Does Amazon accept retail receipts?
“Does Amazon accept retail receipts?”
I see this question on Facebook a lot, and it causes a lot of unnecessary fear. Sometimes it’s not even a question, it’s a statement:
“Amazon doesn’t accept retail receipts.”
or worse yet,
“Everyone knows Amazon doesn’t accept retail receipts!”
It’s used as an explanation for why no one can sell Nike on Amazon anymore (fake news) or why you’ll never get approved to sell Nike or other big brands (also fake news).
It’s also used as an explanation for why retail arbitrage is dead, and anyone who engages in it is foolhardy – or just plain dumb. How on earth can you defend your account against inauthentic complaints if Amazon doesn’t accept receipts from retail stores?
There are two reasons people misunderstand:
- Receipts and invoices are not the same.
- Amazon does accept receipts for certain purposes.
For ungating restricted brands, Amazon very rarely accepts receipts. They want invoices, ideally physical ones that arrived in the box with the inventory you ordered. And they want them from reputable sources, not your uncle’s convenience store. Not sure if you have an invoice or a receipt? Amazon likes invoices to have the actual word on them: INVOICE. Be prepared. Even with a proper invoice, getting approved can be tricky and often requires persistence.
But as proof of purchase, Amazon does accept receipts. We use retail receipts to defend inauthentic complaints with a 100% success rate. This success rate depends on having the right systems in place, but retail receipts are not a problem. If you can show that the item in question appears on the receipt, and that the receipt belongs to you or your business, you’re well on your way. Here’s a sample of a receipt annotated for responding to an inauthentic complaint. Here’s a free how-to video showing you exactly how to do it!.
Want to learn more about responding to inauthentic complaints about your Amazon inventory? Check out my course. The first section is absolutely free so you can get answers to your questions right away!
