Remaining Questions after reading Amazon Ghost!

[Anoteolderpop]

Dear Forum Users,

meanwhile I purchased Amazon Ghost via Paypal, very easy and smoothly. I read through it during the afternoon and must say it delivers some really good insight to the ways, Amazon suspends and links seller account. If I had known some of that earlier, I would not have wasted so many bank accounts.

For me, some additional questions remain.

To help me with my questions, you must know that I have been mainly active on amazon.de, amazon.fr and amazon.uk, home marketplace based in Germany.

1. Bank account question: For my "new" account, I could use a UK bank account, which is not in my name, but in a friend´s, who has never been using Amazon in any way. You might know, that Amazon recently introduced the Amazon Europe Marketplace Account. This means, one account is enough to access the marketplaces in UK, Germany, France and theoretically Italy and Spain (Restrictions remain: For accessing Italy and Spain you still need an Italian/Spanish bank account) To register this European marketplace account you need a bank account, which is based in the UK, the USA, France, Germany or Austria. So I could play it: Register with a UK address and a UK bank account or register with a German addresss and a UK bank account. Do you think, it would raise any flags with Amazon, if I used a German postal address with a UK bank account? I mean, in the end, that´s what the European seller account was created for, right?

2. Bank account question 2: In Amazon Ghost Aspkin writes: "What Amazon is looking for is just a new account number. They cannot verify the name on your bank account. And yes Amazon will ask for the name, but again they cannot verify this information so just input the same name you got in step four above." Does that mean, if I used a new bank account in my name, (a name that has been banned from Amazon before) I just put in the new account details and a different "⊗⊗⊗⊗" name? Does that work with the German banking system or is this only verified for the US banking system?

3. Connection question: Do you think, it is generally safe, if I used a different 3G mobile broadband card (o2, vodafone etc.) with every account I will open in the future? Same brand new computer, but different virtual machine for every account? Would this be regarded a safe setup in general?


Thanks for your help!

sk778

[Anoteolderpop]

No one having any ideas on my questions?

[SirTacoGrande]

I don't live in Europe so I can't help with every question but let's see:

1) I don't see why it would raise red flags but I'm not 100% sure. The best way is to try it and see if it works. Then, come back and let us all know

2) In the states, I know the Am..on can't get the name associated with the account. After all, people use so many nicknames or shortened versions or their name that no computer could match them. Being verified by a human would take forever. Only the bank knows the name and account number and as we've found out, some banks only match the account number during a deposit and some try to match the name and number. Just have to learn who is who.

3) Absolutely! Using parallels on a mac with several different versions of windows and mac in VM's has worked. Using each one with a different mobile broadband stick (card) hasn't failed me yet.

Good luck and tell us what you learn. I'd like to get into the European market someday.

[Anoteolderpop]

Hi Sir TacoGrande,

I have been engaged in the European Market for over 4 years, but a few twists made me "retire", now I have almost finished my plannings to get back on.

First, let me thank you for reading my thread and offering your help.

1) Personally I think both setups should be okay and could not be a possibility for Amazon to shut down the account.

2) I got it, in Amazon you enter whatever name is associated with your Amazon account in the bank information, being it ⊗⊗⊗⊗ or your friends friends sister. Amazon account registered to Dagobert Duck, bank account in reality goes with Daisy Duck, banking info shows Dagobert Duck AC No. 0000000 etc.

I know, that this also works with some banks in the German system, since quite some time German banks are no longer legally obliged to compare receiver´s name and account data. I tried it out by sending money between two of my German current accounts in a different name and no problems occured. Since it is just a "You do not have to do it" thing, there might be a lot of banks, who still compare, due to security reasons.

3. Concerning my setup: I was thinking to buy a cheap laptop in the 300€ range with two different 3g broadband cards. Since you were talking about a MAC, is there a advantage to it in terms of Amazoning?

Is it better to install two virtual machines for two accounts or let one run on the original system and the other one in a virtual machine?
In both cases the systems would have different MAC-addresses, right?

Is it better to install different system os on the original system and the virtual machine respectively both virtual machines?

Thanks for clarifying,
sk778

[Optimus]

Originally Posted by sk778

Hi Sir TacoGrande,

I have been engaged in the European Market for over 4 years, but a few twists made me "retire", now I have almost finished my plannings to get back on.

First, let me thank you for reading my thread and offering your help.

1) Personally I think both setups should be okay and could not be a possibility for Amazon to shut down the account.

2) I got it, in Amazon you enter whatever name is associated with your Amazon account in the bank information, being it ⊗⊗⊗⊗ or your friends friends sister. Amazon account registered to Dagobert Duck, bank account in reality goes with Daisy Duck, banking info shows Dagobert Duck AC No. 0000000 etc.

I know, that this also works with some banks in the German system, since quite some time German banks are no longer legally obliged to compare receiver´s name and account data. I tried it out by sending money between two of my German current accounts in a different name and no problems occured. Since it is just a "You do not have to do it" thing, there might be a lot of banks, who still compare, due to security reasons.

3. Concerning my setup: I was thinking to buy a cheap laptop in the 300€ range with two different 3g broadband cards. Since you were talking about a MAC, is there a advantage to it in terms of Amazoning?

Is it better to install two virtual machines for two accounts or let one run on the original system and the other one in a virtual machine?
In both cases the systems would have different MAC-addresses, right?

Is it better to install different system os on the original system and the virtual machine respectively both virtual machines?

Thanks for clarifying,
sk778

Hi this is really helpful, Also to be sure i think in Amazon Ghost he suggest mispelling your own name slightly So if you open a Amazon Ghost account in the name of Bob Thornton and your Bank Card Name is Bobby Thornton you should be fine

[rsot]

Excellent discussion abotu foreign market.