Disbursements are at risk of deactivation due to indicators of unmet UK business establishment requirements
I have just received this message this morning. Laughable as I don't even think I earn a £1000 profit per year on here and I have been selling on Amazon for at least 7 years now. I am not VAT registered. I am a sole trader. I have never even been out the country on a holiday in my entire life lol
I honest thought it was a fake email and had to check the performance page to make sure.
My question is, Is a bank statement with my address on it acceptable as proof as I don't possess any of the other documentation they are asking for. I have a Provisional drivers licence but it says they need other ID to go with it.
It is always something with Amazon. This kind of thing never happens on any other platform.
Disbursements are at risk of deactivation due to indicators of unmet UK business establishment requirements
I have just received this message this morning. Laughable as I don't even think I earn a £1000 profit per year on here and I have been selling on Amazon for at least 7 years now. I am not VAT registered. I am a sole trader. I have never even been out the country on a holiday in my entire life lol
I honest thought it was a fake email and had to check the performance page to make sure.
My question is, Is a bank statement with my address on it acceptable as proof as I don't possess any of the other documentation they are asking for. I have a Provisional drivers licence but it says they need other ID to go with it.
It is always something with Amazon. This kind of thing never happens on any other platform.
2681 risposte
Seller_eqDYatCavSWmz
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me regarding Amazon. I read your email and I note your further concerns.
I have raised this with ministerial colleagues in the Department for Business & Trade on your behalf and once I receive a substantive response I will be sure to get back in touch. In the meantime if I can be of any other assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.
Kind regards,Chris
Rt Hon Chris Philp MP
Member of Parliament for Croydon South
Seller_pfmAG3Qx211yJ
Finally, managed to access my funds today! Like many of you I got the dreaded email on the 25th. After 2 requests for documents on Tuesday I got:
"Hello,Thank you for your submission.We have reviewed the information that you provided and we confirm that your disbursement will be released within the next payment cycle.Amazon Services Europe"
But I couldn't access my funds. I know many of you managed to access it 24 hours after getting this email, but that was not the case for me. Yesterday I replied back to the kyc-drtax-verification email that I had received the last email from. I just asked when I would have access to my funds. 24 hours later I got the same automated reply as above but this time I managed to disburse my funds a couple of hours later.
This maybe worth a try for those of you that are still waiting for funds after receiving the above email stating your disbursement will be released within the next payment cycle.
Still holding my breath until the funds hit my bank account next week! Fingers crossed.
Seller_csTrTfxUTAzYa
Hi all,
I've had my third request for more documentation.
A full drivers licence.
I do not drive and have previously provided passport. Bank statements. Short tax return. Self assessment statement. Supplier invoices
Please can anyone let me know how best to proceed. Should I resend passport?
I don't know what else I can do.
Seller_yYbk8rRbPO3rN
I am a sole trader and my funds were frozen on 25 January and I submitted all the documents on Friday to demonstrate that I have been established in the UK for the last 20 years (took me ages because of the size limit for attachments). On 29 January I received this email headed: "Your information is verified – Start selling on Amazon now":
"Dear Seller,
Good news! Your Selling on Amazon payment account has been activated.
We will get in touch with you if we need more information.
For any assistance relating to Selling on Amazon or other Amazon services, you can search our help pages or contact Seller Support:
https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/gp/contact-us/contact-amazon-form.html.
Happy Selling!
Amazon Payments
Please note: This email was sent from a notification-only address that cannot accept incoming email. Please do not reply to this email."
However, it is now February 2 and my disbursements are still frozen. I have spoken to the verification team multiple times who confirm that my information has been verified, but that I need to contact Seller Support to get my disbursements unblocked. I have contacted seller support 6 times but just get a message saying that my case has been transferred to the verification team, who of course then tell me that I need to speak to Seller Support and so on and so on.
I intend to contact Private Eye who were one of the first media outlets to take up the story of the Post Office / Fujitsu / Horizon scandal. I will also be contacting my MP, but suspect that I will need to bring a claim in the small claims court.
Thankfully, Amazon is not my main source of income but I rely on it and this is causing a huge amount of stress, not to mention incurring overdraft fees as I had to pay my tax bill this week. I really feel for the people whose livelihoods and businesses are being destroyed by Amazon's callous disregard for the third party sellers who use their platform.
Seller_fdaoChMDQkZcP
Another email here, my 4th, sent of passports, dirivng licences, phone bills, supplier invoices, HMRC letters, utilities...
