Amazon ungating invoice requirements: what Amazon checks, line by line

Most ungating applications turn on one document: the invoice. It's also where many avoidable denials start. A store receipt where an invoice should be. A personal name where the business name should be. An order that's too small, or too old.

This guide reads the invoice the way a reviewer would, one part at a time. Then it covers how many units you need, what changes for a brand approval, the documents that get turned down, and what to do if the answer is no. For the whole approval process, from checking a product to pressing submit, start with our guide to getting ungated.

Where our Amazon quotes come from. Amazon's detailed approval pages sit inside Seller Central, behind a sign-in, and we couldn't read their current wording for this version of the page. What we quote as Amazon's comes from pages anyone can open: Amazon's guides on sell.amazon.com, a Seller University video, and replies from Amazon staff on the US Seller Forums. A forum reply answers one seller's case, and some are a few years old, so we treat them as guidance, not policy. When something comes from another company or from another seller, we say so and label it reported.

What Amazon asks for on an invoice

Amazon publishes its baseline in its guide to finding wholesalers:

The same guide adds two things that matter here. If you sell branded products, they should come directly from the brand or from one of its direct distributors or wholesalers. And when you buy from a wholesaler, you should check its relationship with the brand by looking at its business license and its brand authorization letter. The guide also notes that auctions and liquidation are not valid sources of supply. In other words, the invoice is only as good as the supplier who wrote it.

Amazon's guide to selling groceries gives a wider list of what an application may ask for: invoices showing the purchase of 10 or more units, receipts or other documents showing where the products are produced or manufactured, a brand authorization letter, product photos, safety certifications, compliance documents from agencies such as the FDA or USDA, and a business license. Amazon's word is "could": the form tells you which of these your own application needs.

So there are two layers to get right. Amazon's public baseline is the floor: if your invoice misses one of those points, fix it before you apply. Then there's your own application. When you click Apply to sell, the form lists what that product, brand or category needs from your account, and if it shows a different date window or quantity, or asks for another document, the form wins.

A word on the date. You'll see other windows quoted around the web, and some of them come from a different Amazon process: answering a request to prove where products you already sell came from, where the documents should cover your sales over the last 365 days (more on that below). For approval invoices, both of Amazon's public guides say 180 days. The wholesale guide puts it in the checklist, and the grocery guide mentions "invoices dated within 180 days." That's the figure we use here.

Amazon's Seller University also has a three-minute video on invoice requirements for when you apply to sell. Amazon's wholesale guide links to it, and Amazon staff point sellers to it on the forums. It was published in 2022, so where it and your application disagree, go with the application.

The invoice, line by line

Here is a sample invoice, part by part, with made-up names: Example Distributor Inc. is the supplier and Sample Reseller LLC is the seller. It's for reading, not for filling in. The only invoice that counts is the one your supplier issues for goods you actually bought.

A few of these deserve more than a table row.

Your name and address

This is the line that catches people who set things up in a hurry. Amazon asks for your name and address to match your selling account. That means the legal business name and address you gave Amazon, not a trading name, and not your personal name if your account belongs to a company.

The fix happens before you order: open the supplier account in that exact name and address, so every invoice comes out right. It's also what suppliers expect anyway. From Stef's lesson on getting set up:

"When you want to resell products for Amazon selling, of course, you need to open accounts with wholesalers and distributors. Those companies do not wanna do business with an individual. They want to do business and work with other companies."

From Stef's lesson (The Checklist, at 0:49)

If your business moved or changed its name after you placed the order, the invoice and your account won't match. Ask your supplier how it handles a corrected invoice, and never change the details yourself. Our guide to opening a wholesale account covers the paperwork suppliers ask for, including the resale certificate.

The supplier

Amazon wants the name and address of the manufacturer or distributor on the invoice, and for branded products it wants the supplier to be the brand or one of its direct distributors or wholesalers. A company further down the chain, such as a wholesaler that buys from other wholesalers, a liquidator or another reseller, may sell you genuine goods, but its invoice doesn't trace straight back to the brand the way an application needs.

Will Amazon check? Amazon's rules for sourcing documents, which Amazon staff quote on the forums (thread), say Amazon "may contact suppliers or manufacturers to verify the documents." Those rules are for proving where products came from, and Amazon's public pages don't say whether approval reviewers do the same.

Either way, it costs nothing to tell your supplier that Amazon may get in touch about your order.

The products and the quantity

The product you're applying for has to be on the invoice, by name, under the right brand. If the invoice lists it only as a code or a vague description, the reviewer can't match it to the listing. A UPC or the supplier's item number on each line makes that match easy. How many units you need has its own section below.

Prices, and the file itself

In a reply about a declined brand application on the US Seller Forums (thread), an Amazon staff member listed Amazon's rules for sourcing documents. One of them: "You may remove pricing information, but the rest of the document must be visible." The same rule says you may highlight or circle the products under review. So you can hide your cost and point the reviewer to the right line. That's as far as it goes.

