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New US INFORM Consumers Act imposes new requirements for sellers
 

Just received this new Email on Amazon couple hours ago:

New US INFORM Consumers Act imposes new requirements for sellers

Hello,

The INFORM Consumers Act takes effect in the US on June 27, 2023. This law places obligations on high-volume third-party sellers to provide, and on Amazon to collect, verify, and disclose, information about their businesses.

To ensure a trusted store for both customers and sellers, Amazon already maintains and continues to innovate on robust processes for collecting and verifying sellers’ business information during and after registration. While many of these processes are more sophisticated and effective than the basic requirements of the INFORM Consumers Act, this new law requires us to take certain additional steps to verify information related to high-volume sellers.
You may be required to provide information about your business for verification, such as your name, a government-issued identification document, a business address, bank account information, a working email address, a working phone number, and a tax identification number. You may also be required to annually certify that your information is current.
In most cases, if you already completed verification for any of the required information, you won’t need to submit it again, as long as your information hasn’t changed.
If you need to take further action, we will contact you via email with specific instructions. We ask that you respond to these messages within the specified timeline, as the law may require us to deactivate your selling account until you successfully complete verification.
We recommend you go to your Account Information now to confirm that all of your business information is accurate and current:



To learn more about the INFORM Consumers Act, go to "About the INFORM Consumers Act":



We have also updated the "Amazon Services Business Solutions Agreement" for consistency with the new law. To learn more, go to "Changes to the Amazon Services Business Solutions Agreement":



The Amazon Services team

Re: New US INFORM Consumers Act imposes new requirements for sellers
 

it is not something substantially new except that they want to make some personal information available to the public for business accounts

Re: New US INFORM Consumers Act imposes new requirements for sellers
 

Hey, how did you end up handling this?

We received this email on May 11th & running a US stealth account since April 2015.

Re: New US INFORM Consumers Act imposes new requirements for sellers
 

They're requesting tax I'd or national tax number.. do they verify it?

Re: New US INFORM Consumers Act imposes new requirements for sellers
 

What is the difference?

They request tax ID numbers (EIN).

Re: New US INFORM Consumers Act imposes new requirements for sellers
 

What is the difference?

They request tax ID numbers (EIN).

Yes,they do/

Since AMZN is a global e commerce company,it probably can verify in countries like UK,Germany,Australia,not sure it can do so with every country

do whatever it asks,

do what they ask you to do.
of course they want to check if the number really exists.

seller return address is usually shown on the shipping label.
some would use a PO box .

Did you guys get an email from AMZN,it is charging 2% extra for item sold by Prime third party seller?
If you are selling to AMZN buyers who have a prime account and pledge to live up to AMZN prime standards?

I received an email and I am not one of the prime third party sellers.
If you are overseas,I dont think you would be a prime seller.

“We’re updating our requirements for Seller Fulfilled Prime to ensure that it provides customers a great and consistent Prime experience,” the notice states.
-------------
How is charging sellers an extra 2% help the seller provides Prime buyers a great consistent prime experience?

Business must have slowed down a lot,I hardly see any Blue CAre Express van anymore in my neighborhood.
Our local mail service shop which handles Fed Exp,UPS and DHL has a large empty box for anyone shipping USPS can drop off Ebay and AMZN packages for USPS pickup went from one large box to 3 boxes,now these boxes are only half full.
It also has a jar for TIPS!
It looks like people now prefer to shop in brick and mortar stores,I go to Walmart sometimes.

