Shipping directly to Amazon Fulfilment Centre

#41

This has nothing to do with the supplier at all. You are the importer and the retailer, and as such are responsible to fulfil all legal requirements.

As mentioned above, I too would never contemplate being without insurance.

#42

Are you ltd or a ST ?

#43

Definitely one of the “read-this-first” OP’s

#44

According to the Amazon Business Solutions Agreement you only need insurance if you sell using FBA £4,000 or more for 3 consecutive months. Alternatively Amazon can ask you to take out insurance at any point.

It is not compulsory for smaller FBA sellers but that said it is highly recommended as if your product causes damage to someone property or to a person then you are normally covered.

A lot of the online insurance companies don’t cover or charge an additional premium if you import from China.

#45

Sole Trader

#46

Have you given Amazon your UTR for your Business Seller Account ? - just checking that you are aware that Individual Account is not the same as sole-trader.

#47

I’d recommend getting items delivered to your premises/house etc.

You can then repack them, and most importantly check quality etc before sending to FBA.

It also means you can use an Amazon approved courier to ship to correct warehouse. Royal Mail for example cannot deliver to the warehouses.

Also recommend insurance. It doesn’t cost much, but protects you just incase.

#48

Where could i get the insurance from, could someone send me a link or something?

#49

Ill be honest i don’t know the difference. What is an UTR?

#50

Unique Taxpayer Reference
Have you contacted HMRC to register as self employed ?

You need to look at insurance brokers as @PeterB said, do a Google search

#51

You really need to stop before you go any further, and get yourself into a mess, as some of the questions you are asking mean you are not fully understanding what is required to run a business.
You cannot just decide to buy goods from Alibaba and sell - there are legal requirements for tax etc.

Firstly you must register with HMRC as self-employed - probably sole trader to start off with (and if you’ve listened to Youtube saying go ltd straight away then make sure you know all the responsibilities of being a ltd.co.)
Once you have registered with HMRC they will send you your UTR which you will need to upload to Amazon for a BUSINESS seller account , not an Individual account, though as I said, you can be on the Individual selling plan.

Have a thorough read of Amazon Seller University and their videos - forget Youtube - everything you need to know is there, especially the FBA section if you still plan to go down that route.

#52

And Keep all invoices, tax documents, income records
Submit an annual return (quarterly statements from 2026) and pay tax on profits
This may push you into a higher tax band if you are already employed or cost you some benefits if you are not in employment

#53

I don’t think the OP has thought it all through.

#54

Yeah I’ve actually messaged the support team on several occasions to thoroughly check my account is fully verified and set up, and if im ready to sell. Every single time they come back saying everything is set up correctly and that the only thing missing is my tax and VAT, but because im planning to be VAT exempt, they said I can start selling and send my inventory to Amazon.

#55

Are you registered self employed with HMRC?

#56

The only two things that HMRC would be knocking on your door for?
Probably a stab in the dark here, but you would also need to declare any import taxes properly, and kept proof of them

#57

Yeah I realized I need to be registered as self employed with HMRC regardless of being VAT exempt for now. Does anyone know how long this usually takes?

#58

I chose to take my first few shipments from China in-house for quality checks. Best decision I made because it allowed me to pull-out sub-standard products to avoid negative initial reviews.

Secondly, it helped me to hold the manufacturer accountable for the poorly finished products, they re-made them all for me - a practice they would prefer not to have to do again.

Result after 3/4 such occasions is that they have lifted their quality control to a standard the UK customer demands, and now I am confident in sending stock direct from that manufacturer into FBA.

#59

I buy from a UK manufacturer, and even then I get mistakes on my cards.

Foil didn’t go on properly, or at all, or they printed the wrong verse on the inside, or forgot to print the verse on the inside!

Granted mistakes are few and far between, but they are something you can guarantee will happen where humans are involved - and even if robots are making things, theres human involvement in there somewhere :wink:

I would never send stock to FBA that hasn’t first gone through me for at least a quick “once over” and I would be more thorough depending on what I sold

All it takes is one bad item to get sold and returned, and get sent out and returned and sent out and returned and once the bad reviews start coming in all you can do is pay to have ALL your stock sent to you to look it over and then send it back in.

#60

A UK tax payer can register online in a few clicks
UTR confirmation letter should only take a week or so in the post

However, once you have it, you need to ask SS to reopen the legal entity section of your account and upload your UTR number which restarts verification

You didn’t part with any cash or sign any purchase agreements did you ?

What is the product you are buying as that in itself maybe your next hurdle - safety, RP, branding and then the cost of getting your product from 10000th in the search to on page 1