Sourcing Products to Sell on Amazon: Suppliers, Invoices, and Ungating
Amazon product sourcing works backwards from paperwork. Choose a supplier who can issue a real invoice, then choose the product. Amazon asks for a purchase invoice from a manufacturer or distributor. It must show supplier details, an itemised product list, at least 10 units, and a date within the last 180 days. Your name and address on it must match your selling account. Check the supplier first: office and warehouse locations, business bureau ratings, liability cover, and references. A cheaper unit price never survives a rejected application.
The invoice decides everything
One document controls your catalogue access. It gets you ungated in a restricted category. It gets a brand approved on your account. It defends you when a buyer files an authenticity complaint. That document is the supplier invoice.
Most sourcing advice treats the invoice as an afterthought. It is the deciding factor. A supplier who cannot put a company name, a full address, and a line-by-line product list on headed paper cannot support your account. The price sheet does not change that.
So the first question in any supplier conversation is not price. Ask this instead. Can you issue a purchase invoice in my business name, showing the items, the quantities, and your full company details? If the answer stalls, the conversation is over.
We manage catalogues for a living. Account problems almost never begin with a bad product. They begin with a supplier who could not prove where the goods came from.
Amazon’s own supplier checklist
Amazon publishes a verification checklist that almost nobody quotes. It appears in the guide on how to find wholesalers, published on 20 August 2025. Amazon tells sellers to look up the supplier’s office and warehouse locations and check their business bureau ratings. It also says to ask about their liability policy, ask for referrals or contact previous customers, and read reviews for complaints about product quality or customer service.
The same guide covers where to find suppliers: trade shows, referrals, professional networks, and the Amazon Service Provider Network. For branded goods it adds two documents to review. Those are the supplier’s business licence and the brand authorisation letter.
Run these checks in order. Stop at the first failure.
| Check | How to do it | What a fail looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Office location | Match the registered address against maps and company records | A virtual office, a flat, or an address that keeps changing |
| Warehouse location | Ask where stock ships from, request a photo or video walk through | No warehouse, or goods shipped by a third party they will not name |
| Business bureau rating | Search the supplier on the relevant business bureau | No record at all, or unresolved complaints |
| Liability policy | Ask for their product liability cover and the certificate | Vague answers, or cover that excludes your category |
| Customer references | Ask for two buyers in your category, then email them yourself | Referrals they will not give, or contacts who never reply |
| Reviews and complaints | Read third party reviews for repeat themes | The same complaint from different buyers across different years |
| Business licence | Check the legal name matches the invoice header | A licence in another name, or a scan too poor to read |
| Brand authorisation letter | For branded goods, request it on the brand’s own letterhead | A letter from the reseller rather than the brand owner |
Two checks carry most of the weight. Calling a past customer tells you what the supplier does when an order goes wrong. Matching the legal name across licence, invoice, and bank details tells you who you are paying.
What a compliant invoice contains
Amazon states the elements plainly. The wholesalers guide asks for supplier information and an itemised product list. It also asks for a date within the last 180 days and a combined purchase of at least 10 units. Your name and address must match your Amazon selling account, and the manufacturer or distributor name and address must appear.
Send the document exactly as the supplier issued it. Do not redact prices. Do not retype it into a cleaner template. Do not fix a typo yourself. Edited files are the most common rejection we see.
| Element | Required by | Common rejection cause |
|---|---|---|
| Supplier name and address | Amazon wholesalers guide | Trading name only, or an address that fails a check |
| Manufacturer or distributor details | Amazon wholesalers guide | Invoice issued by an agent who is neither |
| Buyer name and address | Amazon wholesalers guide | Details that do not match the selling account |
| Itemised product list | Amazon wholesalers guide | One line reading “goods” with no description |
| At least 10 units | Amazon wholesalers guide | A sample order of two or three pieces |
| Date within 180 days | Amazon wholesalers guide | An older invoice from a previous buying cycle |
| Unaltered document | Field experience, not an Amazon rule | Redacted prices, retyped text, mismatched fonts |
Note the last row. Amazon publishes the required elements. It does not publish a ranked list of rejection reasons, so treat that row as field experience.
Sourcing routes, compared honestly
Four routes cover almost every seller. Each trades margin against documentation quality.
Domestic wholesale gives you the cleanest paperwork. You buy branded goods from an authorised distributor. The invoice they issue already carries what Amazon asks for. Margins stay thin because everyone can buy the same units.
Overseas manufacture gives you the best margin and the weakest paperwork. A factory invoice proves you bought goods. It does not prove you may sell someone else’s brand. That is why this route works for your own brand and fails for gated branded catalogues.
