This confirmation statement nonsense is suspicious as hell

#25

I don’t believe anyone else can take it anyway

#26

This was my view, it’s changed entirely. It’s amazing to me how a company so badly run, with such disdain for companies involved in e-commerce, and so extremely difficult to do business with, has grown to the size it did by being an online shopping venue. Defies the logic.
I used to look at Amazon’s customer base as a more affluent demographic willing to pay the premium for the costs involved selling on here. Less theft than other sites, barely any scammers, less aggressive customers.
Now it’s a Chinese tat bazaar with professional electronic shoplifters and an entitled overly demanding customer base.
I’ve come to realise this venue is a highly polished turd that’s lost its shine. There’s no threat anymore in an account being suspended.

#28

Here was my question to the support staff:
Did you get a confirmation statement from Wallmart? Argos? Febi Bilstein? LVMH? Tesco?
And, who’s passport did you ask them to send?

#29

If you don’t provide it you won’t be able to sell on Amazon. You won’t get them to change their minds on what they require.

I agree there is a lot of information that Amazon ask for. It is mostly Identity information. I am fairly sure Amazon handle this data correctly as they are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and there will be various rules about how the data is stored and what is used for. Most of the information is used to prevent Money Laundering.

I brought a property last year and the identity information that Amazon ask for is akin to that. It is just to establish you are who you say you are.

To be fair setting up a company on companies house I don’t recall ever being asked for identity information, I believe you can set up a company with no verification of who the beneficial owners are.

#30

Have you tried asking the data controller rather than seller support who aren’t really likely to give you the right answer?

#31

There house there rules. If you don’t like it then dont use there platform.

#32

It might be as far as you’re concerned but in reality, it isn’t. Being a limited company is a “trade off”, a bit like FBA is with Amazon; you get certain benefits and protections for being in “the club”. In return for being a member of the club, you waive certain rights. One such right of being a limited company, which is removed, is your information is public. Anybody (as in anybody) can find out every minute detail about your business, if they have a mind to dig and spend a small amount of money on fees. All of your company information, registers, shareholders et al should also be available (at any reasonable hour) to be inspected by any person with reasonable cause to do so. That is another right we waive. In return, if the proverbial “hits the fan”, so to speak, we have individual limited liability as to what they can take off us. That’s the trade off.

As far as Amazon is concerned, the rules are very simple. If you don’t want to play by them, they won’t let you sell.

#33

I’m fairly sure they DON’T handle it correctly. Look at the verification fiasco a few years back when Amazon kept asking sellers for the same documents over and over again. Why would they need to do that? Had they lost the data? If not then why were they unaware they already had that data? And why were they going over the top and asking many sellers for way more information than the law required? That doesn’t sound to me like responsible data handling.

They also leaked email addresses of some us, yet when I asked them for details (which I’m entitled to know by law) they consistently refused to answer any of my questions.

I once rasied a complaint with the Information Commissioners Office over some of Amazon’s KYC processes and their refusal to answer my concerns. The ICO upheld my complaint and said, “This company needs to do more”.

Given that Amazon is one of the biggest and most intrusive data gathering compaines on the planet we should all be very concerned.

#34

Look at it from Amazon’s perspective. There are so many dodgy sellers and companies that are registered from god knows where on earth, which are not paying any tax or VAT etc., using fake names as directors, selling counterfeit stuff or fake products. They are trying to protect legit sellers hence the process maybe a little more complicated then other platforms, but play with their rules provide what they need and I am sure you will benefit from the additional buyers that this platform provides.

#35

Nah. Amazon are not doing anything differently to a billion and one other companies on the planet. Everybody who has a website collects data and plenty of them sell that data on too. Tesco probably knows as much about us as Amazon does and look at insurance companies? Everybody knows everything about us; it’s the way of the world. There are data breaches everywhere (remember some of the great ones from the various high street banks). I know Tesco knows how big my bra size is and yet I’ve never bought a bra from them in my life so how does that work? Data gets passed around and around.

I note the ICO upheld your complaint…but then did nothing, by the sound of things. These commissioners and ombudsmen are toothless excuses for regulation.

#36

Well said @Mutyk, I am more than happy to provide what is required, if the same is being asked of others and it limits at least the amount of suspicious sellers etc. then im all in.

You can only have 1 of 2 possible thoughts on this;

1: You choose to trust and believe in Amazon as a business and therefore any action they take or request is considered and then actioned without further thought.
2: You do not trust Amazon.

In either case, what you do next becomes very simple.

#37

But are they though? Billions of other companies don’t have data harvesting WIFI gadgets secreted in peoples homes, do they.

There’s a big difference in giving companies what’s required by law and what’s demanded ‘to be a club member’ or else…

#38

This isn’t about choosing whether or not to have an Alexa in the house
Or for that matter, typing here on a device made in China - which no doubt most of us are

It’s about amazon confirming who the beneficial owners are of the ops account

CH shows 2 people - 1 of which is the shareholder.
Amazon want to know who that shareholder is and confirmation of their identity

#40

This isn’t about Alexa; that’s a personal choice too. This is about what is required to confirm the beneficial owner of a company.

#41

Actually I think they do. The number of times I have had a discussion about buying something and I am then presented with adverts on my mobile for the exact same thing I was talking about!

Anyway as others said this is about confirming the beneficial owners of a company to prevent illegal activity such as Money Laundering. The checks that Companies House do are very little, there was some talk about them verifying people with photo id

Companies House plans digital ID verification | UKAuthority

Not sure if this ever happened or not? If it has happened or when it happens Amazon may then change their policy and not require further identification in seller central.

#42

Hi @LuvMyDog_Worldwide

Pia here from the forum’s community.

I inferred from the post that you are hesitant to share the details as requested in the performance notification.

To be clear, this is a step in the verification process to identify and confirm the validity of the Amazon platform’s real business owners.

The usage of a payment account requires the legal requirement that your identification be verified. You must confirm your identification in accordance with European regulations and laws in order to utilize the payment services.

To enable Amazon Payment, you might need to provide the needed data and/or documents.

To learn more about EU legislation and regulations pertaining to company payments, you can also speak with a legal advisor.

Thank you for your post. I hope my response is beneficial towards your business.

Regards,

Pia

#44

And this is the exact reason why amazon are requesting proof of residential address
Because its not always there on CH , just a virtual or accountants address

As a sole trader, were you happy to give amazon a copy of your UTR letter or did you refuse ?

#46

So what’s the difference in you giving Amazon your UTR number , Passport, bank statement and the op giving the equivalent for their ltd company

#48

Probably

Always helps to start the day well…

#49

Op - there seems to be more ltds registered at CH for you (well 4 actually)
Luvmydog ltd and the one I was looking at from your seller profile page - Acme incorporated

As well as a 3rd that is for online sales

Maybe that’s why amazon are asking for further info