Selling in the USA from a different business
Hello, if we have a different entity in the USA to the UK (ie. an LLC) is it possible to sell through that LLC from one amazon account that goes across UK/USA. We are are really struggling at the moment to find a way to do this. It looks like setting up an Amazon in the USA for the LLC has caused a flag with Amazon and they’ve deactivated it. Any advice will be appreciated.
Thank you
12 replies
Seller_qZO3ZCjoBXEeL
My understanding is that Amazon accounts can only be operated and owned by a single entity. Having a linked UK/US account operated by both at UK LTD and US LLC would not be possible.
You should theoretically be able to operate a US account under the LLC and UK account under the LTD but they would have to be managed separately with separate inventory, listings etc. If they are operating from any common infrastructure i.e. all dispatched from one warehouse globally, or the same beneficial owners then this could flag an issue.
It ought to be possible because obviously a lot of large businesses sell on Amazon and have presences in multiple countries.
I suppose the issue is, is your LLC a genuinely separate with its own staff and stock owned and held in the US, or is it just a framework in order to allow your UK company to sell in the US. Is the LLC actually really needed for anything in that case?
Seller_gJmXYrWXpck9I
Hi PeterB thank you very much for this. Makes sense. The USA account is its own LLC but ultimately has the same beneficial owner as the UK business - one person owns both. But we need to run the business through that LLC in America as that’s what the sales will go through. Its the same brand but barcodes are different in the USA, product labels are different, so same brand different ASINS. The issue has arisen on the USA arm of the uk business account (hope that makes sense) and also on the USA account we created for the LLC - both seem to be deactivated because of each other and there’s no way to fix it seems.
The LLC I believe is a legal requirement because we sell food (FDA approval etc) and all our products are labelled to match USA entity etc.
All in all - I am very surprised that a multi national business with different corporations globally cannot do business on Amazon separately from those entities? surely there is a way to unite but still operate the businesses in each account through their respective country entity.
So interesting - let me know if any more thoughts.
Seller_gJmXYrWXpck9I
Just replying quickly here between calls - by “US arm” I mean - every amazon account in the UK can have a US account connected if activated. It was activated, and then Amazon have made the connection, presumably assuming that’s 2 accounts that are the same in the US market. Will reply properly when I can. Thanks again - really kind.
Seller_gJmXYrWXpck9I
Here’s the situation as best as I can explain!:
UK Amazon account for the ltd company - This “Account” has various marketplaces available to it like all amazon accounts right, and it automatically enrolled in Amazon USA (under one account with the same email address, hope this now makes sense!) - which means technically we had a professional account running in the USA.
Because of aforementioned reasons - different products, different information, food labelling, and wanting to run the USA business through the USA company etc, we created an Amazon account on Amazon USA with our LLC. This LLC has no relationship to the UK LTD company, other than the fact the beneficial owner is the same person. Different email address for the amazon account, but the LLC corporation ultimately has the same beneficial owners as the UK entity.
The US marketplace on our uk business account has been suspended, and the entire account on the LLC account has also been suspended. Both pointing to the other saying one needs to be reactivated before the other. So its just a nuts situation.
The ultimate question I need to answer is 1. Can we sell from one account through two companies - ltd co. in the uk and the LLC in the USA on the US marketplace. 2. If not, how do multi nationals deal with this! and 3. Should we therefore shut down the LLC and focus on one account in the UK…
Thanks so much!
Seller_gJmXYrWXpck9I
It’s not a linked account by the amazon definition, but yes it likely is a global selling account from sign up. Its a linked account purely by the fact its on the same drop down under same login etc. etc… its one account, one limited company.
I don’t understand because before we have even listed a product things have been flagged. It is perfectly ok for a person to have multiple businesses and each business has an amazon account, as long as they are not selling the same products…
Either way its a real mess, have worked on this kind of issues for years - will keep you updated on how it goes. We actually don’t have any clear suspension emails which is what makes it harder. trying to make sense of whats where, very bad structure. will keep you updated once I have more info!