I don't think I have anything left to send!
They also STILL seem confused about a general partnership asking for details of the directors on Companies House.
What really upsets me, like everyone else here is:
a: Why can they be allowed to stop funds when we haven't actually been proven to be fraudulent?
b: We are sending SO much personal information to an email it is very worrying.
c: No idea of timeframe or process, and no sensible feedback just another email asking for things we have already sent.
Sakura_Amazon_
Sellers may receive a request for information from Amazon to confirm where their business is established. This is a requirement under UK VAT law and we aim to minimise any inconvenience it may cause to your business.
Why is this information required?
Online retailers, including Amazon, are required to undertake steps to confirm where a Seller is established in order to comply with VAT law.
In addition to any information already provided to Amazon, we may require further information from a Seller as part of our due diligence and the ability for Sellers to disburse funds may be temporarily restricted while this takes place.
Further information on the documentation required is available at: https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/gc/vat-education/voec-uk-establishment
Under UK legislation introduced on 1st January 2021, Amazon is required to collect and remit VAT for Sellers that are established outside the UK. Further information will be provided to Sellers where this applies.
Further information
We encourage Sellers who require assistance that is not addressed on the help page, Determination of "Establishment" for EU VAT, to reach out to Seller Support via Seller Central: Seller Central Help > Contact Us > KYC.
Sellers can send their Determination of "Establishment" documents to kyc-drtax-verification@amazon.co.uk.
More information can also be found on the following help page UK VAT on e-Commerce (UK VOEC) Legislation – 2021 Determination of "Establishment" for UK VAT.
Seller_fe0Lmlr1fJbCk
I think most people on here know why Amazon are doing this. The problem isn’t the why you have done it , it’s the how you have done it.
Simply cutting off everyone’s access to disbursements is not right. You could have asked us for confirmation of our locations and our VAT registration status, and then held monies for people who didn’t reply correctly.
You have had my information for 10 years, and now you have had my confirmation of all the documents you asked for for two weeks. But I still can not access my money! This can’t be right.
Seller_7G4mTOFwvnAjo
I am 17 days ino this proces, I was notified on Sunday 28th the reveiw was completed and funds would be released but they still haven't and no one at SS or any dept can help me!
Seller_QFivb25YBNqBc
Shame unto you, you must be laughing at all of us. You don't know what it feels like to be asked for the same documents 5-20 times, and have nobody to talk to about it.
Seller_lwR2Um5XV8E8H
this is absolutely a joke the whole week i have been told different stories from seller support everytime i contact them some of them being
douments have been recieved and pending validation
then i get an email from KYC saying you need to send information form your primary email account.
i check my primary email account and contact seller support to verify my primary account so i can keep a transcript record of them confirming it and guess what? seller support confirm the same email i have been sending the documents from already over the past week around 3 times.
Then the seller support says if you been sending it from that email there is an issue i will raise this call with the TAX team regarding your primary email and you will be called after 12/24 hours even tho i beg them that my life and business is at risk and i am so close to falling in to huge debt caused by this issue.
the suport team DONT call me after 24hours however they do complete my case as answered and reply that the team who investigated informed them i am not sending my documents from the primary account.
my seller account status shows (documents received pending verification for the past 2 weeks
Am so confused i keep going round and round is my documents received is it not? i have every chat and honestly it seems like one big joke when i read them over and start adding ion my case i will use against amazon and when i even question the staff to pass me to seniors support staff say they don't have any.
so when i question them who they report to when they come in to work in the morning and if they can pass the call to them they say that's not possible.
i mean is it anything new that amazon support just cannot fix problems and Amazon need to wake up to reality and start realising there is a serious concern.
i am happy to come school your company and teach you a thing or two on how to work with your business partners.
however how dare you come to this forum after waking up 2 weeks later by replying to information that is total rubbish and information we have kept receiving over and over again that nearly most people on this forum are complaining about.
absolutely disgusted with your response you and the company amazon your represent should be absolutely embarrassed on the way you have dealt with this matter with NO WARNING what so ever.
i have followed every law possible when it comes to registering my business and following VAT rules.
once my disbursement has been released and i have come out of this nightmare it will only be the start of this case. it will never be forgotten the way you treated us and honestly i cannot wait to get my justice. I cannot wait to tell my story and how badly it impacted my life and the things i had to do to keep my business afloat.
