What does Amazon KYC audit mean? What are the audit requirements?

Merchants who open stores on Amazon sometimes encounter the problem of KYC review. If you don’t know what KYC review means and how to do it, it will have an impact on your store. So what does Amazon KYC review mean?

Know Your Customer, in simple terms, means reviewing and filing the conditions of account holders, which is the institutional basis for preventing corruption and anti-money laundering internationally.

According to the requirements of relevant European regulatory agencies, Amazon is obliged to conduct KYC audits on sellers who open stores on European platforms (including the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, etc.). When sellers reach a certain sales amount when selling on European sites, KYC audits will be triggered. Sellers must submit all information truthfully and can continue to sell after passing the audit.

For European accounts, KYC review is a necessary step for the account. Therefore, sellers who want to enter the European market must prepare the information early in case of emergency.

What are the audit requirements?

Generally, sellers have filled in the corresponding account information as required when registering an account, but when the cumulative sales amount of the seller account reaches 5,000 euros or more, Amazon will begin to require sellers to undergo KYC review. If the cumulative sales amount reaches 15,000 euros and still fails to pass the KYC review, the seller’s sales authority will be suspended until the review is passed before the seller can continue to sell.

Although it will take some time for the cumulative sales to increase from 5,000 euros to 15,000 euros, given that the information required for the review is cumbersome and prone to omissions, it is recommended that you prepare for the KYC review at the beginning of your account registration.

Especially in the second half of last year, Amazon upgraded its KYC audit, which was more stringent and picky than before. Many sellers on the European site were not well prepared, which led to their accounts being restricted and they missed the peak season perfectly, resulting in a large backlog of inventory. In the new year, we must learn from this and prepare early!

Generally speaking, Amazon KYC audit is an audit initiated by Amazon on registered sellers. Changes to business license address, legal person information, and credit card binding will definitely be audited.