Everything else stays exactly as your supplier issued it. Upload the original file, every page of it. Don't retype it into a template, don't merge pages from different invoices into one, and don't crop anything but the prices. One seller on the forums posted that their denials cited altered documentation, so it's something reviewers look for.

How many units do you need to get ungated?

Amazon's public number is in the checklist above: a combined purchase of at least 10 units. Its grocery guide says the same thing in different words: invoices showing the purchase of 10 or more units.

Note the word "combined." Amazon's wording doesn't say 10 of each product. Our reading: make sure the product you're applying for is on the invoice and the purchase reaches at least 10 units in total. If you can, buy 10 of that product itself, so the reviewer never has to wonder. And if your application names a different number, that number is the one that counts.

What about 100 units?

Search for ungating and you'll find sellers talking about 100 units.

In another thread, a seller wrote that Amazon asked them for an invoice of at least 100 units, as proof of authenticity, for a brand they had already sold for over a year.

We couldn't find a 100-unit rule on any Amazon page. Sellers report it on particular applications, which is one more reason to open Apply to sell and read the form before you buy. If the form asks for 100 units, that's what it needs.

Then decide like a buyer, not an applicant. Would you buy 100 units of that product anyway, at that price, and sell them in a reasonable time? If yes, the approval comes with stock you wanted. If not, the approval costs more than it's worth, and your money is better spent on products that are already open to you. Our guide to your first wholesale order covers sizing a buy, and analyzing a wholesale price list shows how to find the products worth buying in the first place.

Approval counts and authenticity counts are different things

The 10-unit baseline is about getting approved. When Amazon later asks you to prove where products you already sell came from, the bar is different. The sourcing document rules quoted above say documents for that kind of review "should reflect the sales volume of your product across all Amazon marketplaces in the last 365 days," and should include contact information for your suppliers and the original manufacturer.

So a 10-unit invoice may get you approved, but if you go on to sell 400 units, keep invoices that cover 400. Our account health guide covers those reviews and the records to keep.

Category approval or brand approval: does the invoice change?

Approval doesn't only sit on categories. In a how-to post on the US Seller Forums, Amazon staff explain that restrictions can apply to a single ASIN, a brand, a brand within one category, a whole category or a subcategory, and that you may need separate applications for each. Our guide to gated categories covers where approval tends to sit.

The invoice itself doesn't change shape. There's no special "brand approval invoice format." The same parts matter either way. What changes is what the invoice has to show, and whether an invoice is enough.

For a category approval, the invoice should list products in that category, ideally the ones you plan to sell there. Approval in a category doesn't open the brands inside it that are gated on their own.

For a brand approval, the invoice has to show that brand's products, bought from the brand or a distributor it supplies. And for some brands, no invoice is enough. Two examples from the US Seller Forums, both answered by Amazon staff:

• A seller was denied for Funko products even with an invoice from an authorized distributor. The staff reply: "this issue should be fixed by just providing a brand authorization letter from Funko." (thread)
• A seller applied for Nike several times, with documents from Nike and from a department store. The staff reply said they would need a letter of authorization from Nike to sell its products. (thread)

If a brand is enrolled in Brand Registry, its administrator can also add a selling role to your account, as an Amazon staff member noted in another thread. Amazon's guide to Brand Registry roles calls the one for outside sellers Reseller. Our letter of authorization guide covers who can issue a letter, what it should say, and how to ask.

Grocery is a common first category application for wholesale resellers. Our Grocery playbook walks through that application step by step, next to the expiration, meltable and labeling rules that trip resellers up.

Documents that commonly get turned down

The clearest list we found isn't on an Amazon help page. It's in a decline notice a seller posted on the forums.

Here's why each of those fails, plus a few more that come up often:

• Retail receipts and online order confirmations, from Walmart, Target, Costco or a brand's own web store. A store sells to shoppers. It isn't a distributor, and Amazon's guide says branded products should come from the brand or its direct distributors or wholesalers.
• Packing slips and sales orders. They show goods ordered or shipped, not a completed purchase.
• Pro forma invoices and quotes. They're issued before you buy, so they show an offer, not a purchase.
• Invoices from another reseller or a liquidator. They don't trace back to the brand.
• Invoices in someone else's name, or in your personal name when your account is a company.
• Anything edited. The only changes Amazon's sourcing document rules allow are removing prices and circling the product under review.

Get the invoice right before you order

Much of what decides an application happens before you apply: the right supplier, the right name on the account, and an invoice you checked before it reached Amazon. Here's that order of work.

1. Check the product and read the application

   Search the exact product in Seller Central (Catalog, then Add Products). If it shows Show limitations and an Apply to sell button, open the application and read what it asks for before you buy anything. As an Amazon staff member put it on the forums: "It is really important before listing products to make sure you have all the requirements to sell them." If you use Apex's Chrome extension with your Amazon account connected, its Check if you can sell it button asks Amazon the same question from the product page.

