VAT verification via KYC email address - new thread Amazon response.
Sorry for starting a new thread but I got a response for opening a case - The case is about the endless information requested (and sent) with no resolution. See below -
My name is xxxxxxxx, and I'll be happy to assist you today. Thank you for reaching out to us regarding the information requested as per the EU VAT on e-Commerce (EU VOEC) Legislation – 2021. I know how important this is for your business. We appreciate your commitment to providing the best customer experience. We are working on an issue already identified causing emails not to be able to reach us when writing to kyc etc etc. This might be the reason why the same documents are requested again. Our technicians are working on resolving the issue. In the meantime, we advise you to try again later, by sending the required information from your main email account on Seller Central. You can also reply to the notification received after logging in to Seller Central using your primary email address.
As per the notification received, you need to send: Provide one of the following documents issued by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) that is within the last year: -- Class 2 National Insurance Contributions (NICs) Bill -- Online VAT Certificate -- Self-Assessment notice to complete a tax return -- Letter confirming your Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) number -- Self Assessment Statement -- Short Tax Return We can also accept the following documents issued by HMRC: -- Certificate of Registration for Value Added Tax (VAT) -- "Welcome to Self-Assessment" letter confirming your UTR number -- Letter confirming your VAT number, following a VAT1 application. If you are unable to provide any of these documents, you can request a Confirmation of Unique Taxpayer Reference letter by calling HMRC and asking for the Self-Assessment Department. The letter may take two weeks to arrive by mail. Thank you for selling with Amazon
I can condense it -
There is an issue with the KYC email address we are communicating with - in other words its not working.
As usual you are asked to wait - Is this a joke Amazon is with holding funds including VAT which has to be paid to HMRC. So you are threatened with the deactivation of your account and being charged for all VAT charged since 2021 - even though paid to HMRC already.
Send the information again - This is to the same address which that SS stated is not working......
So all in all - its a mess. I am getting responses from an email address that does not work. It is unknown whether the response is from a person or a bot. I suspect its a bot - hence it endlessly asks for the same information.
You also paste the KYC address into this post as a pparantly is a non Amazon URL!
Come on Amazon - its not that hard is it??
VAT verification via KYC email address - new thread Amazon response.
Sorry for starting a new thread but I got a response for opening a case - The case is about the endless information requested (and sent) with no resolution. See below -
My name is xxxxxxxx, and I'll be happy to assist you today. Thank you for reaching out to us regarding the information requested as per the EU VAT on e-Commerce (EU VOEC) Legislation – 2021. I know how important this is for your business. We appreciate your commitment to providing the best customer experience. We are working on an issue already identified causing emails not to be able to reach us when writing to kyc etc etc. This might be the reason why the same documents are requested again. Our technicians are working on resolving the issue. In the meantime, we advise you to try again later, by sending the required information from your main email account on Seller Central. You can also reply to the notification received after logging in to Seller Central using your primary email address.
As per the notification received, you need to send: Provide one of the following documents issued by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) that is within the last year: -- Class 2 National Insurance Contributions (NICs) Bill -- Online VAT Certificate -- Self-Assessment notice to complete a tax return -- Letter confirming your Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) number -- Self Assessment Statement -- Short Tax Return We can also accept the following documents issued by HMRC: -- Certificate of Registration for Value Added Tax (VAT) -- "Welcome to Self-Assessment" letter confirming your UTR number -- Letter confirming your VAT number, following a VAT1 application. If you are unable to provide any of these documents, you can request a Confirmation of Unique Taxpayer Reference letter by calling HMRC and asking for the Self-Assessment Department. The letter may take two weeks to arrive by mail. Thank you for selling with Amazon
I can condense it -
There is an issue with the KYC email address we are communicating with - in other words its not working.
As usual you are asked to wait - Is this a joke Amazon is with holding funds including VAT which has to be paid to HMRC. So you are threatened with the deactivation of your account and being charged for all VAT charged since 2021 - even though paid to HMRC already.
Send the information again - This is to the same address which that SS stated is not working......
So all in all - its a mess. I am getting responses from an email address that does not work. It is unknown whether the response is from a person or a bot. I suspect its a bot - hence it endlessly asks for the same information.
You also paste the KYC address into this post as a pparantly is a non Amazon URL!
Come on Amazon - its not that hard is it??
0 replies
Seller_ZVAz3d5lZuGid
And this bit, to quote "We appreciate your commitment to providing the best customer experience". - obviously a cut and paste platitude sentence chosen form a list of possibilities !
This whole debacle has nothing to do with customer experience ! - it is WE, the sellers who they are messing with.
Seller_CJAn9FclIoBJn
Now see new reply - different to the first and totally disregards all the information provided. Could not make it up!
Please note the info from the first Amazon response - This response does not mention email systems that do not work. Or the fact we have responded 3 times since their last request for docs- with no answer.
Another cut and pasted email which answers or helps with anything.
I have responded again.....
