Urgent! A large number of Amazon sellers' payment accounts are about to expire

Just two months into 2025, the cross-border e-commerce industry has dealt another heavy blow to cross-border sellers.

It is learned that according to industry sources, Wells Fargo , which was still vigorously promoting its own business in January, suddenly announced in February that it would withdraw from the cross-border payment business, and the bank accounts issued by its cooperative payment institutions will be collectively invalidated from March 1 .

It is understood that Wells Fargo is the fourth largest bank in the United States with a wide range of business, and many domestic cross-border payment service providers have cooperated with it. The news is like a stone that stirs up a thousand waves, triggering a series of chain reactions in the cross-border circle, such as relevant service providers notifying to update bank accounts, and a large number of cross-border (especially Amazon platform) sellers’ payment accounts becoming invalid.

The first to bear the brunt of this incident were a group of Amazon sellers who used related accounts.

It is learned that recently, a large number of Amazon sellers reported that their payment accounts suddenly became invalid, and a prompt message " Your deposit method is missing, invalid or unspecified " appeared on the background operation page , making it impossible for the store to receive payments normally.

It is understood that after Wells Fargo withdraws from cross-border business, cross-border payment service providers cooperating with it need to update their original bank accounts. Amazon sellers who fail to complete the migration of payment accounts in time will not only face the risk of capital repatriation, but may also trigger the platform's consumer law review and account closure, fund freezing and other issues.

Judging from the recent feedback from many sellers, the chain reaction caused by the expiration of the payment account seems to have exceeded expectations.

“The payment function was suspended, the funds received were forcibly returned, and the inventory turnover rate plummeted by 50%.”

"The consumer law and account expiration appeared at the same time. I had no choice but to add an account directly, and then the identity verification also came."

“Platform audits are becoming more stringent, and compliance by payment service providers is becoming increasingly important.”

According to industry sources, the centralized switching period for this account is from February 5 to 22. Wells Fargo will process the funds on February 23, and the funds deposited between February 24 and 28 will be blocked and returned after March 1. Therefore, in order to ensure that the store can operate normally in the future, many sellers who received the notice have changed their accounts during the centralized switching period.

It is worth mentioning that this incident has also triggered extensive discussions in the industry about the underlying financial capabilities and security compliance of third-party payment service providers.

Behind the storm, the cross-border e-commerce industry is undergoing a new round of "payment compliance baptism" .

It is understood that although Wells Fargo did not explain the reason for withdrawing from the cross-border collection business, a clue may be seen from its annual report data and past news: the bank's fourth-quarter 2024 financial results showed that its net interest income fell by about 7% from the same period last year. In 2022, the bank was fined $3 billion by the Federal Reserve for poor anti-money laundering control, and in early 2023 it was investigated by the OCC for cross-border business risk control loopholes.

Under strong regulatory pressure, shrinking the high-risk business of cross-border payments has become an inevitable choice for Wells Fargo to optimize its business layout.

In recent years, as countries pay more and more attention to financial security, the compliance supervision of global cross-border payments is escalating at an alarming rate: the EU has successively issued new regulations requiring payment service providers to implement "real-time monitoring of transactions", and the United States has passed laws such as the Patriot Act to strengthen the review mechanism for cross-border e-commerce transactions...

In this context, Amazon has also tightened its review of payment accounts . In September 2022, there was news in the industry that a large number of sellers were scanned by Amazon due to the association with payment accounts. In January 2024, Amazon once again tightened the review of payment information...

Behind the frequent review activities of the platform, the business risks faced by sellers also emerge:

• Account suspension risk: It may trigger a platform review, and the store may be closed due to inconsistency between the new and old account entities;

• Exchange rate loss risk: Sellers may encounter temporary interruption of exchange rate lock service, increasing the risk of exchange rate fluctuations;

• Fund settlement delay: During the transition period, there may be delays in unilateral account processing, affecting the timeliness of settlement;

• Emergency store closure pressure: After the account expires, the seller must complete the update as soon as possible, and the operation procedure is complicated and time-consuming.

Therefore, Wells Fargo's "exit" has not only had a huge impact on related payment service providers and sellers, but also sounded a wake-up call for the entire cross-border e-commerce industry: in the new era of compliance and globalization, choosing a stable and reliable payment partner is choosing a survival model. As the industry reshuffle accelerates, only payment service providers with real compliance background and technical strength are more likely to be able to move forward steadily in this cross-border long march.

As one of the earliest established service providers to establish connections with Amazon, Wanlihui, as a one-stop digital payment and financial service platform serving global cross-border SMEs, is becoming the "Noah's Ark" in the turbulent period of the industry. Its core advantages directly hit the current pain points:

1. Endorsed by authoritative institutions to achieve global coverage

Under the general trend of global payment compliance, the compliance qualifications of service providers (such as MSB license, FCA authorization) and the level of bank cooperation directly determine the security of funds. As a brand of Ant International, Wanlihui has obtained more than 60 payment licenses worldwide based on its global capital network built in the cross-border financial field, and has worked with nearly 40 well-known financial institutions at home and abroad to build a safe, compliant, efficient and reliable global payment network for cross-border sellers.

2. Respond to sellers’ needs and fully upgrade products

Wanlihui can convert RMB into RMB within seconds and exclusively supports withdrawals to Alipay . At the same time, it is also more closely aligned with cross-border business needs and can flexibly pay suppliers, directly purchase foreign currencies from 1688 , etc.

In the past year, in response to the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises to expand overseas, Wanlihui has also comprehensively upgraded the payment and collection currencies and product services that merchants are concerned about. Currently , the payment currencies have increased to more than 40, and the payment currencies have expanded to more than 100 .

3. Intelligent risk control technology to ensure safety and compliance

Wanlihui supports 24/7 real-time currency exchange , and sellers can enjoy more competitive exchange rates . At the same time, they can also use a variety of foreign exchange tools such as designated exchange rates and timely preferential exchange to effectively resist the risk of exchange rate fluctuations.

At the same time, relying on the global large-scale intelligent risk control solutions adopted by Ant International, Wanlihui supports merchants in more than 200 countries and regions to open accounts in minutes, more than 90% of payment orders can be reviewed and approved in seconds, and the fraud risk rate is less than one in ten thousand . It can also help sellers reduce the average operating cost by 50% under the premise of safety and compliance .

4. Easy account management to build a risk-resistant barrier

Wanlihui supports one account to manage multiple platforms and multiple stores , as well as flexible settings such as multi-person operation, master and sub-account, and funds can be transferred between multiple accounts with real-time receipt . Cross-border sellers can use this to automatically collect funds and reduce losses caused by single channel failures.

In addition, with the continuous innovation of cross-border e-commerce in terms of models and formats, Wanlihui is also committed to meeting the multi-channel and diversified needs of current cross-border sellers. Data shows that by the end of 2024, the cumulative transaction amount processed by Wanlihui globally has exceeded US$300 billion, and the number of merchants served has exceeded 1 million .

As the cross-border industry enters an era of "survival of the fittest", capital chain security is the biggest core competitiveness. Choosing Wanlihui is not only choosing a payment tool, but also building a safe and compliant moat for cross-border e-commerce business. It should be noted that currently, if you switch your Amazon store to Wanlihui, you can also get benefits such as limited-time 0-fee rate for new customers, batch migration of stores, and 1v1 guidance from customer service when switching stores .

Scan the QR code now to get benefits.

Start a safe, stable and worry-free Amazon payment experience!