UK Seller - Amazon US verification nightmare, please help!
Hello - I currently sell on Amazon UK and wanted to expand to the US, but I’m having real trouble getting verified. The US account is linked to my UK account but that doesn’t seem to matter. Here is what’s happened so far:
I opened the account with my details formatted as follows (not my real details, but useful for comparing to my documents):
John Doe Smith-Weston
123 Fake House
3 Sample Street
London
United Kingdom, Zip Code
For bank details, I used my USD borderless account from Transferwise. This is a new account I set up to avoid FX fees when selling in dollars.
After registration, I received the following suspension:
I am a sole trader in the UK, so I sent them two documents: My internet bill, and my UTR confirmation letter. I don’t think the UTR letter was necessary but I sent it anyway
My electricity bill was formatted as follows:
John Smith Weston
Fake House, 123, 3
Sample Street, London
Zip Code
As you can see it was missing my middle name and the hyphen (-) from my last name. Address was complete but it a different order from my Amazon account. Unsurprisingly I got the following response:
To try and fix this for appeal #2, I submitted two utility bills: My internet bill with my name corrected (by the provider) on the statement and also my electricity bill. Here’s how they were formatted:
Internet bill:
John Doe Smith-Weston
Fake House, 123, 3
Sample Street, London
Zip Code
Electricity bill:
Mr John Doe Smith-Weston
Flat 123 Fake House
3 Sample Street
London
Zip Code
Both could be considered slightly different from what’s on my account… Internet bill address is in a different order and electricity bill contains “Flat” before the #/house name.
Unfortunately amazon has denied my documents again… Here is their response:
At this point I’m really unsure what to do. I have one more utility bill (my heating bill) that I could potentially send. I can also send them my personal bank statement. But I really don’t know what the problem is with my documents so I don’t know how to proceed.
Please help! Any advise would be really appreciated.
@BarryM @Adrian you guys responded with advice after my first denial… any thoughts?
0 replies
Seller_oTPDldRxn00SR
I’m not sure if it’s relevant or not, but when I check my Amazon US “Business Address” under account info it includes my phone number.
Does the utility bill need to include my phone number?
Seller_z6B2L9xab6HlP
The address formats should match the account address as closely as possible. Since the account address is:
123 Fake House
3 Sample Street
London
The following is likely to be accepted (but would be better without the word flat, so it matches exactly):
Flat 123 Fake House
3 Sample Street
London
And the following rejected:
Fake House, 123, 3
Sample Street, London
I would do the following:
- Check your charge method has been set up correctly. I’m aware some EMIs cards are actually prepaid cards, so don’t meet the requirements of a credit or debit card.
- Submit a bill from a well known provider with your full name and the address in the correct format. It shouldn’t need to include your phone number, because that’s not part of your address.
- If you’re a sole trader you could use a personal bank statement, but if you’re trading as a company I would avoid it as it’s likely to cause confusion.
- You could try tax bills/letters (e.g. HMRC, council tax) but I’d try and get one dated within the previous 3-6 months, which could mean requesting an up-to-date bill.
It is quite difficult to get approval on Amazon.com even following all the guidelines. If you’re still getting rejections I would try again after 3 Jan as they might be more stringent than usual during the ‘holiday season’.
Seller_hC0hNVDuILaKO
I agree with @BarryM
Your address needs to be a match.
You already know that neither document is a match for what you entered on Amazon, so if a bot is trying to compare then it will find discrepancies which could lead to your rejection.
Seller_oTPDldRxn00SR
Thanks @BarryM and @Adrian
My charge method is the BA Amex so I don’t think it’s an issue. It’s exactly the same as my UK account.
Unfortunately I don’t have any utility bills that exactly match what is currently entered on Amazon and the providers refuse to change how the address is displayed. I think I need to approach from the opposite direction and adjust what is on Amazon. What do you think about the following plan:
-
Change my address on my Amazon US account to include the word “Flat” before my house number so that it exactly matches my electricity bill
-
Get my address changed on my credit card statement and also my personal bank statement to exactly match the electricity bill / updated Amazon details
-
Create a document “pack” which I will submit to Amazon. Including the following:
a. Photo of my passport (name matches what’s on Amazon)
b. My personal bank statement - updated so name/address exactly match Amazon (I am a sole trader so hopefully no issue here)
c. My credit card statement - updated so name/address exactly match Amazon
d. My electricity bill - address will now exactly match Amazon per point 1 above
e. My heating/hot water bill if I can get them to update the address to match my Amazon account
exactly. They format the bill as an invoice but I’m assuming it can’t hurt to include it if the
name/address match exactly…
Seller_GwVKC064o58W9
Please let me know if you sort it out. I have been fighting for this issue for a month. I sent over 100 mails.
Seller_MKi6wqe68YZuu
I might be wrong, but don’t you need a US address - for returns etc - to open a US account?
Seller_x1xMSBwZsJrTE
I wouldn’t worry too much if you can’t get approved in the US it’s nothing special. I’m closing my account as soon as my stock is sold. I know a VERY successful UK seller who also gave up on the US.
Returns are twice what they are here and customers seem to be more stupid and less able to read listings. This results in you having to throw away perfectly good stock because it’s not possible to get it returned to you. Depending on what you sell Chinese hi-jackers are far more problematic too.
Amazon.com also seem to create 3 or 4 time the number of issues than here and it’s a nightmare trying to get them resolved.
You might do ok depending on what you sell, but one thing I will tell you is beware. Amazon give you some sort of boost to begin with to get you hooked and you think everything is going great, but then after the first year is up they drop you like a hot brick. Just be careful.
Seller_Y7UnWYu37AGpp
I have just gone through re-verification which was triggered by my VAT registration and trying to set up VAT services on Amazon. I had changed name a year ago ( I got married) and never updated my Amazon account. My VAT number was issued in my married name. To add to the problem my first name is legally Alison but I use Ali on everything except HMRC and Council tax.
It took five attempts for me to complete re-verification which was beyond stressful. Changing your details on Amazon to match EXACTLY the official documents you can provide is much quicker and easier. I took HMRC as my fixed point and looked for a second bill which matched exactly then changed my details on Amazon to match. Re-verification took under an hour on fifth attempt.
Seller_iPD8cItcFIEiK
This is usual process whenever any bank account details are changed. Ideally you should have let Amazon know by raising a case (couple of days in advance) that you would be changing Bank details.
As of now, Please ask Transferwise to provide proof of Bank details and upload this to Amazon. Similar Payment gateways like them provide one page letter, which is accepted by Amazon. This is generally enough and there may not be any need to provide rest of proofs.
FloydFan
Seller_HPyEir2s5QgMq
The verification process is driven by the legal requirements of the country you’re applying for. Everything must be an exact match between the application and the supporting documentation.
Personally, I wouldn’t bother with either .com or .ca if you are a UK based trader. The shipping is a nightmare of complaints on late deliveries. The ‘last mile’ postal services in both countries are awful and customs clearance takes ages. Using a direct courier service like FedEx, UPS etc. whilst quicker are very expensive. The ‘returns’ costs are exorbitant and not cost effective for anything that’s not small and expensive.