My name is xxxxxxx and it's my pleasure to assist you today. Thank you for reaching out. I hope you're doing well. I understand that you're having issue with the documentation UK and EU VAT on E-commerce legislation. I'm sorry for any inconvenience caused. Allow me to assure you that the documents are being reviewed carefully by our internal team in accordance with this new legislation. As per the most recent notification, you still need to send the additional information. I understand that you have already sent some documents previously but kindly follow the instructions received in the most recent notification in order to complete this verification process. Please make sure that the documents are complete and are one of the following documents: Provide one of the following documents issued by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) that is within the last year: -- Class 2 National Insurance Contributions (NICs) Bill -- Online VAT Certificate -- Self-Assessment notice to complete a tax return -- Letter confirming your Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) number -- Self Assessment Statement -- Short Tax Return We can also accept the following documents issued by HMRC: -- Certificate of Registration for Value Added Tax (VAT) -- "Welcome to Self-Assessment" letter confirming your UTR number -- Letter confirming your VAT number, following a VAT1 application. If you are unable to provide any of these documents, you can request a Confirmation of Unique Taxpayer Reference letter by calling HMRC and asking for the Self-Assessment Department. The letter may take two weeks to arrive by mail
As my colleague informed you, kindly send the requested documents to the email indicated. We have forwarded a note internally in case there's any technical issue with the email reception and the responsible team will reach out to you if it's necessary. Please note that once you provide all of the necessary documentation, our review of your documents may take up to 14 days. We will also inform you if any documents are missing. If our review is successful, your responsibility to remit value-added tax (VAT) directly on your Business to Customer (B2C) sales in the UK or EU will be restored. If the verification is successful, the disbursements will be restored automatically. We appreciate your patience and cooperation. I wish you a good day ahead! Please let us know how we did. Were you satisfied with the support provided?
Seller_CJAn9FclIoBJn
We have still have the same Unmet VAT and place of establishment banner on the performance page.
No disbursement - a building unavailable balance. No phone back service, no live chat service - no one answers any phone call that appears to connect and an internal error pops up on live chat. No response to cases.
Terrific - currently owed around £34k.
You could not make it up - cases created are marked as resolved and sent to another department who do not make contact. Any email sent just results in a new case being created. We have around 9 cases - only one is relevant and 1 has been trasferred with no resolution.
Imagine if you could speak to someone - like a human - you could sort this out in around 5 minutes. Imagine this as a concept - a seller support service which functioned. Instead we have a case system that is ignored or random jumbled cut and pasted emails made from templates.
Seller_AVteysPitiEJq
So the system is broken but why do they continue to throw sellers under the bus and carry on this fiasco?
Why use the same process when it's not working correctly?
Seller_SA3YifGgwUMKG
This first email includes the paragraph:
"Note that you have to send the documents required using your Amazon seller central Registered email id. It will take us up to 3 days to review the documents provided by you. At any point, if we conclude based on the provided documentary evidence that your company is established in the UK, we will release your disbursements within 24 hours of completing the verification. This will become available to you as per your normal payment cycle."
In the five emails I have received since (each one asking for a different cut and paste single item) this has changed to:
"Please note that once you provide all of the necessary documentation, our review of your documents may take up to 14 days. We will also inform you if any documents are missing. If our review is successful, your responsibility to remit value-added tax (VAT) directly on your Business to Customer (B2C) sales in the UK or EU will be restored."
Seller_H4jeo2EMRASUP
Morning,
We have exactly the same issue, asking for the same documents day after day. We have had our funds held since 1st December.
We have had to have a solicitor to write up a letter, they specialize with Amazon account issues. They are also going to try and claim expenses of the case against Amazon.
We did not want to go this way but due to the negligence of the staff/robot we have had to.
Seller_CJAn9FclIoBJn
We were verified in the end but it took 8 days of solid emailing - The main case we have opened has never been replied to. Got a connection on the call back feature which rang for 33 minutes before I put it down, The live chat connected but no Amazon associate ever joined so I gave up. The only real response was from a mod on here telling us (all) to open a case - even though this is the help forum. I did open a case (long before the mod appeared) with no response other than a transfer of the first case opened - there were numerous cases we shut down as they were pointless and about the same issue. Each time we emailed KYC or verification their response was to open a new case and not answer it.
I am used to stress with Amazon, poor seller support etc but this recent one was a big knock - it has caused me to think about what we are actually doing here. Our listings are constantly messed around with by Amazons algorithims adding nonsensical information. It usually takes 3 days and 15 emails to remove it as the attributes are not in a form we can edit. Bulk upload causes more issues and removing and relisting items is dangerous - it can lead to the listing failing due to some weird conflict within Amazons own systems.
Its almost like its some sort of experiment to see if the company can mentally break you.
No chance of ever going FBA which we thought about - that would have left us with huge amounts of stock stranded through verification.
I think we have reached the high water mark with Amazon. Its just an unreliable partner (if it is a partnership). In the last 5 years it has got worse, not better. Imagine what Amazon would be capable of if their sellers were motivated. We sell well into a 6 figure sum on here and do not even have an account manager. We tried a 'starter programme' to look at FBA - even though we are not new starters - where there was a contact. It was dire they had no more power than us to sort issues - in fact we knew more than them.
Just deleted a few listings as its not worth the hassle - updated a few more and will just let them run now. Its going to take a good few months to get over this round of stress. It should not take 8 days to sort this stuff out. And hold in mind the opening email basically said this - You will not receive any further funds until verified, if you are not verified we will keep all funds and bill you all the VAT back until 2021- in our case the loss would have been around 30K and then hundreds of thousands of pounds in VAT. The back charge would not have happened as it would have been in court by then. We are correctly VAT registered and established in UK.
Could have done without the big stick......
Seller_d4MuH628T3lYA
Hello,
The UK press has begun investigating this issue, with some media outlets even calling Amazon criminal. I hope none of the businesses affected will lead to bankruptcies or, God forbid, suicides.
Some group actions are currently being prepared. You can refer to this Facebook group called: "Amazon UK Disbursement Deactivated Disaster"
