Rare! Amazon suddenly warned that a large number of sellers may be banned from selling

Recently, many sellers have reported that they have received emails from the backend of Amazon UK, requiring sellers to provide Import Entry Numbers (IEN) for shipments sent to the UK distribution center.

Many sellers also said that now in the backend shipping area, many shipments that are in transit, being received , or even completed and ready to be shipped will be displayed with the prompt " Import details are incomplete ".

What’s more, there are many cases where Amazon calls sellers. The content of the inquiries is basically related to negotiation violations, account risks, etc.

All these things make sellers anxious.

Amazon strictly checks import item numbers

According to an Amazon email, if a seller opens an account outside the UK and sends inventory to Amazon's UK operations center, he or she will need to provide an import entry number (IEN) for the goods shipped to Amazon's UK operations center. Violations may result in warehousing and distribution services being suspended.

Many sellers only know that they need to register for UK VAT to do business on the UK site. What does it mean to ask everyone to provide the IEN number now?

Let me first introduce IEN. The IEN number is a customs clearance serial number generated when goods are declared for import into the UK. It is mainly to facilitate customs supervision and classification of each batch of goods . As long as the import customs clearance and tax payment are completed, this code will appear on the C88 document.

The IEN number uses a standard 18-digit alphanumeric format. The first two digits represent the year, the next two digits represent the country/region, and the next 14 digits are randomly generated. One IEN number can only correspond to one document .

As early as April 1, 2019, Amazon UK sent an email to inform all sellers, requiring them to fill in the IEN code of FBA shipments in the background, and clearly stated: " Unless these goods have been exempted, IEN is not required. "

Now the question is, how do we get the IEN number? There are two situations to obtain the IEN code:

1. If you are a seller who has registered for UK VAT and uses your own VAT number when going through customs, the customs will give you a C88 document after import clearance and tax payment. The C88 document contains an independent IEN code, and your freight forwarder will convey the IEN information to you.

2. If the seller chooses to go with the double-clearance and tax-inclusive model with a freight forwarder, the freight forwarder's VAT will be used for import customs clearance, and usually one VAT tax number will be shared by multiple sellers' goods. You can contact the freight forwarder to obtain the IEN coding information.

Therefore, if you have also received an email asking you to upload the IEN number, compare the above two situations to find your own IEN number, and upload the IEN number information according to the prompts of the background. The IEN information must also be filled in truthfully for subsequent shipments.

It is worth noting that for sellers who use the "double clearance and tax package" model, because freight forwarders usually use one VAT tax number to clear goods for multiple sellers, this means that your IEN numbers are the same. Once a problem occurs, it is likely to be judged as associated, which poses a certain risk .

If you cannot obtain a valid IEN code, you also need to go to the backend and click the " Cannot provide IEN " option. According to current seller feedback, the red warning will disappear after choosing not to provide the IEN option, and store sales will not be affected for the time being.

However, according to the second half of the email, if you are unable to provide the IEN number or the coding information provided is inconsistent with the subject, Amazon or the tax bureau may conduct an audit and ask the seller to explain the legitimate reason for not having the IEN. If you are not compliant and continue to do so after 60 days, Amazon will suspend your shipment .

Although Amazon's sudden strict inspection this time is on the IEN code, it actually shows that the UK tax authorities have once again taken strong measures against cross-border tax issues, which means that sellers will be subject to stricter supervision, especially tax issues, which sellers must not take lightly.

Amazon calls sellers to collect taxes

In addition, a screenshot of a WeChat chat has been widely circulated among sellers recently, attracting considerable attention.

According to the screenshots, a European seller received a call from Amazon, asking him to pay thousands of euros in back taxes. The seller is a Chinese legal person with a local European account and received such phone calls demanding payment due to failure to pay taxes on time.

The call content shows that the Amazon team urged sellers to pay taxes as soon as possible, otherwise their stores and funds may be frozen.

Previously, a seller revealed a similar experience on February 20. The seller is also a Chinese legal person and the amount owed is relatively small, only a few hundred euros. He chose to pay taxes on time, and although he owed money again later, he did not receive any more phone calls demanding payment.

The investigation found that more than one European seller encountered a similar situation, indicating that this problem is not an isolated case. Compliance issues were put on the agenda and attracted widespread attention. For sellers, compliance is key to staying safe.

These situations were not common before, but now Amazon is actively contacting sellers, which shows that Amazon conducts a detailed investigation into the sellers’ accounts.

In general, if Amazon sellers do not want to leave any hidden dangers in terms of taxation, they must file taxes on time and comply with the regulations. Only then can they go further and more safely on the cross-border journey!