Amazon refuses to pay me
Since October Amazon has refused to pay me the money which I am owed on the grounds that I have wrongly registered as an individual.
I am an individual, not a business, and have been selling on Amazon for ten years. I list only books and CDs which I bought for my own use and no longer need.
I have been told that I am not an ‘individual’ because I sell new items. But I do not. I have also been told that I have too many items (324) to be counted an ‘individual’, and that individual sellers can only list ‘a couple’ of items. (Who registers to sell on Amazon with only two items?)
I have now written 10 times to Seller Support to try to resolve this, but every reply comes from a different person and fails to address the problem–they just repeat the assertion that I am not an individual.
I am now owed £155, which might not be a lot if I were indeed a business, but as an individual just trying to shift some unwanted books it is a significant sum. Is there any way in which I can persuade Amazon that I am not a business and that they should pay me what they owe?
I could just shift to another platform, but I suspect I would have to write off the money.
0 replies
Seller_esvgLzKXw2YAl
Are you quite sure that you have never sold anything as new?
Something has obviously flagged you up.
It would probably be helpful to post the notification that you have received.
Seller_mBENc0rmDmw5W
Have you listed multiples (even 2 of) the same book or CD? CDs could be the issue rather than books.
Seller_p27bs0l5E6QqD
If you sell CDs they have to be new initially to get the authority via proper receipts.As far as I am aware they say if you sell over 30 a month ( I think ) you would be better paying the £30.00 monthly fee but I’m sure this is optional.As you say ,who would register for 2 items.
Seller_8f9uYRNpwImUV
Know someone who is owed £17,000 a legit business, but they they do this a lot. Get away with quite a lot this bunch I think 
Seller_vIpv9uvBH6CFY
best bet is to register with HMRC as a sole trader, even if you don’t think of yourself as one, and then update that with amazon. You can de-register once you’ve finished selling.
It won’t change much on your taxes, as you’re meant to report your sales the same way. And registration with HMRC is free. Re-verifying with amazon might take ages, but since there’s no additional cost to any of this, you might as well jump through the hoops and get your cash out.
On the upside, as a sole trader you can discount your expenses such as selling fees and packaging from your ‘profits’, and actually pay less tax.
