So, you received an email from Amazon stating they need documentation to verify your supplier, products, or the "fulfillment" of the order.  Automatically, like any normal person, you would assume that this means you need to ask your wholesaler to provide you with whatever these documents are... however this actually is not at all what this email means.  Yes, it is super confusing, but here's what you need to know:

For reasons I cannot explain, this "supplier verification" email is a generic email that Amazon sends when theres some kind of hiccup in the Ungating process. There's several different styles of these "verification emails".  One of the styles of emails they send looks like the one shown below:

Or it may look different, but the concept is the same; Amazon is claiming something is wrong and is requesting some type of additional information and you believe you need to ask your wholesaler to provide you with more documents.  

Oddly, Amazon is not actually asking for "supplier verification" or "fulfilled invoice", being the invoice contains 100% of the information Amazon needs to "verify" a supplier.  Additionally, companies like ours (BigBrandWholesale.com) have worked with Amazon to get sellers Ungated for many, many years, meaning they are very familiar with us. Also, there is no such thing as a "fulfillment invoice".  There just isn't.  An invoice is a legally binding contrac; you purchased merchandise through a company and the company automatically agrees to fulfill the order as soon as you make the purchase.  If the company cannot fill the invoice they would refund you because an invoice is a legal contract.  There is no "fulfillment invoice", because it is automatically known that the invoice will be fulfilled, see what I'm saying?

I wish Amazon would revise their wording to make it more clear to the person applying for Ungating, however, it seems like Amazon prefers to push people back to the wholesaler so we have to invest our staffs time to explain to someone what Amazon actually means.  Basically, it's Amazons way of taking the customer service out of their hands and dumping it back on us, without paying us a cent for it.  It's pretty lousy because not only do we quickly fill the customers order and ship it same-day, but, due to Amazons intentionally vague emails, we also have a new job position that consists of helping aspiring Amazon sellers because Amazon has 0 interest in doing it. Anyways, now that you know that....

WHAT THIS EMAIL ACTUALLY MEANS:

95% of the time, when one of our buyers tells us they tried to get ungated and Amazon sent them this email (or a simpliar-looking email), we look at their order and they either did not purchase the correct merchandise to get ungated OR they did not add a UPC to the invoice. On occasion the issue is that the brand they are trying to get Ungated in is restricted or Amazon is currently not accepting any new sellers for the brand.  Let's discuss each of these issues:

Wrong Merchandise Purchased:  You cannot get ungated by purchasing a mixed lot.  You need to purchase 10 or more pieces of the same item.  THIS IS ALMOST ALWAYS THE ISSUE!!  You cannot buy a "10 piece Assorted Calvin Klein womens tops" and expect to get unagted.  You could purchase "10 pieces Womens Blue Floral Calvin Klein Tops Size Medium". 

UPC:  A UPC must be somewhere on the invoice.  The UPC must be for the purchased item.  For example, if you are trying to get ungated to sell Levis, if the purchase is for Levis jeans you would want the UPC to be for Levis jeans, not for Levis T-Shirts.  Equally, if you purchased Levis tees, you would want the UPC to be for Levis tees, not for Levis hats.  

The two reasons listed above account for almost ALL of the "Supplier Verification" emails sent by Amazon, however, other reasons can include:

Inability to get Ungated at this time:  If you are a brand new Amazon seller and you have not built up your Seller Metrics, you will not be able to get Ungated in anything, regardless of what it is. 

The brand is Restricted

Amazon is blocking new sellers from being able to sell the brand on Amazon.  From what I have read, these seems to happen when Amazon becomes overpopulated with a brand or when the actual brand itself begins selling their items on Amazon. 

For more information on Ungating check out our Amazon section of our blog!