There are some advantages of Fullfillment by AMZN,it has more warehouses spread out worldwide,if your goods are made in China,you can ask the factory to ship some to their Australia,HK,JAPAN,Malaysia warehouses.
Some distributors and manufacturers prefer AMZN than running their own warehouse.
Of course there is one problem,for unsold inventory,you can ask AMZN to destroy or return them to you,but it cant find you a buyer to takeover.
AMZN also is reviving its carrier delivery business,compete vs Fed EXP and UPS/
And the Justice Dept is getting ready to take on AMZN for its practice.also teamster next target is AMZN,stay tuned

But not many AMZN workers are members of Teamster though,before you can strike,you must have enough members/
The one to watch is UAW vs F,GM,STL?
Their war chest is $850 millions,strikers get $500/week while on strike,and some states may grant unemployment benefits while on strike.

please dont call them slaves,no one forces them to work at AMZN

I recall back in the early days,Bestbuy was selling on AMZN,then it realised it is helping AMZN more than it helps BBY,so it started promoting its own website,so did other big companies.
WMT never bother,it bought Jet.com which flopped,but WMT.COM has done well.

AMZN will time an employee going to the bathroom .

Re: New US INFORM Consumers Act imposes new requirements for sellers
 

What about the tax number for non-resident USA accounts .......how can Amazon verify those ? Do they ask us for letter fdom relevant national government tax department?

Re: New US INFORM Consumers Act imposes new requirements for sellers
 

highly doubt unless some major investigation is going on

Re: New US INFORM Consumers Act imposes new requirements for sellers
 

Yes somehow they can verify it BUT I would like to know what they are checking. Just if the number is true or also active etc?

Did you hade to upload a document with your EIN or other Tax number on it? Or just entered into the page?

Re: New US INFORM Consumers Act imposes new requirements for sellers
 

When they emailed you they are asking for a specific set of docs, correct?

Give them those. I'm sure you have them since you made your accounts originally

Re: New US INFORM Consumers Act imposes new requirements for sellers
 

it is usually straight forward to pass this, sometimes you need to change a few things around, but if you have the docs then you will be good

Re: New US INFORM Consumers Act imposes new requirements for sellers
 

I got that email from EBAY today where they are saying that they are going to give out my name/address to each buyer in the sold email from June 27 onwards.
Anyone else?

Re: New US INFORM Consumers Act imposes new requirements for sellers
 

Nothing says the address has to be your residence, it can be a Po box or business address i'd say

Re: New US INFORM Consumers Act imposes new requirements for sellers
 

Because it is spam, people... C"mon

Re: New US INFORM Consumers Act imposes new requirements for sellers
 

Hi Friend, It seems like your question is not entirely clear. Could you please provide more context or rephrase your question so that I can better understand what you're asking? Are you asking whether a specific entity or organization asks for a letter from a relevant national government tax department? If so, could you provide more details about the situation or the organization in question?

Re: New US INFORM Consumers Act imposes new requirements for sellers
 

I saw a news article about that, I believe it only applies to seller fulfilled Prime, which is not relevant to 99.99% of sellers.

Re: New US INFORM Consumers Act imposes new requirements for sellers
 

I didn't get the memo about that whatsoever.

Re: New US INFORM Consumers Act imposes new requirements for sellers
 

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/16/amaz...-packages.html

Neither did I, but CNBC's a pretty reliable source. Funny how sellers need to find these things out from the news instead of Amazon themselves.

Re: New US INFORM Consumers Act imposes new requirements for sellers
 

Oh it's FBM sellers who want a prime batch....

Re: New US INFORM Consumers Act imposes new requirements for sellers
 

No, it's their seller fulfilled prime program, which is limited to very few sellers. The requirements to be eligible basically mean you need to have a fulfillment network of your own to realistically qualify. Most FBM sellers are small timers who wouldn't even come close to qualifying.

Re: New US INFORM Consumers Act imposes new requirements for sellers
 

the network aspect makes that group of sellers quite exclusive

Re: New US INFORM Consumers Act imposes new requirements for sellers
 

I kinda understand why Amazon's making that move though.

Running your own fulfillment network is expensive as it is, and the reason some sellers justify it is they have control over the fulfillment process for expensive items that need care handling (and for those items that 2% fee increase has a real impact). It's to push those sellers to reduce or completely eliminate their fulfillment network and to use FBA instead. One reason people cite as a benefit for FBM (or in this case, seller fulfilled prime) is that it's cheaper than FBA. NOT true unless you're fulfilling orders yourself and aren't counting the value of your own time. Having amazon tack on additional fees to use the seller fulfilled prime program will break a lot of these companies.