Private label sits on top of either. You own the brand, so brand authorisation stops being a problem and becomes a document you issue.
Amazon Business is the route most sellers overlook. With a Professional selling account you can list case packs and pallets and set business prices and quantity discounts. It changes who you sell to rather than where you buy.
| Route | Typical minimum order | Lead time | Documentation quality | Margin | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic wholesale | Low, often 10 to 50 units | Days | Strongest, usually passes as issued | Thin | Low, mainly price competition |
| Overseas manufacture | High, often several hundred units | Weeks to months | Weak for branded goods, fine for your own | Widest | High, quality and customs sit with you |
| Private label | Set by the factory | Weeks to months | Strong once you own the brand | Wide | Moderate, brand building costs cash |
| Amazon Business case packs | Set by you | Your existing supply chain | Same as your source route | Lower per unit | Low, bigger orders and fewer returns |
The Alibaba question
Sellers ask about Alibaba more than any other sourcing topic. The honest answer has two halves.
Experienced sellers in Amazon’s own forums push back hard on it. Their reasons deserve weight. The first is counterfeit exposure, because a factory offering a well known brand cheaply is rarely an authorised source. The second is documentation, because a trading company invoice often fails an ungating review even when goods are genuine. The third is competition. A supplier who makes your product can list it and sell against you on the ASIN you built.
Now the qualified version. Alibaba works when you use it to find a manufacturer for your own brand. It fails when you use it to buy someone else’s. Under the first condition it behaves like any other sourcing channel.
The due diligence that makes it workable is the checklist above, applied properly. Confirm the legal entity and the business licence. Ask whether you are talking to a factory or a trading company. Check that answer against the licence. Pay to the company account in the company name, never to a personal account.
Some categories are not worth the attempt. Avoid branded goods of any kind. Avoid supplements, topicals, children’s products, batteries, and anything carrying a safety certification you cannot verify yourself. There, a paperwork failure ends in a complaint you cannot answer.
A sensible first order looks small and slow. Buy samples from three suppliers before naming one. Place the first production run at the lowest quantity the factory will accept, even at a worse unit price. Pay a deposit and the balance against inspection, not against a shipping date. Ship the first run by air if volume allows.
Samples and quality control
Test the sample against the listing you plan to write. Anything you would claim in a bullet point needs a check before you order.
Weigh and measure every sample and record the numbers, because dimensions drive your fulfilment fee. Cycle any moving part to a set count. Wash, drop, charge, or load the item the way a buyer will. Open the retail packaging the same way, and photograph the whole process.
Photograph the shipping carton too. Prep problems, poor barcodes, and crushed inners cause more early refunds than product faults do. That evidence also feeds your inventory management plan once volume grows.
Then write acceptance criteria into the purchase order before money moves. Name the tolerance on dimensions and weight. Name the defect rate you accept and what happens above it. Name who pays for a failed inspection and who pays return freight. Vague quality language protects the factory, not you.
Getting ungated in a restricted category
Amazon gates some categories and many brands. To sell a branded product you supply one of two things. Either a purchase invoice from a manufacturer or distributor, or a letter from the brand authorising you to sell their products.
Amazon’s guide to selling branded products, published on 8 April 2025, sets out what that letter needs. A date within 180 days. Your name and address matching your Amazon selling account. The brand’s letterhead, with the brand name and address. A high-resolution PDF in the correct orientation.
The same guide gives a rough clock. You usually get confirmation within 24 hours that Amazon is reviewing a selling application for a brand. The review itself usually finishes within three business days.
Three failure points cause most rejections. Buyer details that do not match the selling account, often because the account uses a trading name. A supplier who turns out to be a reseller rather than a manufacturer or distributor. A file that arrives edited, cropped, or as a low quality photo.
Building your own brand without a registered mark is a separate problem. Our guide to brand approval without a trademark covers that route in full.
Terms that protect you
We are not lawyers, and none of this is legal advice. Take a real agreement to a qualified solicitor. What follows is a list of things to negotiate before you send a deposit.
Ask for exclusivity on the ASIN. At minimum, ask for a written promise that the supplier will not list the product on Amazon. Suppliers who refuse tell you something useful.
Negotiate the minimum order quantity down for the first run and up for later runs. Factories usually hold a lower floor than the published one.
Agree a defect allowance as a number, with a credit or replacement attached. Agree who preps the goods, who applies FNSKU labels, and who pays if prep fails at the fulfilment centre.
Settle tooling ownership in writing. If you paid for a mould, say who owns it and where it sits. That clause decides whether you can move factories later.
