Activating a new Seller Central account can be tricky, especially if you don’t know the steps required and have the documentation needed to successfully break through the verification phase. Verification can come at any time, even for existing sellers. So read through our guidelines to help you achieve successful verification, reduce your time and effort and avoid your sales being impacted.
Amazon takes pride in its customer service, after all their mission is:
“To be Earth's most customer centric company. Our mission is to continually raise the bar of the customer experience by using the internet and technology to help consumers find, discover and buy anything, and empower businesses and content creators to maximise their success.”
A large proportion of Amazon's income comes from third party Amazon Sellers and they expect us sellers to deliver on their core value and mission statement. As a result, Amazon ensures every Amazon Seller is properly vetted before granting them the ability to sell on the platform through their verification process. While the purpose of this process is clear, the steps to complete it are (deceivingly) not, and one small hiccup can cause significant delays (or worst, disallow you from selling at all)!
If you have not yet started selling on Amazon and would like to learn more, feel free to reach out to Online Sellers Circle for their support. Alternatively, if you have and are looking to scale, reach out to ask about their mentorship programme.
If this is your first time activating a new Amazon Seller Central account, do not rush it! You need to seek independent legal advice to understand which legal entity is best for you and your situation as the type of account. Once you know which legal entity you are pursuing, you can then make progress in setting up and obtaining the relevant support you need, and Amazon will request from you for the account to be set up and verified.
We have helped many sellers who have rushed this process, setting up as one legal entity, then at a later date wishing to transfer to another which has resulted in an account suspension for the period of re-verification. There have also been situations where incorrect evidence has been submitted and resulted in long delays.
The most common, and unfortunately most costly, problem that stems from a hurried activation process is an immediate Amazon Seller Account suspension.
Here is our advice and steps to help you minimise the risk of suspension and to ensure you complete all the steps to achieve the end goal.
Regardless of whether you wish to set up an account as a Sole Proprietor or a Limited company, make sure you have the required documentation to avoid any delays. Amazon requires all sellers to provide bank account number and bank routing numbers, a chargeable credit card, government issued Identification in the form of a driver’s license or passport, tax information for your new business and a valid phone number. If you are not in possession of these documents, wait before opening an Amazon Seller Central account.
Review your documentation and ensure all names, addresses, and so on match and are spelt correctly. There must be a 100% connection between the documents and no variations. Any variation present will be picked up by the Amazon verification team and questioned. The goal here is to spend time doing your due diligence so when you submit your supporting documentation to Amazon, it is verified and the account is authorised on the first go.
When selecting your personal identification document to supply to Amazon, to provide you are who you say you are. Print off a good quality copy, sign and date the ID, take a photo and convert this into a PDF document.
Now that you have completed these steps, you can proceed and sign up to your Amazon sellers account. Be sure to register your Amazon Seller account address that matches your documentation. Your activation documents such as a credit card statement or utility bill will be required to directly match the registered address, regardless if this is a personal or business Amazon Seller account.
By following these simple yet important steps, you like many of our community, can avoid the verification slump and get started selling in no time at all.
TIP: Retain a copy of your account documentation for future use as this serves two purposes.
Should you wish to upgrade your account and/or change legal entity, you can utilise and refer back to these documents at a later date
Should Amazon wish to place your account through verification again, you have all the documents ready to supply them on request.
Contact us at any time via Online Sellers Circle with any questions, and good luck selling!
___________________________________________________________________
Need More Help? Here Are Some Additional Resources
Get Coaching: Want our help growing your eCom business? Apply for our Arbitrage Experts Academy Programme Here.
Free Training: How to start, systemise and scale your online business. Register Here.
Book a FREE Strategy Call: Get 1-2-1 support from the OSC Team to devise a tailor made plan you can follow to achieve scale. Click Here.
Get Expert Virtual Assistants: Want our build your team of transformational VAs and free your time? Learn more here.
___________________________________________________________________