An authenticity complaint and a folder of PDFs
A notice arrives: a buyer has questioned the authenticity of a product you sell, and Amazon wants invoices showing where you bought it. The request has a deadline. The invoices are somewhere: in the accounts inbox, in the supplier's portal, in a folder on someone's laptop, some as PDFs and some as photos of paper. The product was bought from three different wholesalers over the last year, and the invoice descriptions do not match Amazon's product title.
Someone spends the afternoon searching. The invoice they find is from a supplier whose address does not quite match the one on their website, or the quantity is lower than the units you have sold, and they are not sure it will be accepted.
Applying to sell a new gated brand has the same problem in a calmer form. You need recent invoices from an authorised distributor, with the right details showing, and you need to find them first.
Why the right invoice is so hard to find
Invoices are filed for accounting, not for Amazon. Your bookkeeper cares about supplier, date, total and VAT. Amazon cares about the product lines, the quantities, the supplier's details and whether the invoice covers the units you have sold. Nothing links an invoice line to an ASIN.
- Invoice descriptions use the supplier's product names, not Amazon's.
- The same product may come from several suppliers over time.
- Invoices are stored where the accounts team keeps them, not by product.
- Quantities bought and quantities sold are never compared per product.
- Supplier details on invoices may be incomplete or inconsistent.
Requirements for what an acceptable invoice looks like are set by Amazon and change. We do not advise on them; your team should read Amazon's current guidance. What we can fix is how quickly you find and assemble what you have.
What a slow response costs
Authenticity and condition complaints can lead to listings being removed, and repeated ones can put your account at risk. A late or weak response makes that more likely. Ungating applications that fail because the paperwork was wrong delay access to brands you could be selling, and a rejected application can make the next one harder.
Less visibly, the search itself takes the people who should be sourcing and selling away from their work, at short notice, usually more than once a month for an active reseller.
The invoice register we build
- Supplier invoices captured as they arrive, from the accounts inbox, supplier portals or your accounting system, and stored in one place with the original file.
- Each invoice line read and matched to your SKU and ASIN using barcodes where the invoice has them, and a product code map you maintain where it does not.
- A check on each invoice for the details your team decides are needed, such as supplier name, address and contact details, date and line quantities, with anything missing flagged while the supplier can still correct it.
- A running comparison per ASIN of units bought against units sold, so you can see whether your invoices cover your sales.
- A request pack builder: pick an ASIN or a brand, choose the date range, and it assembles the relevant invoices, with the matching lines highlighted.
- A log of every request received, what was sent and the outcome, so you learn what works for each brand.
| Request | What the register produces |
|---|---|
| Authenticity complaint on one ASIN | Invoices covering that ASIN, with quantities against sales |
| Ungating application for a brand | Recent invoices for that brand from the chosen supplier |
| Condition complaint | Invoices plus any inspection notes for the batch |
| Supplier check before buying | Previous invoices and outcomes for that supplier |
Whether a supplier is authorised to sell a brand, and whether an invoice meets Amazon's requirements, are questions for your team and Amazon. The register makes the evidence quick to find and easy to check.
When the next request arrives
The notice comes in. Someone opens the register, selects the ASIN, and sees three suppliers' invoices covering the units sold, with the lines highlighted. They check the pack, add a short explanation and respond the same day.
Before buying from a new supplier, you can see whether their invoices have been accepted before, and the register warns you if their invoices are routinely missing details you need. That turns a reactive problem into a buying decision.
Your bookkeeper benefits too, because every invoice is captured and linked, rather than living partly in email.
Is this your paperwork?
- Finding invoices for an Amazon request takes hours.
- Invoice descriptions do not match the Amazon products they cover.
- You cannot say whether your invoices cover everything you have sold.
- Ungating applications have been rejected over paperwork.
- Invoices are spread across inboxes, portals and laptops.