UK sole proprietor to Partnership (not LTD)
Hi,
I have been selling on Amazon for 5 years as a sole trader. I am VAT registered. I want to change to a non ltd Partnership where the VAT registration number would be transferred to the new partnership I am forming between myself and my husband. Is this possible on Amazon? Has any had any experience of this? I have read lots of horror stories of changing to a ltd company but nothing about changing to a partnership.
Any advice appreciated. Thank you
27 replies
Seller_ejwc84JNL5Uk6
It’s a change of legal entity so will trigger re-verification. Have all necessary paperwork ready including bills in the new name before you tell Amazon about it.
Seller_iBrSIJDZKlsXi
I don’t want to be a mood killer, but i’ve heard that, since last summer, Amazon no longer allows sellers to change legal entity.
In order to change legal entity, you need to shut down your shop and start a new shop under a new company.
I might be wrong, but be careful, and do not do anything before you will discuss that with Amazon and have their approval, because last thing you need is to be suspended or shut down completely.
Either way, GOOD LUCK
Seller_z6B2L9xab6HlP
This is the advice I was given by seller support in Ireland recently:
A legal entity change.
This involves a three way legal process between you as the seller and Amazon’s verification and legal departments. This involves changing the legally registered business on the account and would be requested by contacting the verification team to advise that you wish to undertake this change. If you wish to undertake this change please refer to the following.
For the Current registered entity:
• Name of the current entity:
• Country of Establishment:
• Type of entity:
• Beneficial Owner(s), if applicable:
• Reason for the change:
• Will the original entity be dissolved?:
For the new entity you’re requesting to change to:
• Name of the new entity:
• Country of Establishment:
• Type of legal entity (e.g. limited company, partnership):
• Beneficial Owner(s) of the new entity, if applicable:
Please note that while we cannot offer a definite timeline on how long this process would take I would like to draw your attention to the following points.
Please be aware, such legal entity changes cannot always be approved as it is not always legally possible. In such cases, the Verification team will ask you to open a new Payments account with the new legal entity details.
IMPORTANT
On average, such requests can take 20 weeks or more for a decision to be made, but it does depend on each individual situation, and this process cannot be expedited by the Verification Team, or by us here in Seller Support.
Seller_rGtEcZnu0JTRD
We had a similar situation last year, albeit we moved between limited companies. They would not allow us to do a legal entity change, but did give us permission to open a second account so we could gradually change over the listings to the new account. You have to be very careful not to have the same ASIN on both accounts as that would trigger a suspension, and be prepared for a large drop in sales as you then have no sales history on the new account. 2 months in we are up to about 30% of what we were doing before the change, but it is going up 12 % a week at the moment, so hopefully we will get back to where we were in a few months. You are theoretically allowed to do a legal enity change, but our request for this was ignored, and we never got a response from them.
Seller_aOogeQQcgrYam
Sorry to go a bit off-topic here, but I would question why you’d go through this process and not set up a limited company whilst you are at it?
There are significant tax and accounting advantages to operating through a separate business entity, as well as protecting yourselves should the business fail at a later stage or there be change in your personal relationship (Which given you’re married, I really hope there wouldn’t be, but still best to take that as a possibility, no matter how unlikely).
Seller_jNXZUrjMtjB1D
Hello.It is possible,my friend recently changed his sole proprietor account to LTD.They will ask you to do registration again for business entity and address and there was option to be partnership too Just make sure you have all documents ready.It took around one week so very fast
Seller_vIpv9uvBH6CFY
I recently changed from sole trader to LTD with relative ease. You have to email them first. We did go through re-verification but we were not blocked from selling during that time. I forgot the email, but it’s listed somewhere here on the forums. They will reply asking you for details. Then after you provide the new details, a performance flag will pop up on the dashboard with the document upload request.
Make sure you have your documents and bank statements ready to go. With this method, our verification only took a few days and it didn’t really disrupt anything since we were not blocked from selling. Sorry i don’t have the email address on hand, but I’m sure you’ll find it.
Seller_SnOCWghkxvh9k
We went through that process several years ago and whilst it isn’t difficult, it is frustrating. We didn’t need to shut down but every day there’d be a request for more documents. Amazon seem to have difficulty understanding the concept of a partnership and kept asking for a company registration number. In the end I uploaded a letter to explain we could not supply one and why.
As others have suggested, make sure you have all documents ready and don’t apply until you do. Proof of ID for both partners, letter from HMRC confirming your partnership UTR, bank statements for both partners and partnership, partnership agreement, utility bills, passports…………kitchen sink!
Good luck.
Seller_ZPjajjMXjCNQH
from a legal point of view, is there really any tangible benefit in changing from a sole trader to a partnership in general let alone as far as amazon is concerned. I could see the point if you were intending to become an incorporated company and reap the protection and benefits of that but to go from sole to partnership to me is really just a paper exercise that is of no great business or legal benefit.
this could potentially be done contractually outwith Amazon between the parties to the partnership and prevent any involvement with Amazon. I would have a chat with a lawyer/accountant before going ahead with this and see what options there are to keep amazon out of the picture
my rule of thumb is to do business with Amazon at arms length, ie keep them out of everything as much as you possibly can, we all know that the least involvement with them is like putting your head above the trenches and liable to be shot off, so give amazon as little opportunity as possible to interfere, especially when you are putting an account at risk or long term closure.
it amazes me on these forums when i read of people repetedly emailing seller support for the least thing or if the wind is blowing the wrong way then telling us they are under verification or some other horrendous Amazon policy review. honestly treat amazon like a 999 phone number, something only to be used in dire emergency and don’t draw attention to yourself
