It has changed! It is now history for self-employed people to register with Amazon

Currently, Amazon is in the process of registering new sellers in 2024, but sellers have found that the easy-to-use self-employed accounts are frequently rejected. Officials have confirmed that Amazon will no longer accept registration applications from self-employed businesses and will directly reject them at the first instance. And judging from the various account audits this year, it is becoming increasingly difficult for self-employed businesses to pass the verification, which has caused concerns among self-employed store sellers.

At the same time, some sellers reported that it was more difficult to register a local account on the European site, and many managers said that they would no longer provide local investment links. Sellers are facing major changes in the account registration process.

In addition, as Black Friday approaches, nine major platforms including Amazon, Temu, and TikTok Shop have launched a "customer grabbing war". Judging from the Black Friday promotion time, the promotion starts earlier and earlier, and the battle line is getting longer and longer. Consumers' peak season shopping rhythm is disrupted, and sellers are more uncertain about sales and stocking. Yesterday, many sellers paid the first peak season storage fee, and the amount was astonishing.

Individual business registration accounts have been suspended, and verification has become more difficult

Starting from November 6, many sellers who registered new Amazon accounts were turned away and were stopped during the verification process.

Amazon mentioned in a feedback email that the platform reviewed the information provided by the seller but was unable to complete the verification and the seller's account could not be activated because Amazon does not accept registrations from individual businesses.

This was a surprise to the seller community. One seller said that his account was already selling goods, but after placing an order, he encountered an account review, but the individual business review did not pass, and he is now in a very passive position. "I received a reply on the 7th, and now I don't know what to do. I opened a case and am still waiting for news."

Before this month, there were quite a few sellers who successfully completed the registration of self-employed accounts, but starting this month, self-employed accounts began to get stuck, and often encountered the unverifiable situation mentioned in the email. As we all know, Amazon has long allowed self-employed businesses to register, and this type of account accounts account for a large proportion. Last year, Amazon closed the channel for registering self-employed accounts through investment managers, but sellers can still register by themselves. Will the platform now completely reject such accounts?

This is related to account layout, and sellers have opened chat windows with investment managers. One of the sellers posted the exact reply he received:

"It has been confirmed that global sites will no longer accept registration applications from individual businesses and will directly reject them at the first instance. If you have successfully applied in the past, you will not be able to activate your sales account if you have not activated it."

Some sellers consulted several investment managers and received the same answer: it would become history for individual business owners to register for Amazon accounts.

Store registration is becoming more and more strict. The most concerned issue for sellers now is whether the self-employed stores registered earlier can still operate normally in the future, and whether the platform will gradually clear them out. There is no official response, but we can speculate based on the current situation.

Currently, self-employed accounts can operate normally, but the platform audit is becoming stricter. In recent days, some self-employed accounts have encountered qualification audits, and sellers have reported that they failed. In this year's much-talked-about consumer law audit, self-employed sellers are the most troublesome. In the first half of the audit, the platform did not even leave a channel for self-employed stores, leaving sellers with no way to start. The verification channel was only available after a long time.

Out of caution, some sellers have begun to consider backup plans, such as changing the originally registered limited company to an individual business owner of the same legal person for accounts that are currently in operation.

In addition to the fact that self-employed individuals can no longer be used to register accounts, there are also new circumstances for opening stores on the European site.

Some sellers were informed by the service provider that early in the morning of November 7, several managers informed them that they could no longer download the investment links of local European stores. All links were stopped and it was expected that they would not be downloaded again this year. The specific recovery time is yet to be determined. In other words, European sellers may only be able to register themselves for the time being, and then trigger KYC review after reaching a certain sales volume .

Registering an account is a long-term plan, not a matter of urgency. In contrast, whether the current order volume is improving and how much storage fee to pay this month are more urgent.

Amazon deducted October storage fees, and some sellers paid $100,000

Yesterday, many sellers received Amazon’s monthly storage fee list and passively completed a large payment.

Compared with last year, from October to December, the peak season monthly storage fee for large items increased by US$0.2 from US$1.2 per cubic foot to US$1.4; the peak season storage fee for standard-size items remained unchanged from last year at US$2.4 per cubic foot, but it was three times higher than the non-peak season (January-September) of US$0.87 per cubic foot.

Therefore, after Amazon charged the October storage fee, sellers really felt the pain:

"Triple storage fees, $100,000 was deducted."

"Three stores were deducted into negative numbers, more than 10,000 yuan. The current warehouse utilization surcharge is simply a robbery!"

"I spent over 5,000 dollars on this trip, but it was deducted into a negative amount. I was so confused..."

"The new store hasn't even started to grow, but the peak season storage fees are already coming."

"After deducting the storage fee for October, I want to go pick up trash. Amazon, you are so cruel!"

A seller lamented: " We already calculate our weekly shipments and inventory very carefully , but the storage fee still accounted for 4.2% in October , and this is only calculated from October 15th . " Another seller made a rough calculation and found that the storage fee is about RMB 600 per cubic meter, which is more expensive than the house he rented in Guangzhou. It is really heartbreaking.

Although Amazon previously indicated the storage fees during the peak season, some sellers did not calculate them in advance. Therefore, when the actual fees were deducted, many sellers felt that they were "far off the mark" and some of their account balances were deducted into negative numbers. Those with fast sales can still absorb this fee, but for sellers with slow sales, the storage fees plus the storage utilization surcharge are almost a blow to the head.

A seller said that the newly opened account has been limited because it has not been active for a long time. After the goods were uploaded, there were various verifications that have not been completed yet. As a result, he had to pay 820 US dollars before making any money. He was shocked.

During the peak season, all cost data are rising, and everything is "cutting" profits.

In mid-October, sellers just received a heavy blow from the peak season delivery fees, and the delivery fees of the entire store soared. Amazon stipulates that from October 15 to January 14, 2024, holiday sales peak season delivery fees will be charged. Compared with the non-peak season, the peak season delivery fees of almost every item have increased significantly, among which the small standard size has increased by US$0.2 per item, the large standard size has increased by US$0.3-0.5 per item, the small large item has increased by US$1 per item, and the medium large item has increased by US$2.5 per item.

Expenses are thrown out one by one, but this year's peak season is late, and orders are still not hot. It is even two degrees lower than in previous years. Sellers can't help but feel tired.

Overseas consumers are no longer generous during peak season shopping, and various e-commerce platforms are competing for limited shopping budgets. Amazon, AliExpress, Walmart, TikTok Shop, Temu, Wish, Shein, Meikeduo, Shopee and other platforms have extended the promotion time. The Black Friday online promotion starts earlier and longer. On November 8 or even earlier at the end of October, the promotion on the Temu platform has already started. Amazon's Black Friday promotion will not start until November 17. How much traffic is left for this platform?

More and longer online promotions have disrupted consumers' shopping rhythm during the peak season and increased sellers' uncertainty in sales and stocking. Compared with previous years, sellers need to be more careful about the amount of stock they have.