You have to keep in mind that a normal company doesn't have the technology Amazon does, and they don't have the monopoly power to treat employees like slaves. Amazon's playing the long game here, by weakening sellers who run their own fulfillment networks, if any of them scale down or shut down, it increases Amazon's monopoly power even more.

Re: New US INFORM Consumers Act imposes new requirements for sellers
 

teamster next target :lol: good one

Re: New US INFORM Consumers Act imposes new requirements for sellers
 

great war chest with nice kickbacks on top

Re: New US INFORM Consumers Act imposes new requirements for sellers
 

One big difference is between Amazon and the auto workers is working a car assembly line is a somewhat skilled job. It's not that easy to just dump all your workers and replace them all.

If Amazon's facing a strike you can bet they'll hire replacement workers and will refuse to give in to any demands. Even if that fulfillment center takes a big loss they'll do it to stand their ground, because if they give in then every other FC is going to get the motivation to unionize as well.

Amazon's in a much better position to defend themselves against a union as they rely on technology to oversee their slaves, which greatly reduces the amount of training they need to give them. When you can get new hires up and running with 1 day of training, the incentive to negotiate with a union that's striking just isn't there.

Re: New US INFORM Consumers Act imposes new requirements for sellers
 

There's been a lot of complaints from the workers themselves that Amazon treats them like slaves. It really is a terrible place to work. If it wasn't for that fact the risk of unionization would be fairly low as short term workers aren't that interested in bothering with a union.

Re: New US INFORM Consumers Act imposes new requirements for sellers
 

Hi Guys,
Amazon's seller fulfilled prime program is quite exclusive, catering to a select few sellers. Eligibility hinges on having a robust fulfillment network, a challenge for many FBM small-scale sellers.

Re: New US INFORM Consumers Act imposes new requirements for sellers
 

Hi guys.

Sorry if this is a dumb one....

If you have a US Amazon stealth account, and then get hit with the inform consumers act verification, how are you supposed to pass this?

If you update all of the requested information, then it'll show your real identity and Amazon will link your account with whatever original account you once had and suspend you right?

Any advice/links to other posts about this would be really appreciated cheers

Re: New US INFORM Consumers Act imposes new requirements for sellers
 

I suggest you make a brand new thread so we respond to you directly on this.

Re: New US INFORM Consumers Act imposes new requirements for sellers
 

You're absolutely right! Amazon’s Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP) program is indeed selective, requiring a strong fulfillment network and consistent performance. Many small FBM sellers face challenges meeting these requirements, especially with shipping speeds and inventory management. For those who can make it work, it’s a great way to access Prime customers.

Re: New US INFORM Consumers Act imposes new requirements for sellers
 

Amazon typically requires a tax identification number (TIN) for non-residents to comply with U.S. tax regulations. Non-resident sellers are often asked to provide their own country’s tax identification number (TIN) or equivalent. They generally do not require a letter from the relevant national tax authority, but the TIN should be valid and properly issued.

Re: New US INFORM Consumers Act imposes new requirements for sellers
 

Hi Guys,
The new US INFORM Consumers Act introduces important changes for sellers, requiring them to verify their identities and provide detailed business information. This aims to increase transparency and reduce fraud in online marketplaces. Sellers must now comply with stricter requirements to ensure trust and safety for consumers in the digital marketplace.

Re: New US INFORM Consumers Act imposes new requirements for sellers
 

The modern US Advise Shoppers Act reinforces straightforwardness by requiring online venders to confirm their characters and give exact contact subtle elements. This makes a difference ensure buyers from extortion, increments responsibility on marketplaces, and guarantees more secure, more dependable online shopping encounters for all shoppers.
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