WE JUST WANT SOME TRANSPARENCY AND A SOLUTION WE ARE NOT ASKING FOR ALOT
Seller_v38fdSKijKaIK
yes we all understand that but we are all uk verified already in our Amazon accounts! The worst thing is sending the asked for documents given by kyc team exactly what has been asked for to an insecure email and then having 8 plus more requests for the same! Why? Surely it’s a delay tactic for Amazon to keep our earned funds so they gain interest on it while we suffer!
It’s shocking we were not even given any notice that our disbursements would be stopped suddenly. Why not give us warning and time to send in the documents before stopping our funds if you need to verify us all again ?
Been selling on Amazon for 17 years vat uk verified the last few years there has been harder and harder new rules set on third party sellers, now this. I can’t disburse my needed funds to pay my vat next week.
Seller_EEsC3TXT2hJlF
snap, I'm gonna send in everything again tomorrow to try and just get a response!
Seller_lavthw0xwEbsk
a reply that basically helped no one here.
I got a message 5 days ago that you had my information and were reviewing it. 5 days later still no further along. What is going on?
Surely due diligence means you process the sellers as is and pull the wrongen out and have a word with them.....Not blitz everyone who has a VAT number.
I take it that staff in that department knew this was coming in so why was all this not done at the end of last year? None of this makes any sense to me.
Many questions need to be answered by Amazon to its sellers as to what went wrong here and how it can be fixed ASAP before Amazon single-handedly ruins a lot of good businesses. Every day counts.
Seller_0L2wIKRLuFYXz
Provide me what evidence Amazon have that I was not established in the UK, Surely Amazon can see I use the Amazon seller app from the UK............ Where I am established.
Seller_eqDYatCavSWmz
Rather out of touch there Sakura
Better to take a temperature test of your audience and know your audience a bit before posting!
Seller_lavthw0xwEbsk
" we aim to minimise any inconvenience it may cause to your business. "
Laughable.
Seller_yYbk8rRbPO3rN
Seller Support have told me that this is system error, affecting hundreds if not thousands of sellers on Amazon UK, so why is Amazon trying to cover it up and suggest that this is due to sellers failing to provide the necessary information (which in most cases, Amazon already has)?
Amazon is behaving like the Post Office & Fujitsu in the Horizon scandal. It is clear from this thread that this is systemic problem, but Amazon is still denying it and suggesting that we are all somehow to blame.
Some sellers are desperate, facing bankruptcy and being unable to pay staff, rent, bills or put food on the table for their children. At least 4 people affected by the Post Office/ Horizon scandal took their own lives, and it is only a matter of time before Amazon has blood on its hands.
Hopefully the multiple complaints being made to sellers' MPs, central government, the Financial Conduct Authority and the Information Commissioner's Office, as well as the press coverage over the coming days and the potential class action, will shame Amazon into admitting its culpability and to release our money and stock which it is withholding unlawfully.
Seller_Fg2fqaWOnEtha
Fair enough if we need to confirm we are in the UK. Therefore a light touch verification asking for one or two documents should be enough, as we have been verified as based in the UK several times before. No need to freeze payments and the whole process should be transparent and last a couple of days.
Unfortunately, the reality diverges significantly from this expectation. We are being asked to submit multiple documents, some of which, such as a national identity card, do not even exist. There are also concerns about the security and privacy of the information being requested, especially since the provided email address for submission does not appear to be secure. The lack of clarity on who can access these documents further exacerbates these worries.
Freezing our payments is disrupting our cash flow and hindering our ability to conduct business as usual. It has been nearly 10 days since I was able to access MY funds, a delay that is not only inconvenient but also detrimental to my financial obligations. As a business that relies on purchasing many products on credit, the inability to settle my debts promptly could incur charges, negatively impact my credit rating, and, in the worst case, endanger the viability of my business.
Adding to our frustration is the lack of consistent communication from Amazon. Attempts to gain clarity on the situation have resulted in receiving contradictory information from different representatives, leaving us in a state of uncertainty regarding the resolution of these issues.
Not your fault Sakura, but this is not good enough, it's the affected sellers' businesses and their health at stake here.
Seller_EMhoV0l243Van
Anyone had replies to a email in the last 3 days, after initially sending off the documents, no one is replying and it is really frustrating, as i have a lot of money tied up in stock with amazon and disbursements.
Seller_BMlrKbMvVkcQ2
Check Amazon price stock today. Over 7% increase in few hours.
Seller_v38fdSKijKaIK
where are all the posts on Twitter about this ?
