Amazon issued two announcements in a row regarding the security of seller accounts and listings

First, Amazon informed sellers that starting from April 5, they need to keep the invoice defect rate index below 5%, otherwise their account will be at risk of being suspended; second, for sellers in some categories, when creating a new listing , they need to provide a product identifier. If the product identifier is invalid, the seller's listing may be deleted.

Some sellers were obviously not able to adapt to these new changes and began to complain.

Starting from April 5, the invoice defect rate must be lower than 5%, otherwise the account will be suspended?

In the past two days, many sellers on European sites have been trembling with fear, fearing that their accounts will be deactivated.

One seller said: "From April 5, 2021, all sellers selling in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain must keep the invoice defect rate index below 5% in order to sell on the UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain sites, otherwise their accounts may be deactivated. Even if you have registered for VAT in the five countries, you should pay attention that invoices for orders purchased in other countries need to be uploaded manually."

The incident started with an announcement from Amazon:

Amazon Business customers require timely invoices (or receipts) for tax and accounting purposes. To help you provide the invoicing experience that this rapidly growing customer base expects, we introduced an invoice defect rate in July 2020 and have since recommended keeping it below 5% .

All sellers will be required to comply with this 5% target to sell on Amazon.co.uk , Amazon.de , Amazon.fr , Amazon.it, and Amazon.es starting April 5, 2021. Failure to comply may result in account deactivation.

Before April 5, some sellers received a reminder email saying, "Your invoice defect rate has exceeded the standard, that is, it has not been kept within 5%. No action has been taken on your account at present, but starting from April 5 , an invoice defect rate exceeding 5% may result in the account being deactivated. Please make sure not to violate this policy again." Such notifications caused panic among sellers.

But April 5th has passed, and some accounts that had previously received emails are still safe and sound and have not been suspended by Amazon.

Some sellers reminded that this is for orders from corporate buyers, and orders from individual buyers are not included in this requirement . This made many sellers feel relieved.

But the problem of invoice defect rate is indeed worthy of sellers' attention. For sellers, how to solve the problem of invoice defect rate?

1. What should I do if the defect rate exceeds the standard?

Amazon provided a solution in its previous announcement: Activate the automatic invoicing function , and Amazon can generate VAT invoices or receipts on your behalf for free and make them available for buyers to download. Sellers who have registered for VAT can activate Amazon's VAT calculation service and enjoy the automatic invoice generation function ; sellers who do not need to register for VAT in the EU and the UK can declare their VAT exemption status and enjoy the automatic receipt generation function.

2. How to upload invoices ?

Sellers can upload their own invoice page manually through Manage Orders within one business day of shipment , or automatically through a third-party solution or develop their own solution. Customers will be able to download invoices directly from their account.

Please note that invoices sent via Buyer-Seller Messaging do not comply with Amazon Business invoice policies and are therefore considered missing, which will negatively impact your invoice defect rate .

However, some sellers still encounter some minor problems when uploading invoices. One seller said that he uploaded it on time, but it kept showing "processing", which resulted in a certain defect rate, and he didn't know how to deal with it. Another seller raised a question: For an order from a corporate buyer, after I manually uploaded the invoice, it showed that it failed and the uploaded file was damaged . I don't know what to do next?

The invoice defect rate problem has put some sellers in a deadlock. One seller said that Amazon operations are never smooth sailing and they are all about trial and error. My brother-in-law’s tactics are constantly being updated and we can only respond to them as they come.

In addition to the invoice defect rate, another notice from Amazon also puzzled a number of sellers, and some even began to worry about their own listings.

Amazon issued a notice: the product GTIN is invalid and the seller's listing will be deleted

Amazon emailed sellers to inform them that for most product categories , you need to provide a unique product identifier called GTIN (Global Trade Item Number), such as UPC and EAN, to create a new listing.

If a GTIN is not sold by GS1 or is not recognized by the brand owner, the GTIN is considered invalid. To check products with invalid GTINs, sellers need to visit the "Fix Your Product" page and provide the required information as prompted, otherwise the seller's listing will be deleted.

To fix an ASIN, sellers can go to the “Contact Us” page on Amazon and submit a letter of authorization or license agreement that meets the following conditions:

Include the name and address of the brand's rights owner ;

Easy to read : not blurry, not too light or too dark;

Include the manufacturer’s name and contact information ;

Include the seller ’s legal business name or the seller’s name on the Account Information page in Seller Central ;

Include the seller ’s physical address ;

Must be in English ;

Including GS1 certificate

It is worth noting that Amazon recommends that sellers obtain GTINs directly from GS1 rather than from other third parties that sell GTIN licenses to ensure that the appropriate information is reflected in the GS1 database.

If the seller does not provide the requested information by the deadline, the products in the "At-risk Listings" section of the "Fix Products" page will be removed. Products listed in the "Invalid Listings" section will remain invalid unless the requested information is provided.

When it comes to listing issues, some sellers are starting to panic.

One seller who received this notification said that it looks like Amazon has changed the rules, but Amazon mentioned that it is recommended that sellers obtain GTINs directly from GS1 , rather than from other third parties that sell GTIN licenses . This clearly indicates that there are other parties selling GTIN codes besides GS1, and that GTINs must be reflected in the GS1 database . So this notification is a bit contradictory.

The seller further stated that it feels like Amazon is trying to push for the use of GS1 UPCs. But they are not just doing it as a rule, as these UPCs are legally valid as we will soon see.

Because there was zero risk listing on the “Fix Your Product” page , the seller said he would not change his UPC until he received an invalidation notice from Amazon .

Some sellers still face additional challenges in providing product identifiers.

One seller said, " We don't know if we can change the UPC of existing products in the Amazon catalog , given our company's GS1 certificate and the affiliation between the brand and the company ? " Another distributor said, "Most of the items we sell don't have UPC, EAN or GTIN numbers. However, we have obtained permission from the manufacturer to sell their products on Amazon, and now we don't know how to solve this problem."

Some new changes on Amazon will inevitably make some sellers uncomfortable. Sellers can provide information according to the platform prompts to ensure the security of listings and accounts.

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