What is Amazon KYC review? An article tells you how to review and process Amazon KYC

What is KYC?

Know Your Customer, in simple terms, means reviewing and filing the conditions of account holders, which is the institutional basis for preventing corruption and anti-money laundering internationally.

According to the requirements of relevant European regulatory authorities, Amazon is obliged to conduct KYC audits on sellers who open stores on European platforms (including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, etc.). When sellers reach a certain sales amount when selling on the European site, a KYC review will be triggered. Sellers must submit all information truthfully and can only continue selling after passing the review.

For European accounts, KYC review is a necessary step for the account. Therefore, sellers who want to enter the European market must prepare information early in case of emergency.

KYC audit requirements

Generally speaking, sellers have filled in the corresponding account information as required when registering an account, but when the cumulative sales amount of the seller's account reaches 5,000 euros or more, Amazon will begin to require sellers to conduct KYC review. If the KYC review is not passed when the cumulative sales volume reaches 15,000 euros, the sales rights will be suspended until the review is passed.

Although it will take some time for the cumulative sales to increase from 5,000 euros to 15,000 euros, given that the information required for the review is cumbersome and prone to omissions, it is recommended that you prepare for the KYC review at the beginning of your account registration.

Especially in the second half of last year, Amazon upgraded its KYC audit, which was more stringent and picky than before. Due to insufficient preparation, many sellers on the European site had their accounts restricted and missed the peak season, resulting in a large backlog of inventory. In the new year, we must learn from this and make preparations early!

Information required for KYC review

1. Scanned copy of the company’s business license. (Individual sellers do not need to provide)

2. Scanned copies of the passports of the company's main contact person and beneficiary (beneficiary refers to a natural person or legal person who holds a stake equal to or greater than 25% in the company) (if no passport is available, the front and back of the ID card plus the personal page of the household registration booklet can be used instead).

3. Company expense bill:

Any company daily expense bill within the last 90 days (including water, electricity, gas, internet, telephone, social insurance, bank statements, etc.);

It must be issued by a formal institution (public utility, bank, etc.);

The invoice must include the company name and detailed address, which should be consistent with the business license. If the seller's actual operating address is elsewhere, the address on the invoice should be the actual operating address. (Sellers who use mainland companies to register European sites do not need to provide this bill, but sellers who use Hong Kong or Taiwan companies to register need to provide this company bill.)

Screenshots of online statements are acceptable, provided there is a complete link to the webpage.

4. Personal expense bills:

Any personal daily expense bill of the primary contact and beneficiary within the last 90 days (daily expenses include water, electricity, gas, internet, TV, telephone, mobile phone, etc. bills or credit card statements, etc.);

It must be issued by a formal institution (public utility, bank, etc.);

The bill must include your name and detailed residential address;

If the bill is in the name of a spouse, a marriage certificate must also be submitted;

If the bill is in the name of the landlord (must be a corporate landlord), a formal house rental contract is required to prove the relationship. Screenshots of online bills are accepted, provided that there is a complete web link.

If the seller is unable to provide the above personal bills, his/her residence permit or temporary residence permit is also acceptable.

5. Bank statement (choose one)

(1) Company-to-public bank statement: Open a company-to-public bank statement from any bank.

Billing requirements:

• Must have a company name that is consistent with the company name on the business license;

• The bank’s name or logo must be clearly visible;

• Must have a bank account number opened with the bank;

• If the bill has a date, it must be issued within 180 days. If it has a date, it is also acceptable. Individual sellers must provide personal bank statements, with the same requirements as above.

• The seller may conceal the records of cash flow for confidentiality reasons. The seller can use the public account opening license instead;

• An offshore bank account for receiving payments. It is recommended that sellers use the company's public account as the payment account. Amazon can accept bank accounts opened in the United States, the United Kingdom, EU countries, Hong Kong, Australia, etc. as receiving accounts, and also accepts overseas cards issued by agents such as Payoneer or World First.

(2) P card bill:

• This P card must be a company P card, that is, a P card account registered with the company;

• It must be a P card bill within the last 3 months, and this bill can be issued by contacting the P card customer service.

6. Authorization letter: If the primary contact person is not the legal person or beneficiary of the company, Amazon will require the seller to provide an authorization letter from the legal person of the company authorizing the primary contact person to actually operate the account.

KYC considerations

1. Fill in the requirements

a. Please be sure to fill in the company and personal information truthfully, and upload authentic documents and materials. Any attempt to evade or bypass the audit by improperly filling in information or falsifying materials may result in failure to pass the audit and the store being closed. (The document must be a complete high-definition color photo scan of the original to ensure authenticity. Stealing of photos is strictly prohibited.)

b. The company's name is all in Chinese pinyin to ensure accuracy.

c. For Hong Kong companies, fill in the English name of the company as stated on the registration certificate. (Avoid translating English names that sound similar to Chinese names, as Amazon will not recognize them.)

d. Each input box: The company registration address must not exceed 50 characters per line, and other addresses must not exceed 60 characters per line, including spaces and punctuation marks.

2. KYC review allows multiple submissions of information, please be cautious when submitting repeatedly. It is recommended that sellers ask investment managers or experienced sellers to check and review their products before submitting them, if possible, to ensure that they are correct.

Note: For company information with more than three shareholders, you need to be more cautious when submitting information. If it fails the review once, there is a high possibility that the account will be affected.

3. When submitting materials for review, you must not use Photoshop, even if you are just photoshopping the front and back of your ID card into one picture. Amazon will never approve any material that shows even the slightest trace of photo editing.

Suggestion: Combine multiple pages of information or images into a PDF before submitting the information.

4. Amazon's European site is divided into 5 sites (England, Germany, France, Italy and Spain). It is recommended that sellers ensure that all information in the backend is correct before binding the payment account, and add all the payment methods of the five sites at the same time to avoid re-joining the KYC review process when adding them in the future.

5. It is best to use the complete information of the legal person, as the chances of passing will be higher.

6. The review time is generally three to five days, and it may be extended if the number of items to be reviewed is large.

KYC is a normal routine investigation, and Amazon has reason to know the legitimacy of its sellers. As long as sellers are fully prepared, there is no need to be afraid of it. In addition, one thing that needs to be noted is that if the seller changes the payment account on Amazon, there is a possibility of triggering KYC in advance.