selling on Amazon difficult - any advice?

Annabee

I am sure there used to be a massive thread on here about selling on Amazon, but can't seem to find it.

I am posting on behalf of my daughter who has fairly recently graduated (not working yet) and wanted to sell some of her academic textbooks on Amazon. She listed them on Sunday, but the listing did not go live. She did tell them she was not a business, but was selling as an individual. She logged into her selling account today, and was told that her selling account was suspended, while they checked her tax status. No email had been received regarding this. There was an 'online tax interview' she could complete, so she tried this. Immediately it started asking questions about the 'IRS' (isn't that the American tax authority) and asked which country she was a resident of. Very confused, she rang them, only to get a bad line and foreign accent and to be told to contact a tax adviser! What the hell? She is just a poor ex-student trying to sell a few of her own books, and thought (wrongly it seems) Amazon was the best place to do it, as Ebay doesn't have such a good system for listing books.

Has anyone else had this? Could it be because she is not working/paying tax, but also not receiving benefits? Or has she accidentally clicked something wrong? Any ideas, or she will have to give up and try ebay!

RFW

Annabee wrote: »

Has anyone else had this? Could it be because she is not working/paying tax, but also not receiving benefits? Or has she accidentally clicked something wrong? Any ideas, or she will have to give up and try ebay!

Sounds to me like she's tried to sell on Amazon.com and not amazon.co.uk

RFW

My suggestion would be to pick one of the books on Amazon.co.uk and then click on "sell yours here" and see what happens. If she has opened a seller account on amazon.com she'll need a whole new account to start again in the UK. This amounts to using a different email address to register account, nothing untoward!

Annabee

OK thanks I will tell her to check that.

Annabee

On googling about it on I found an 'Amazon sellers' forum' and apparently it is a thing they do when they think you don't fit the profile of an individual seller, selling your own old stuff, but are really a business seller. Why they think this when she has just registered and only listed 3 textbooks (which she previously bought from them) I can't imagine, but apparently once they decide this, it is pretty hard to get them to change their minds. For goodness sake. I think it will be ebay then!

The IRS thing is very strange though.

mrcol1000

Although Amazon is probably the best place to sell them, there are other websites. You may not get the same price but at least they will get something. Do a Google search. Is there any way she could sell them at the university to students starting the modules?

Annabee

Unfortunately the university she was at is in a different region of the country, which she has now left. A good idea, though, maybe she could try the nearest university, although I think they don't do the same degree course.

She will try again to contact Amazon tomorrow, maybe by a different method, and hope they will see sense.

RFW

Annabee wrote: »

On googling about it on I found an 'Amazon sellers' forum' and apparently it is a thing they do when they think you don't fit the profile of an individual seller, selling your own old stuff, but are really a business seller. Why they think this when she has just registered and only listed 3 textbooks (which she previously bought from them) I can't imagine, but apparently once they decide this, it is pretty hard to get them to change their minds. For goodness sake. I think it will be ebay then!

The IRS thing is very strange though.

Amazon have recently changed their policy for all sellers. If you're a private seller you have to register and tick all the boxes to say what you are or aren't. Amazon then check that and whilst they are doing so you are free to sell.
I've also got a US account and there is an IRS form to fill in, that is essentially a disclaimer saying you are outside the US. I've gone through the UK verification process a few times I've never seen any mention of the US.
Have you checked that it is definitely the UK site that she was trying to sell on?

Annabee

Thank you RFW. She will be looking into this tomorrow, to see if and why she has gone through to the American site. She certainly began the process of registering as a seller on the UK site, so not sure how this could have happened.

When you say that Amazon check you out, what do you mean? She has moved into a new address with her boyfriend, and registered there to vote. However she has left her bank account registered to my address, as she comes home quite frequently. The reason is because they are renting a place which may not be long term, so she thought it would be easier to keep her bank account registered to our address. She has also given her home address (ours) to Amazon as her selling address.

Would this be some kind of red flag to Amazon, do you think? And could this explain what is happening?

RFW

Annabee wrote: »

Would this be some kind of red flag to Amazon, do you think? And could this explain what is happening?

No, I don't think so. They're just making the process of selling a little stricter. Oddly enough it's to do with tax I think, but their tax rather than the sellers. As far as I know it's to make sure they pay the right tax in the right countries, to avoid them getting into more scandals.

They just want to know you're who you say you are and what type of business (or not) that you are. It usually takes them a while to check it out but you're able to sell while they do. Sometimes they'll ask for more info. It's usually not much more than ticking a few boxes and uploading driving licence or other proof of id.

Annabee

To update, she decided to go ahead and answer all their questions, and her books have now appeared in the listings.

They asked her to download her passport details, which she did, and they have accepted she is an individual seller. They still asked the IRS questions though, and she had to declare she was not a US citizen! Bizarre, really, as her books are NOT listed on Amazon.com (we checked) and she did state she wanted UK buyers only, (as it is more hassle to send abroad). Maybe they have changed their procedures?

Thanks for all your advice.