2. Confirm the supplier can sell you that brand

   Ask the supplier whether it buys directly from the brand, and how it's authorized. Amazon's guide suggests looking at its business license and its brand authorization letter. Our guide to wholesale suppliers covers finding and vetting distributors, and the Distributor Vault lists US distributors by name. Every subscription, trial included, opens 3 US wholesale distributors from the Distributor Vault when it starts and 3 more each month. Yearly billing, on Starter and Pro, opens the whole Vault at once. The Vault doesn't tell you which brands each company is authorized to sell, so ask that question either way.

3. Open the account in your exact legal name and address

   Use the business name and address on your Seller Central account, character for character. If your supplier already has you under a different name, ask it to update the account before you order.

4. Ask what the invoice will show

   Ask whether the invoice will carry your business name and address, the brand, the product names with UPCs or item numbers, and the quantities, and whether it comes as a PDF. The distributor email templates have wording for supplier questions like these.

5. Order something you would restock

   Buy at least the quantity the application asks for, of a product you'd be glad to own even if Amazon says no. An invoice for stock you never sell again is an expensive document.

6. Check the invoice when it arrives

   Go through the checklist below before you upload anything. Then go back to Show limitations, click Apply to sell, and upload it with whatever else the form asks for. Amazon's grocery guide says you can follow your applications by hovering over Catalog and choosing View Selling Applications.

If your application is denied

A denial is about one application. It's frustrating, especially with stock already on the way, but it usually points at something you can fix. Work through it in this order.

Read the notice first

Sometimes the notice names the problem: a retail receipt, an unacceptable document, altered documentation. Sometimes it says very little. Sellers on the US Seller Forums describe denials with no clear reason (one thread), and in another, phone support had told the seller the documents met the requirements. Either way, start from what the notice says, then check the invoice against the table above.

The usual causes, and what fixes them

These come from Amazon's checklist and from the denials sellers post. They're not a list Amazon publishes.

Reapply the right way

Don't send the same files again, and don't keep opening new applications. In the forum thread about a brand application declined 11 times, an Amazon staff member explained: "Continuing to reapply for the same brand on new cases may be the reason why you are receiving the auto-rejection notifications." And: "Once rejected the team requests new or additional documentation on that same application." (thread)

So: fix the cause, then reply on the same application with new or additional documents. If you're stuck, open a Seller Support case and keep the case ID. When Amazon staff on the forums look into an application, they ask for the case ID.

When the brand is the block

If the brand only wants authorized resellers on its listings, a better invoice won't change the answer. In a thread about repeated denials, an Amazon staff member put it this way: "Your best bet is to work with the brand directly and get their approval to sell the product on Amazon."

That means a letter of authorization from the brand, or a selling role on your account through Brand Registry, or both. If the brand says no, ask which distributors it supplies, so at least your future invoices trace back to it, and put this brand aside. Our letter of authorization guide covers how to ask.

When to pick another product

Sometimes the right answer is to move on. It probably is when:

• Show limitations appears with no Apply to sell button. There's no application to open for that product from your account right now, so there's nothing to fix.
• The brand needs its own letter and doesn't give them to resellers.
• The application wants more units than you'd sell in a reasonable time.
• You've fixed every cause you can find and been denied again with clean, matching documents.
• The margin doesn't justify the effort. An approval is only worth chasing for a product that makes money after fees.

Plenty of products need no approval at all, so there's often one on the same price list that you can sell today.

If you already bought the stock

This is the real cost of buying first and checking later: inventory you can't list, sitting in your garage or at a prep center, earning nothing while you wait. Ask your supplier whether it takes returns or exchanges, apply again on the same application once you've fixed the cause, and next time open the application before the purchase order goes out.

What never to do

Never edit an invoice beyond removing prices or circling the product, never borrow another seller's, never buy one, and never apply with a document from a supplier you didn't buy from. That includes services that offer to supply the documents for you. Amazon's wholesale guide starts from the rule that sellers are responsible for selling authentic products, and a forged or altered document puts the whole account at risk, not just one application. Our guides to Section 3 violations and what to do if you're suspended show where that road ends.

Keep the invoice working after you're approved

Approval isn't permanent. In the Selling Applications Denied thread quoted above, the Amazon staff reply also said that "as the Amazon catalog grows, we continuously make new determinations on which products should be restricted." Check the product again before every reorder.

The invoice keeps working, too. Amazon's wholesale guide says it's a good idea to keep your purchase invoices as proof of authenticity and validity, and if Amazon ever asks where a product came from, those invoices are your answer. Stef's lesson on purchasing shows one way to do it, keeping each supplier's invoice with the purchase order it belongs to:

"And this is the page where you can grab your invoice from your supplier and upload it within the program, so it will keep everything safe and organized. And if at any moment Amazon reaches out to you regarding a product authenticity claim, you can paste the ASIN right here, and we're gonna bring up all the open purchase orders that have that invoice, so you can go ahead and submit it to Amazon and get back into selling."

From Stef's lesson (Purchasing, at 30:29), lightly edited for reading. He's showing an older version of Apex.

You don't need software to do this. A folder per supplier, with each invoice named by order date, does the same job. What matters is that every unit you've sold traces back to an invoice you can find in a minute. The account health guide covers the full set of records worth keeping.