sympathize with the OP, and dealing with Amazon in any way is the worst kind of bureaucratic BS I've ever dealt with. (It once took me over 6 months to get the title of a book corrected, and during that entire time I had the book in my possession and sent Amazon copious pictures of it with the corrected title.) The only reason I knew how to write successful appeals was because another seller once told me. Otherwise, I would have done exactly the same thing, and suffered exactly the same problems.
edit: I should add that it seems as though all correspondence with Amazon is handled by very very low level employees, and there always seems to be a checklist or script they're always working off of. Unless you hit certain points on their presumed checklists in your emails (including your appeals), nothing gets done at all.