Amazon Says It Is Working Hard to Help Sellers Verify Accounts

Numerous Amazon sellers are worried or even panicked that their accounts are in jeopardy over a sometimes rocky verification process that's been ongoing since May, as evidenced on industry discussion boards. 

A spokesperson for Amazon provided us with the following statement late on Tuesday in response to our questions about the latest concerns we've been seeing from sellers:

"We are working diligently to support our selling partners in meeting the new INFORM compliance obligations, and we are seeing a significant number of sellers successfully complete these obligations for their accounts every day. 

"To ensure sellers go through the proper steps and to help minimize the burden on small businesses, we have been communicating regularly with instructions and resources, and we have a large group dedicated to calling sellers to walk them through this process and answer any questions."

One example of what sellers have been dealing with was a notice Amazon sent on the first of June that included a section headed, "What actions do I need to take?" with the following message: "To avoid disruption to your disbursements, follow the instructions below to verify your information no later than June 8, 2023." But there were no instructions included.

The spokesperson confirmed that a small number of sellers had received the email in error and said the company advised such sellers that they were not at risk for Hold Disbursement and should check their Account Health Dashboard to determine if further action was needed ahead of the INFORM Act going into effect on June 27th.

Some sellers also expressed frustration that Amazon kept displaying a deactivation banner on their account even after completing the verification process that read, "Your account is at risk of deactivation." One seller said the weeks-long display had become demoralizing and mentally burdensome.

Some sellers described a slow process of verifying each piece of required information, ending with having to go through a process where Amazon sends a postcard to verify their address. The Amazon spokesperson confirmed to EcommerceBytes that not all sellers would be required to do this - if address verification is required, it would be displayed in the seller's Account Health page, they explained.

In addition to the sometimes painful process of verification (and reverification) were cases unique to individual sellers that tripped them up, such as fields requiring them to enter information as a business instead of as an individual, or vice versa.

One seller described such a situation as follows: "Upon encountering a warning message regarding the "Inform Act Tax Questionnaire," I was redirected to a page where I needed to re-enter my information. The problem lies in this particular page, where the classification type has been erroneously set as "individual," and the option to select "business" is unavailable or disabled. How we can complete this Questionnaire ??????"

We checked in with a former Amazon investigation specialist who founded an ecommerce consultancy called ecommerceChris in 2014 to help sellers cope with account suspensions, listing takedowns and brand abuses on the marketplace. 

We asked CEO Chris McCabe what he was seeing and if he had any sense of what percentage of Amazon sellers were freaking out about the verification process. He said that as of Monday, not all sellers had received the message. "Some are not freaking out yet because they remain unaware of it. Others have received it and simply used it to ensure all of their info in Seller Central as up to date, and would match all documented info about their business."

But the main concern triggered by the new process relates back to how Amazon handled similarly widespread account reviews in the past, he said. "Sellers know how vague and generic the messages they receive are, and often those copy and paste templates don't provide any real information (or any specifics to that seller's situation or case.). 

"The frustrating communications from Amazon generally push sellers to email or call many more times than they otherwise would, simply to understand where they stand. We hope that does not unfold here, on a massive scale."

Amazon said it's emailing sellers with specific instructions if there is any information it requires them to provide as a result of the INFORM Consumers Act. It encourages sellers to check their Account Health Dashboard for the status of their verification and any current requirements.

In a message to sellers on Seller Central, Amazon wrote in part, "the law may require us to deactivate your selling account until you successfully complete verification." Amazon and sellers have less than 3 weeks to complete the process before the INFORM Act takes effect in the US on June 27, 2023.

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