Issue : I registered to sell on Amazon.com, Amazon charged my credit card already and I just received an email saying I can no longer sell on Amazon.

Version 1 : Sept 2018

I want to first acknowledge @Rushdie’s past threads and posts …

• Thread - "Info: Why was my account suspended, immediately after registration?"
• Thread - "New Seller Checklist"

I just feel though that I want to post my own thread to point out some of the most common mistakes sellers make that I have seen when helping them … as well as go over the registration process and areas you need to review for mistakes before replying or appealing to Amazon.

Things to know about what is going on …

1. THIS TYPE OF REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS OR “SUSPENSION” IS NORMAL FOR MANY NEW SELLERS. Don’t Panic!
   Normally, it just means that either the documents you provided were missing enough information, had information that didn’t match with the account or that they did not fit the format Amazon wanted them in.

2. It doesn’t matter that you haven’t listed anything to sell yet … or even if you have listed items

3. Amazon decided to “Review” your account. They do this normally for accounts upgrading from Selling Individually to Selling Professionally when all the documents needed were not originally provided OR as mentioned in #1 something didn’t match up with your account data.

4. Amazon will send you an email soon, if not already, and likely ask you for more information. This should appear in Seller Central in Performance Notifications

Below I have 2 Summaries of the 2 emails I see most often.

In Summary 1 is the current format of the typical email … in which they ask for more documentation.

Summary 1 of the email they send (click to see)

Hello,

We are reviewing your Amazon.com seller account. During our review, you will not be able to sell on Amazon.com.

Please ship any open orders. If you have funds in your account, they will be available after any amounts paid for A-to-z claims or chargebacks on your orders have been deducted. This usually takes about 90 days, but funds may be held longer.

You can see your balance and settlement information in the Payments section of Seller Central. If you have questions about those, please send an email to payments-funds@amazon.com.

Please provide the following documents and confirm there is a valid credit card on file:

–Utility bill with name and address visible
–Business license, if applicable
–If you have active listings, include copies of invoices, receipts, contracts or delivery orders from your supplier issued in the last 90 days.

You can send files in .pdf, .png, or .gif format. These documents must be authentic and unaltered. You may remove pricing information, but the rest of the document must be visible. Please submit your documents by following this link (http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/contact-us/general-questions.html5).

Once we receive your documents, we will review them and decide whether you may sell on Amazon.com again.

When you are ready to send us your plan, please submit your plan of action by following this link http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/contact-us/general-questions.html5.

Sincerely,

Seller Performance Team

In Summary 2 is the email sent based on the specific Account reviews help page which some get.

Summary 2 of a previous variation which is sometimes still used (click to see)

Hello,

We are reviewing your Amazon.com seller account. During this review, you cannot sell on Amazon.com. Funds will not be transferred to you but will stay in your account while we review it. If you have any open orders, please ship them.

To help with the review process, please send us the following information about your business:

• Length of time you have been in business
• Sources of inventory
• Anticipated monthly sales on Amazon.com
• Availability of items for shipping
• Address of any retail locations
• Links to other websites that you actively sell on
• Tracking information for recently shipped orders, found on the Manage Orders page in Seller Central (https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/orders-v2/list)
• Tax ID or Dun and Bradstreet (D-U-N-S) number

To send this information, click the Appeal button next to this message on the Performance Notifications page in Seller Central (https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/customer-experience/perf-notifications.html)

To learn more about account reviews, search for “Velocity Limits and Account Reviews” in Seller Central Help.

To talk to someone about this email, you can ask our Seller Support team to contact you (https://sellercentral.amazon.com/hz/contact-us/performance).

We will send you an email when our review is complete.

5. Amazon is requesting additional documents …

– Utility bill with name and address visible

Utility Bill = Gas, Water/Sewer, Electricity, Waste, TV, Internet or Landline, (not for a Mobile Phone) … is at the address used for registration and in your name. Note: I just recently saw a thread where for some countries it SEEMS Amazon might not be using Utility Bills any more … so not sure you will be asked for that or if it is specific only to that seller. (If things change I’ll update the thread)

–Business license, if applicable (Not required)

–If you have active listings … (Not required unless you have listed items already. If you haven’t listed anything then there is nothing to send Amazon)

6. Often after new sellers send documents without reviewing the requirements, verifying that everything matches up or having a valid credit card on file that matches the name and address … they then get a denial response from Amazon on opening the account. (Edit to add - Some do report opening an account with a card in someone else’s name)

Summary Example of denial email

Hello,

We reviewed your account and the information you provided, and we have decided that you may not sell on Amazon.com.

Please ship any open orders. If you have funds in your account, they will be available after any amounts paid for A-to-z claims or chargebacks on your orders have been deducted. This usually takes about 90 days, but funds may be held longer.

