New Amazon US account declined (Canadian biz)

jackpot · #1 10-23-2013

Hey guys. I live in Canada and have one long-time Amazon US seller account, but my first stealth account was just declined. Frustrating yet confusing. It was not linked, just declined. I'm scratching my head why this happened and have narrowed it down to:

1. Vanilla Visa (CDN currency). I registered the card in my new biz name. Even tried a 99 cent mp3 purchase (not from Amazon, from a CDN site) using the biz name + address info with no problem.

(Btw, in the past I have used many CDN VVs to buy with US stealth buyer accounts without any probs). Ghost recommends US/CDN VVs too.

2. Virtual (local) forwarded phone number (from a provider, bad number?)

3. Dial-up ISP -- was it a bad IP that was previously banned (?)

I won't get into all the details here, but I was VERY careful -- took alot of time and expense to set this all up right. Paranoid from the start.

Everything new -- registered a brand new CDN company with real local address (40 miles away), bought a new laptop (never accessed Amazon), new email, new local phone #, new local ISP+IP (dial-up, so no router), disabled WiFi. Followed Ghost to a "T".

Everything went smooth, filled out my CDN company info, phone verification was no prob... verified my tax/company info online... filled out the online W8-BEN tax form with corp info and then after completing Step 5/5, hit the final "Complete Registration" button, and bingo declined in 15 seconds. :(

Note: The only difference between my last application (success) and this is that I used my real personal Visa card and my real name under First/Last in the application, instead of using my company name now -- but others have done this too, so I don't think that's the problem here.

I have a hunch it was either the Visa or a previously banned phone # or IP from my ISP. Has anyone had recent problems using a CDN Vanilla Visa on Amazon US? Or any alternatives that work 100%?

Or maybe I'm the 1% of random (makes no freakin' sense) declines that I have read about here.

If any fellow Canadians creating stealth accounts and selling on Amazon US can help I would really appreciate it.

Btw... I can set up a US corp, but I'm trying to avoid all the cross border tax paperwork and accounting fees. When I set up my first CDN corp to sell on Amazon US, it went smoothly. Not this time unfortunately.

Another person here also suggested setting up a personal US Amazon account (using a CDN address and phone) and then changing it to Personal Seller and then Professional Seller account. Might try that next.

Thanks in advance!

TonyAlmeida · #2 10-24-2013

- How old is that corp you used?
- Did you see and check the box said something like "if your corp is less than 60 days, check here" or something?

jackpot · #3 10-24-2013

The corp was registered about 2 weeks ago. I do not recall seeing a check box like that.

TonyAlmeida · #4 10-24-2013

If you signup for U.S Pro merchant account from the start, you will see that note with check box.

jackpot · #5 10-24-2013

Ok. I thought I was being careful. But it looks like I may have missed that. :(

The problem now is, I have a corp name and address that was already declined. Can I slightly modify the corp name and address, get new phone #, new email, new Visa, new VMware install, new IP and re-apply?

Or must corp name and address be completely different/new?

Thanks for your help.

TonyAlmeida · #6 10-24-2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackpot

Ok. I thought I was being careful. But it looks like I may have missed that. :(

The problem now is, I have a corp name and address that was already declined. Can I slightly modify the corp name and address, get new phone #, new email, new Visa, new VMware install, new IP and re-apply?

Or must corp name and address be completely different/new?

Thanks for your help.

Everything must be new.

On this account you said it was declined, can you log-in to this account and check all the note from performance tab?

jackpot · #7 10-24-2013

I just logged in. There is no performance tab. No menu. The page is "Setting Up Your Account". The URL is /gp/express-boarding/registration/components/dashboard.html

The msg on the top of the page says in green "Congratulations! Your account setup is complete!". Beside that msg is a button that says "Complete Registration" button. When I click on that button, I get the declined msg.

Also, on that same page is shows "Your account setup is 100% (5/5). On the page it shows a summary of all my company info (seller info, identity verification, tax identity verification, charge method...etc) with Completed (in bold green) beside each of the 5 sections.

Bottom of the page has the "Complete Registration" button again.

Hope this helps.

rsot · #8 10-24-2013

What company did you use for the local forwarded phone number?

jackpot · #9 10-24-2013

The company I used was Sonetel

TonyAlmeida · #10 10-24-2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackpot

I just logged in. There is no performance tab. No menu. The page is "Setting Up Your Account". The URL is /gp/express-boarding/registration/components/dashboard.html

The msg on the top of the page says in green "Congratulations! Your account setup is complete!". Beside that msg is a button that says "Complete Registration" button. When I click on that button, I get the declined msg.

Also, on that same page is shows "Your account setup is 100% (5/5). On the page it shows a summary of all my company info (seller info, identity verification, tax identity verification, charge method...etc) with Completed (in bold green) beside each of the 5 sections.

Bottom of the page has the "Complete Registration" button again.

Hope this helps.

Never got a declined account so I'm not sure what you are talking about.

Could you please take all the screenshot and blur out your information and post it here?

Thank you

jackpot · #11 10-25-2013

Here is a screenshot... (I also received a "Welcome to Amazon" email. Very weird.)

TonyAlmeida · #12 10-25-2013

What happen if you click on the gold complete registration button?

rsot · #13 10-25-2013

Any possibility of the phone number from Sonetel being reused?

jackpot · #14 10-25-2013

If I press on the complete registration button, instead of "Congratulations! Account setup is complete", it displays a red message that my application has been declined.

I suppose there is a small chance that the Sonetel number was used before. But, they have many numbers in inventory for the particular area code I chose.

Phd · #15 10-25-2013

You said "Note: The only difference between my last application (success) and this is that I used my real personal Visa card and my real name under First/Last in the application, instead of using my company name now -- but others have done this too, so I don't think that's the problem here."

Has the card or name been used before?

Did you use an American bank account?

I'm guessing you got these right, just double checking.

Will be doing the same very soon, so will be following closely.

rsot · #16 10-25-2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phd

You said "Note: The only difference between my last application (success) and this is that I used my real personal Visa card and my real name under First/Last in the application, instead of using my company name now -- but others have done this too, so I don't think that's the problem here."

Has the card or name been used before?

Did you use an American bank account?

I'm guessing you got these right, just double checking.

Will be doing the same very soon, so will be following closely.

Correct step to check too - perhaps used...but then you would see the message that this card has been used before...

jackpot · #17 10-25-2013

It was a new CDN Vanilla Visa card registered online to my new company name + address.

You don't have to provide bank info when you apply to Amazon, so that was not an issue.

Still scratching my head on this one.