Supplier invoices for Amazon UK trial stock
Check the approval request in your selling account before ordering. Agree a final purchase invoice naming your business, identifying the goods and documenting the completed transaction; secure supplier contacts and supporting payment and delivery records. For checks in China, use Cambridge China Bridge.
Check the actual approval request before ordering
Amazon requires permission to sell certain brands or categories. Before committing to trial stock, check the proposed product in your UK selling account and save the application instructions. Record the requested supplier type, invoice date range, quantity, product identifiers and supporting documents. Use the requirements shown for your application rather than a supplier’s assurance that its invoices are accepted.
Treat approval applications and later invoice requests separately. Use Amazon’s invoice guidance to review the document, then compare it with your actual request. If an invoice is needed before approval, plan for the possibility that a completed trial purchase could still be rejected. Ask Amazon about unclear requirements before paying.
Make the invoicing supplier verifiable
Before payment, ask for the invoicing supplier’s registered business name, address, phone number, website and email contact. Check whether those details consistently identify the business you are buying from. Nominate a supplier contact who can confirm the invoice, goods and transaction if asked. Our factory and trading company checks explain the wider supplier checks.
Ask who will sell the goods, receive payment, manufacture them and export them. Where those businesses differ, obtain a written explanation and retain the connection between them. If a sourcing intermediary sells to you, agree whose invoice you will receive and what supporting supply-chain records can be provided. Resolve unexplained differences before ordering.
Agree buyer details and identifiable invoice lines
Amazon’s approval guidance says the buyer name and address on the invoice must match the selling account exactly. Give the supplier your business details from the account rather than only your shop display name. Ask it to show the delivery address separately where that differs from the buyer address. Check a draft layout before payment, while recognising that a draft is not completed purchase evidence.
Ask for an invoice reference, issue date and itemised descriptions identifying the actual brand, model, variant and quantity purchased. Avoid a generic description such as ‘household goods’ when it cannot be connected to the intended listing. Keep an order attachment mapping supplier product references to your listing references. For packaging and product selection, see sourcing for e-commerce.
Obtain a final invoice after the transaction
Amazon’s linked invoice guidance excludes sales quotes, proformas and documents that do not represent a finalised invoice or completed transaction. A proforma can help you agree an order and payment request, but it does not become completed purchase evidence merely because you paid a deposit or changed its title. Agree when the supplier will issue the final invoice.
Retain the supplier-issued final invoice with payment records, dispatch documents and evidence of receipt. Reconcile the goods and quantities across those records, especially if the order ships in parts. Ask the supplier to correct factual errors and retain the original and correction together. Our purchase order, proforma and commercial invoice guide covers shipment values and payment reconciliation.
Set a clear decision before releasing trial funds
Pause the purchase if you cannot identify the invoicing business, match your buyer details, trace the products or agree how completed purchase evidence will be supplied. Keep the approval instructions, supplier checks, order, invoice and supporting records together. Before submission, compare that file with the current request and check the accepted file format.
An agreed invoice layout cannot guarantee Amazon approval. Decide how you would use or dispose of the trial stock if the application fails, before committing money. Cambridge China Bridge can use its own staff in China to check supplier identity and discuss the document arrangements with the factory; Amazon makes the approval decision.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use a proforma invoice for Amazon UK approval?
Amazon’s linked guidance excludes proformas as completed purchase evidence. Check your application instructions and obtain the supplier’s final invoice for the completed transaction.
What buyer name should my supplier invoice show?
Use the business name and address that match your selling account exactly. Give these to the supplier before ordering, and show a different delivery address separately.
How much trial stock must I buy for an invoice?
Check the quantity requested in your actual approval application before ordering. Do not assume that a supplier’s trial pack or another seller’s successful application meets your requirements.
Does a factory invoice guarantee Amazon approval?
No. Check the actual request, supplier identity, buyer details and transaction evidence. Plan what you would do with the stock if approval is refused.