You can see your balance and settlement information in the Payments section of Seller Central. If you have questions about those, please write to payments-funds@amazon.com.
Sincerely,
Seller Performance Team
Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com

7. Important to know going into this - Account reviews, can taket up to 30 days to complete… so before you ask how long it will take Amazon to respond about this … well … up to 30 days.

All is NOT lost !! You can correct things and appeal (reply to the email).

THIS IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW ABOUT SUBMITTING/RE-SUBMITTING DOCUMENTS … and might have been where you had an issue … so recheck everything

.
The most common mistakes sellers make that I have seen while trying to get sellers past this are :

• Not matching up addresses and phones numbers on ALL documents to what is in the account for Legal Identity
  and/or
• Issues with the formatting of the documents submitted

Amazon doesn’t like …

• Screen shots of anything
• Bank Passbooks (except in India and Japan) as Bank Statements
• Less than the entire document
• MS Word files (file extension .doc or .docx although sometimes they are accepted)
• Excel files
• .zip files
• Editing documents after creating the file (This is not confirmed 100% quite yet … so more of a recommendation)

Amazon does like …

• ID’s … Color images :
  – Front and back of National ID’s or Drivers License submitted in one (1) digital file
  – Front only of Passports (I would include the signature page).
• Entire document without clipped edges
• Only documents in these Languages (updated 2/20): Arabic, simplified Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, and Turkish. Otherwise a notarized translation is needed with a seal or stamp

Registration Process - During the process you were asked for these … review what you entered (in your seller account Payment, Business and Tax sections) and compare to what was submitted.

• Phone Number … should match on all documents and in Seller account

• Valid Government-Issued Photo ID …
  Color image with both sides of the card must be submitted in one digital file
  OR
  Front only of Passports submitted in one digital file.

• Valid internationally chargeable credit card with a valid billing address located in an eligible country.
  (https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/861)
  **(Note : Amazon does often accept Debit cards that are linked to a bank and chargeable as a credit card from these companies … American Express / Diners Club/Discover / JCB / MC / Visa … but officially the statement is use of pre-paid or debit cards are not accepted for a selling account.)

Summary - Amazon does not accept alternative Charge Methods, such as ... (click to see)

– Prepaid credit cards
– Gift certificates
– Checks
– Online payment systems like PayPal.
– Debit Cards (Normally are not accepted … although sometimes they are) Amazon has changed the help files to remove mention of not accepting Debit Cards. If it works for you then it works. If it does not and you are in the US then I believe it is because of the type of Debit Card. (There are different types of “Debit” Cards around the world …)

Summary - Check the below information related to your credit card (click to see)
• Is the credit card valid?
• Is there a minimum charge amount?
• Are you using a pre-paid or debit card? (Note: Use of pre-paid or debit cards are not accepted for a selling account.)
• Does the bank have a record of the charge attempt?
• Are there bank limits or policies that prevent the charge attempt from being authorized?
• Is there any incorrect credit card information entered? (Note: All the credit card information entered such as number, name, address, ZIP code, or expiration date must be an exact match with your card details.)
• Is this chargeable in the currency of the Amazon marketplace where you registered your seller account?

…

• Bank Account - account number, bank account statement.
  – The bank’s name, logo, and address is visible on the statement
  – The account holder’s name matches your seller account info
  – The statement must be issued within the last 90 days.

Amazon supports U.S., Canadian, and Mexican bank accounts, as well as bank accounts in other countries across the globe.
If needed you can request for a Payoneer statement.

Summary - Other Payment Options (click to see)

HyperWallet - https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/help.html?itemID=7S55VWDZ9SQCUEX&language=en-US&ref=ag_7S55VWDZ9SQCUEX_relt_200497780

Payoneer - https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/help.html?itemID=201808090&language=en_US&ref=ag_201808090_cont_200381250

…

• Tax Information - You will also need to go through an online step-by-step interview that will determine whether you will need to complete a W-9 form (as a U.S. taxpayer) or a W-8BEN (as a non-U.S. taxpayer). Visit United States Tax and Regulatory Considerations for more information on taxes.
  https://sellercentral.amazon.com/tax/nexus/settings

So … in short …

• Recheck everything you entered to register to sell on Amazon and the documents you sent Amazon
• Make sure everything matches … name, addresses, phone numbers, etc.
• Make sure your documents are formatted correctly to what Amazon wants

Once you are sure everything is correct reply to the email from Amazon explaining that you have fixed every issue causing your account to fail the review process and attach all the original documents plus the requested ones …
…
– Valid Government-Issued Photo ID
– Copy of either the Bank or Credit Card Statement
– Utility bill (Like: Gas, Water, Electricity, TV, Internet or Landline … No Mobile Phones)
– Business license, if applicable or you have one
– If you have active listings, include copies of invoices, receipts, contracts or delivery orders from your supplier issued in the last 90 days

DO NOT … I repeat DO NOT open a new (second) account once you have started to open one because you had issues with this one !

Rob
Oneida Books