It was 8:51 pm last night, and my wife Rebecca and I were just about to start closing things down for the night when she opened up the Amazon Seller App to check on our sales. Her jaw dropped. She looked at me, showed me the screen of her phone, and said, “What is going on with our Amazon account?”
I walked over to her to get a closer look at her phone (my eyesight is just not what it used to be). We both almost had a heart attack! At the top of the screen was a message in bright orange:
I ran over to my laptop, logged into Seller Central, and saw this alert:
WHAT?!?!? What in the world is going on here?
When stuff like this happens I usually react in two ways…
- I think, “There has to be a logical explanation and the scary thing I just saw (my account is at risk) is not really going to be a bad thing.”
- My heart rate increases dramatically and I think, “If this is for real, how soon can I fix this?”
So far, in my 10+ years of selling on Amazon, there has always been a logical explanation and the scary thing I saw was not going to be a bad thing at all.
How about you? Did you have a “freak out” moment if or when you saw the “Your account is at risk of deactivation” on the Amazon Seller app or on the Seller Central homepage?
Here’s the deal… almost every Amazon seller who accessed their Amazon account last night (May 25) got this notification.
If you lost sleep over this… or if this is all brand new information for you…
Don’t worry. It’s all going to be OK.
This is just another example of Amazon not communicating very well.
Basically Amazon is going to need some updated identification verification. It’s not going to be hard, and is actually a good thing for Amazon to be doing this. In fact, they’re just following a new law called the INFORM Consumers Act. Overall, it will make Amazon an even more trustworthy place for customers to buy from. More customer trust equals more sales for everyone!
Amazon wants to make sure that all of their sellers update this information as soon as possible, so they made sure they got our attention to this needed update… They just didn’t need to give us a heart attack to let us know.
As I write this on May 26, Amazon has removed the links to update the identification information needed to comply with the INFORM Consumers Act. There were so many Amazon sellers last night that were freaking out and wanting to update their information that Seller Central was overloaded and it was very glitchy. Amazon removed the links to update this information for now, but will surely bring the links back soon.
To see if Amazon needs anything from you right now, then click here to go to your performance metrics page in Seller Central (Sign in required). If there is nothing there about the INFORM Consumer Act, then there is nothing you need to do currently about this issue… but if there are links to reverify your information, then follow through with uploading what they are requesting. If you’re having any loading issues (glitches) updating your information, then just take a break and try to come back another day (sometime soon) to update and verify whatever Amazon needs from you.
There is a deadline to get your information updated and verified, and that date is currently June 27, 2023.
I’ll be updating this page with more details as we learn them. Bookmark this page and come back to it to see what the latest information is.
Finally, remember that when Amazon makes a change or an update, they are not out “to get you” in any way. They are usually either wanting to make Amazon a better place for customers… or they are trying to be legally compliant with the latest laws and guidelines. In this case, they are doing both.
If you have any questions, feel free to post them in the comments below.
When updating your business address, there is NO selection for United States as a country. You can’t even complete the form because you can’t select the correct country.
Yes… this is a glitch right now that should be fixed soon.
I just verified my business address 2 WEEKS AGO. Amazon is being ridiculous.
It’s a new verification process and they need something different and more detailed from you. The law just passed requiring this information and that’s why they didn’t ask you for certain details before., but are now. Amazon is not being ridiculous… they are following the law. It’s just bad timing for you.
You’re always way too nice when explaining Amazon’s stupidity. To freak out millions of sellers with no communication or heads up is ridiculous. Then their servers crash when we’re all trying to find out what is going on. I opened a case and got some typical non helpful copy and paste response that had nothing whatsoever to do with this situation. That company’s stupidity never ceases to amaze me.
Amazon is 99% brilliant in how they run the reseller side of things… but sometimes that 1% can hit us hard. AZ is still the best place to make a solid full-time income, so I’ll just deal with the 1% of frustration.
Hi but I did another verification recently after I signed 2 years ago is this different thing still have to do this or I don’t have to since I did one month ago or so thank you
It’s a brand new verification process and they need something different and more detailed from you than what you gave them when you recently verified your data. The law just passed requiring this new information and that’s why they are now asking for new info to verify you.
I verified in April and re-verified May 17th and received confirmation that the process was completed. Are you saying there is something different requires since May 17th?
You’ll want to check your Seller Central homepage… and your emails to see if they’re requesting additional verification. If Amazon needs more info to be compliant with the law, they will 100% let you know.
How to use TaxID outside US? I have an account from Vietnamese, so can’t use TaxID 13 characters, can I use W-8BEN form? Regards
I’m sorry, but I am unfamiliar with what international Amazon sellers need to do.
Spin this one. Amazon sent the post card to my business address so that I could input the 6 digit code to prove that I received the postcard at my registered amazon business…. and the code failed 3 times. I took a picture of the postcard and the numbers that I put into the amazon system. The numbers were identical.
Now, I have to reorder another postcard and hope that the next code works (after it is delivered to the address that I have listed on Amazon for business address).
Oh, and Amazon’s system was showing that the postcard was in transit even though I was holding the postcard. It showed that the postcard was to be delivered on June 9th. I received it on June 3rd. Amazon is a complete joke, and I’ve sold over 7 million dollars in product on Amazon since 2009.
More than likely, my account will be deactivated because Amazon seller support and this verification process (which is a complete disaster) sucks.
This is not a perfect system, and there are obviously glitches and headaches along the way, but even though you think that “Amazon is a complete joke” I still doubt you’ll walk away from the incredible money-making opportunity that is Amazon. You have 7 million reasons not to walk away from Amazon… and you’ll learn to (like all other serious sellers) deal with the glitches and headaches, get over them as they pass, and focus on doing what you can to continue to move your business forward.
Hi. Amazon is asking me to verify that my bank statement shows my name, but it only shows my business name. What should I do? Thank you.
Does your business name match your Amazon account name?
I woke up to this this morning! June 15th! I have 12 days and pray?
My Amazon seller account finally has been reactivated after validating INFORM Consumers Act. I gave the information as soon as I was asked (about 7 months before) but it took 7 months to validate one piece information. I called them many times. I was told it was in the process, finally I gave up. During this time, all my inventory have been disposed, worth about $10k with Additional 1.5k of disposing charge. I m not sure what are the options I have now. I was doing this business only thru USA FBA. I totally have to shut down my business.
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It does not approach me. Who else, what can prompt?
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