Landed cost, again
A supplier quote is not a cost. Landed cost is the unit price plus freight, duty, brokerage, prep, labels, and the cash tied up while goods sit on a ship.
Sourcing decisions that ignore those lines are guesses. A quote that beats a domestic alternative often loses once duty and freight land on it. Our product research guide shows how to build that number before you commit.
Red flags
Some signals end a supplier conversation on the spot.
A price well below every other quote is the clearest. Nobody sells genuine branded goods far under market to a new buyer with no history.
No verifiable physical address is the second. A refusal to provide a business licence is the third, and it is absolute.
Watch for pressure to pay outside the platform or into a personal account. Watch for an invoice that arrives as an editable document rather than an issued record with a number and a header. Watch for a supplier who cannot say whether they manufacture or resell.
None of these signals prove fraud. They only need to change where you buy.
Frequently asked questions
Where do Amazon sellers source products?
Amazon’s own guidance points sellers to trade shows, referrals, professional networks, and the Amazon Service Provider Network. Beyond that, sellers buy from domestic wholesalers and authorised distributors, from overseas manufacturers for private label goods, and from liquidation channels. The route matters less than whether the supplier can issue an invoice that meets Amazon’s requirements.
Is Alibaba safe for Amazon sourcing?
It depends what you buy. For finding a manufacturer for your own brand it works as a normal channel. Verify the business licence, confirm factory or trading company status, and pay to a company account. For branded goods it carries real counterfeit and documentation risk. Sellers in Amazon’s forums warn against it for exactly that reason.
What does Amazon require on a supplier invoice?
Amazon asks for supplier information and an itemised product list. It also asks for a date within the last 180 days and a combined purchase of at least 10 units. Your name and address must match your Amazon selling account, and the manufacturer or distributor name and address must appear. Send the file unedited.
How do I verify a supplier?
Use Amazon’s published checklist. Look up the supplier’s office and warehouse locations. Check their business bureau ratings. Ask about their liability policy. Ask for referrals or contact previous customers about their experience. Read reviews and look for complaints about product quality or customer service. For branded goods, review the business licence and brand authorisation letter.
What is a brand authorisation letter?
It is a letter from the brand owner confirming you may sell their products. Amazon asks that it carries a date within 180 days. Your name and address must match your selling account. It must sit on the brand’s own letterhead with the brand name and address, uploaded as a high-resolution PDF in the correct orientation. A reseller letter does not qualify.
How recent does an invoice need to be?
Within the last 180 days. Amazon states that window for both purchase invoices and brand authorisation letters. An older invoice from a previous buying cycle fails, even for the same product from the same supplier. Plan a fresh purchase before you apply, rather than scrambling for one after a rejection.
Why does Amazon keep rejecting my invoices?
Usually one of three reasons. The buyer details do not match your selling account exactly, often because the account uses a trading name. The supplier is a reseller rather than a manufacturer or distributor. Or the file arrives edited, cropped, or as a poor photo. Amazon does not publish a ranked list of rejection causes.
What is the minimum order quantity for a first product?
Amazon asks for at least 10 units on an invoice used for approval. Commercially, order the smallest run the factory will accept for a first production order, even at a worse unit price. The cost of a bad first order is the whole run, not the price gap between 300 pieces and 1,000.
Should I source domestically or overseas?
Domestic wholesale gives you clean documentation and thin margins. Overseas manufacture gives you wide margins and weak documentation for branded goods. If you plan to sell other people’s brands in gated categories, buy domestically from authorised distributors. If you plan to build your own brand, overseas manufacture usually wins on cost.
How do I stop my supplier selling on my listing?
You cannot stop it afterwards, so negotiate it before the deposit. Ask for written exclusivity on the ASIN, or a clause barring the supplier from listing the product on Amazon. Owning the brand and registering it gives you far stronger tools than a supply agreement alone. A supplier who refuses the clause has answered your question.
What is Amazon Business and can I sell wholesale through it?
Amazon Business is Amazon’s marketplace for business customers. With a Professional selling account you can set business prices and quantity discounts. You can also list products as case packs and pallets to encourage bulk sales. Amazon notes that business customers often buy in larger quantities and return items less than consumer buyers do.
Do I need a business licence to source products?
Most wholesalers and distributors ask for business registration and a resale certificate before opening an account. Many overseas factories want a company name on the purchase order. Amazon’s guidance also tells sellers to review the supplier’s business licence, so expect that check to run in both directions.
Work with us on your supply side
If your invoices keep failing review, send them to us before the next application. We also help sellers choose between a domestic distributor and an overseas factory. Our Amazon account management team has worked with marketplace sellers since 2019 and managed more than $100M in sales. The audit before we start is free.
