Amazon Seller wants passport details

RFW

soolin wrote: »

I've had to verify for Amazon in the past, which was easy, just like with paypal. This though is something completely different and they seem to be doing sellers in batches a few months apart.

I've now tried uploading a different bank statement , if they don't accept this one I'm not sure what else I can try.

I've just gone through this. The big problem I had was with the company number. The account that was being verified was my sole trader account. I submitted my Vat registration which was rejected. I called and said I didn't know what they wanted and then remembered you mentioned UTR and that worked straight away.
I've now got daily disbursements from fortnightly, for that difference they could have had my inside leg measurement too.

They do seem to be asking for a lot . Any serious seller will find it, dodgy sellers will be deterred and so will some smaller sellers. It won't make much difference to Amazon.

Brooker_Dave

RFW wrote: »

Some of the bigger sellers use it to promote their own websites, so selling on Amazon is the equivalent to advertising.

But nobody is going to bother hunting out a website when they can buy something off Amazon for 1p with a few clicks.

RFW

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

But nobody is going to bother hunting out a website when they can buy something off Amazon for 1p with a few clicks.

You might have missed how advertising works;). It's not just the penny items they sell plus they offer differences in postage. A penny book on Amazon costs £2.81, so they can sell it on their own website for £2.50 and still be in profit.

Flyonthewall

RFW wrote: »

You might have missed how advertising works;). It's not just the penny items they sell plus they offer differences in postage. A penny book on Amazon costs £2.81, so they can sell it on their own website for £2.50 and still be in profit.

How many will bother to go to their site though? How well does that advertising work for them?

A few times I've had a slip of paper with an order saying I can save 10% if I buy from their own site and/or items are cheaper on their site. Never been to any of them though, usually because they don't have any other items for sale I want.

For some, I wouldn't trust buying from their sites. For most, I can still get the items they sell cheaper elsewhere.

If there was some rare/very hard to get item that only they sold it'd be different, I might try them if I think I can trust the site/seller. Otherwise, that way of advertising doesn't work at all with me lol.

RFW

Flyonthewall wrote: »

How many will bother to go to their site though? How well does that advertising work for them?

A few times I've had a slip of paper with an order saying I can save 10% if I buy from their own site and/or items are cheaper on their site. Never been to any of them though, usually because they don't have any other items for sale I want.

For some, I wouldn't trust buying from their sites. For most, I can still get the items they sell cheaper elsewhere.

If there was some rare/very hard to get item that only they sold it'd be different, I might try them if I think I can trust the site/seller. Otherwise, that way of advertising doesn't work at all with me lol.

Some of the bog book sellers I thought were being referred to shift tens of thousands of books a week, on and off Amazon. I have been on a couple of their websites from having purchased from them, I left because I found the search too difficult and hard to navigate but I did go there.

I'm one of the sellers who puts a card in with a discount for my own website, I get very little take up but I do get some. If it takes 500 2p business cards to generate £10 profit, then I break even.

I don't sell a niche product but I sell to a specific sector that I've found easiest to attract on Amazon. To find them outside of Amazon would probably cost me £5-£10 per customer so I can well understand how the bigger sellers can afford to sell for nothing.

soolin

My bank statement (the second one I uploaded) has been declined as it is apparently either illegible or invalid and I need to upload one that shows my name and address. It also warns me that they only accept a bank statement from a legally recognised UK bank.

The statement was a clear scan showing my name , address, bank details and IBAN number and was issued by HSBC

I have no idea what on earth I can do now and frankly I'm getting bored of this fiasco.

Flyonthewall

RFW wrote: »

I'm one of the sellers who puts a card in with a discount for my own website, I get very little take up but I do get some. If it takes 500 2p business cards to generate £10 profit, then I break even.

I guess as with most forms as advertising there are sellers who profit a lot from it, others that get some and others that would tell you to avoid it because it's not worth it.

soolin wrote: »

My bank statement (the second one I uploaded) has been declined as it is apparently either illegible or invalid and I need to upload one that shows my name and address. It also warns me that they only accept a bank statement from a legally recognised UK bank.

The statement was a clear scan showing my name , address, bank details and IBAN number and was issued by HSBC

I have no idea what on earth I can do now and frankly I'm getting bored of this fiasco.

Maybe someone isn't looking through the documents properly? Or they're relying on a computer to read details and something is going wrong?

I guess the only option is contact Amazon about it. Hopefully they'll sort it as that document sounds like it should have been accepted.

soolin

I forgive ebay and paypal for every issue I have ever had with them- just save me from the bureaucracy of Amazon- they are really really beginning to get to me now.

Spoke to someone at CS who said I must provide a business bank account in the same name that I trade on Amazon otherwise my selling account will be closed. I explained to them that I trade under my own name so for instance I am Soolin Smith but I trade on Amazon as say 'Black books' , I don't have a Blacks book account as I use a Soolin Smith account for everything including my ebay businesses (2 completely different names) and 2 other small off line businesses- again in different names.

Apparently that is not good enough and I need a dedicated business account in the name of Black books - bearing in mind I have only sold 3 books now in 2 years. Apparently I can appeal the decision, but not on the phone- just by emailing a secret email that the CS rep didn't have to hand.

This is looking like bye bye Amazon

Flyonthewall

soolin wrote: »

I forgive ebay and paypal for every issue I have ever had with them- just save me from the bureaucracy of Amazon- they are really really beginning to get to me now.

Spoke to someone at CS who said I must provide a business bank account in the same name that I trade on Amazon otherwise my selling account will be closed. I explained to them that I trade under my own name so for instance I am Soolin Smith but I trade on Amazon as say 'Black books' , I don't have a Blacks book account as I use a Soolin Smith account for everything including my ebay businesses (2 completely different names) and 2 other small off line businesses- again in different names.

Apparently that is not good enough and I need a dedicated business account in the name of Black books - bearing in mind I have only sold 3 books now in 2 years. Apparently I can appeal the decision, but not on the phone- just by emailing a secret email that the CS rep didn't have to hand.

This is looking like bye bye Amazon

Sounds very daft. Surely there are lots of sellers who have the exact same problem? All the other details would match up anyway and that should be the important part, not whether the bank account is under the same trading name.

I guess if they start losing a lot of people they may think twice, but I doubt most would come back even if they changed things.

soolin

Flyonthewall wrote: »

Sounds very daft. Surely there are lots of sellers who have the exact same problem? All the other details would match up anyway and that should be the important part, not whether the bank account is under the same trading name.

I guess if they start losing a lot of people they may think twice, but I doubt most would come back even if they changed things.

I emailed them through a link I managed to track down, explaining my issue and basically saying I have nothing else to send and that my tax return matches my legal name and that is also the name on my Amazon account and the name on the bank statements I have provided. I also uploaded a very high resolution scan of my bank statement- and mentioned in my email that after this i give up and close my seller account.

I got an almost immediate response- whilst I was still uploading the scan- saying not to close any account yet as they are sure there is just an error somewhere and perhaps I could try re uploading everything and if that doesn't work to call again and seek advice. I have explained to them that this is it now, I have nothing else to give them and refuse to jump through any more hoops for such poor sales. I'll wait and see what happens now.