Amazon has resorted to using postcards to ensure that sellers in its marketplace are living at the addresses they claim. Following a request in September for external sellers to disclose their business names and addresses, Amazon is now verifying that these addresses are authentic and accurate. To accomplish this, the company has started sending postcards to external merchants selling in its U.S. marketplace to confirm their addresses. The postcard states, "As part of our commitment to providing a safe and trustworthy shopping experience for our customers and selling partners, we need to verify the business address displayed on your Amazon.com seller account page."
The postcard also noted that merchants will not be prohibited from selling on the platform while their addresses are being verified, as external sales account for more than half of Amazon's revenue. Amazon confirmed that it began testing the initiative with new sellers last year and then started including some existing sellers at the beginning of this year, stating that it now plans to expand the initiative further.
An Amazon spokesperson said in a statement: "We leverage a combination of advanced machine learning capabilities, robust audits, and expert human investigators to protect our customers and selling partners from bad actors and products. Once a seller is allowed to sell in our store, we continue to monitor their account and behaviors for new risks."
Initially, Amazon contacts the seller to inform them that it needs to verify their business address. The seller reviews and confirms their business address through an internal portal called Seller Central. Once completed, Amazon sends them a postcard. The postcard includes a verification code that the seller is required to enter in Seller Central, giving them 60 days to verify their address. If they fail to do so, Amazon may freeze the funds in the seller's account.
Amazon prohibits any seller account that proves to have an incorrect address, and if the seller's postcard is lost in the mail, the company allows them to request a new postcard to be sent to their address. Last fall, the company began requiring sellers in its U.S. marketplace to publicly disclose their business name and address to help consumers identify these sellers and their products before making a purchase.
Amazon operates online marketplaces in over a dozen regions, with the largest being in the United States as of late March. The company has over 6 million external sellers worldwide, with more than half selling through Amazon in North America. Previously, there was no easy way for consumers to know where a seller or legal entity offering a product was located unless they were shopping in Amazon markets in Europe, Mexico, and Japan, where sellers have long been required to display their business name and address due to local laws.
