What invoices does Amazon accept to ungate a brand or category?

You've found a brand you want to sell, and Add Products says Apply to sell. The form wants an invoice. You have a Costco receipt for 12 units, and a distributor will sell you a case of 12. The receipt won't work. The case can, if the distributor is authorized, the invoice is paid and in your business name, and the brand doesn't also want its own letter.

What does Amazon want on the invoice when you apply to sell?

Amazon wants a finished, paid purchase from the product's manufacturer or an authorized distributor, with your business and the supplier both clearly named. The rules come from Amazon's Seller University video "Invoice requirements for when you apply to sell" (September 2022), which covers products, brands and categories that need approval. Amazon's approval pages and moderators' answers on the Seller Forums in 2025 and 2026 add the rest.

Before you buy anything, open the product in Add Products and click Apply to sell to read its requirements. Here is what the invoice needs to show:

• Issued by the manufacturer or an authorized distributor of the product, not a store.
• A completed transaction that shows it has been paid.
• Your full business name and address, matching the information in your selling account.
• The supplier's full name, address and contact details, such as an email address or phone number.
• Product identifiers Amazon can check online: a model number, the product name or the UPC.
• At least 10 units of the product you're applying to sell.
• Dated within 180 days of the day you submit the application.

You can hide the prices, but nothing else may be hidden or hard to read, and the invoice must not be altered in any other way. The 2022 video asks for a JPEG or a restricted PDF and refuses editable formats. A June 2026 moderator answer lists PDF, DOC, PNG, GIF or JPG up to 10MB. The two disagree on Word files, so a JPEG avoids the question.

If Amazon can't match the products on your invoice to the product you're applying for, it may ask for a different invoice. It wants to see a business relationship with the supplier, and it may contact that supplier to check. If your stock ships to a prep center, have the supplier bill your business name and address as your account shows them.

Why won't Amazon take my Walmart or Costco receipt?

Because a store is not the manufacturer or an authorized distributor, and Amazon's video says retail receipts and order confirmations won't be accepted. An Amazon moderator said the same on the Seller Forums in March 2025: buy from authorized distributors, not retail stores.

Paperwork that comes before a sale fails too. The video rules out sales quotes and pro forma invoices, because they're issued before the transaction is final. That matters when a new distributor emails a quote and asks you to pay against it. Pay, wait for the real invoice, and apply with that. So your Costco receipt is out. The distributor's case of 12 is the one to try first, as long as the distributor is authorized and the paid invoice names your business.

Do I need 10 units on the invoice?

Plan on it. The 10 comes from Amazon's 2022 video, which asks for at least 10 units of the product you're applying to sell. A June 2026 moderator answer says to verify the current threshold for your marketplace, so read the requirements under Apply to sell before you order.

The invoice has to cover the product you're applying for, since Amazon may ask for a different one when it can't match them. Amazon's approval pages also say some products need more than one approval. Amazon can restrict a single ASIN, a brand, a brand within one category, a category or a sub-category, so one approval may not open the rest of a brand. Run every product you plan to buy through Add Products. For a category, the video points to the same place: the selling application page you reach through Apply to sell.

How old can the invoice be?

No more than 180 days old on the day you submit the application. The video says Amazon won't accept invoices "issued more than 180 days from the day you submitted your application," and both the Amazon.com and Amazon.ca approval pages list "Purchase invoices (dated within 180 days)."

The 180 days run from the invoice date to the day you submit, so an invoice keeps aging while an order ships slowly or while a decline waits for your answer.

Is an ungating invoice the same as an appeal invoice?

No. When Amazon asks for invoices to appeal a policy violation, a separate help page applies with wider rules. Some guides blend the two, and the 365-day figure belongs to appeals.

If Amazon later opens a policy case, the appeal page says your invoices must show enough units to cover each cited ASIN's sales and in-stock inventory over the past 365 days. Amazon may also ask for your documents at any time, even after you're selling, so keep every invoice.

Is an invoice enough, or do I need a letter from the brand?

Sometimes an invoice is enough, and sometimes Amazon also wants the brand's permission. An Amazon moderator has described a letter of authorization (LOA) as one way to show your supply chain, "not the only way," and "not universally required."

You can see part of the answer before you buy. Open the product under Apply to sell and read the requirements. Amazon's approval pages list brand authorization letters "if applicable" among the documents to prepare, so if your product's requirements ask for one, plan on getting it first.

Even a distributor invoice can be refused. In an October 2026 forum thread about exactly that, the moderator recommended an LOA from those brands. If the brand will work with you, ask it to add you as an authorized reseller in its Brand Registry, then try to list again. If the brand won't, skipping that brand is often the cheaper call.

No brand contact yet? Your first one can be this: before you order, ask the brand to confirm in writing that your distributor is authorized to sell its products to retailers for resale. That check can keep you from paying for stock you can't list, and it opens the conversation with the brand. Amazon has no list of distributors that helps your approval and no pre-approval process.

You can still vet the supplier itself. Amazon.com's appeal page suggests checking its business licenses, confirming a physical office or warehouse, and verifying its web presence through government resources, brand websites and business directories.

Are the invoice rules different on Amazon.ca?

Amazon.ca's approval page lists the same "Purchase invoices (dated within 180 days)" and the same 2 to 7 business day review as Amazon.com's. The video doesn't name a marketplace, and the moderator answers quoted here were posted on the Amazon.com Seller Forums. So check the Apply to sell requirements on Amazon.ca itself.

If you sell on both stores, check the requirements on each one. The Amazon.ca approval page doesn't say whether an invoice from a US supplier counts there, so read the Amazon.ca requirements before you rely on one.

Should I buy a test order just to get the invoice?

Click Apply to sell before you order anything, and read what it asks for. If the request asks for an invoice, you need to buy first, since Amazon has no pre-approval process and the invoice must show a completed, paid purchase. Treat the test order as money that may sit in stock you can't list, and keep it to the unit count the requirements ask for.

Before you spend that $133, check whether the product is worth selling at all. In asinIQ you paste the ASIN and see estimated profit at your own costs, fees and competing sellers, plus the most you can pay the supplier and still hit your profit target. It also flags brand risks such as possible IP complaints. If the numbers don't work at $11.50, skip the order and the application.

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