Amazon Now Wants Sellers to Justify Multiple Accounts. Here’s How to Stay Safe in 2025.
Amazon Now Wants Sellers to Justify Multiple Accounts. Here’s How to Stay Safe in 2025.
Operating more than one Amazon account?
You’re not doing anything wrong – but you need to be prepared.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve seen sellers log in to do something completely routine – update a bank detail, submit a document, respond to a normal performance request – and suddenly Amazon hits them with:
“Provide your legitimate business justification for operating more than one seller account.”
This is new.
It’s not tied to suspensions.
It’s not tied to violations.
It’s not even tied to related-account warnings.
Amazon is now proactively checking structures before anything goes wrong.
And if you can’t explain your account structure clearly and confidently, the verification stalls, the account enters an extended review, or the whole case gets stuck in limbo.
So let’s cut the noise and walk through what’s actually happening, what Amazon means by “legitimate business justification,” and how to open or maintain multiple accounts without triggering unnecessary risk.
The new pattern: Amazon now forces sellers to justify their structure upfront
This is the shift that caught sellers by surprise.
Historically, Amazon only asked about multiple accounts when:
a suspension happened
a related account was flagged
an old account resurfaced
or something looked suspicious
Not anymore.
Now Amazon asks during:
identity re-verifications
KYC updates
beneficial ownership checks
“random” account reviews
logins from new devices
long periods of seller inactivity
bank or tax detail changes
and sometimes without any clear reason at all
The logic?
Amazon merged identity verification with account linking and risk analysis.
They want to understand your entire business structure before letting you continue.
This is why sellers who did nothing wrong are suddenly facing structural questions they never prepared for.
Amazon’s official rule: multiple accounts ARE allowed
Contrary to the myth one-person-one-account, Amazon’s actual policy says:
You may maintain more than one Seller Central account per region if you have a legitimate business need and all accounts remain in good standing.
This matters.
Because the problem is rarely the second account itself.
The problem is the story behind it.
Amazon even lists a few acceptable reasons:
separate legal businesses with separate brands
two distinct companies manufacturing products
Amazon programs requiring a separate account
So the issue is not the number of accounts.
It’s the justification, the structure, and the operational clarity.
And that brings us to the core question sellers struggle with.
What Amazon actually means by “legitimate business justification”
Here’s the truth most sellers never hear:
A legitimate justification means these businesses would still exist even if Amazon didn’t.
That’s the test.
Not:
“I wanted a backup”
“I wanted to isolate risk”
“I wanted cleaner metrics”
“I opened a new account because Amazon suspended my first one”
Those are violations.
A legitimate justification is structural, not strategic.
Let’s break it into the elements Amazon evaluates.
A. Separate legal entities
This is the strongest signal.
If you have two companies – with separate incorporation documents – Amazon sees a real-world basis for two accounts.
B. Separate tax identities
Different EINs or VAT IDs are a clear indicator of separation.
Same tax ID? Amazon assumes it’s one business.
C. Independent banking and finances
Each entity should have its own:
bank account
credit card
payout method
billing profile
Financial overlap is one of the fastest ways Amazon decides the businesses aren’t actually distinct.
D. Operational separation
This is where most legitimate sellers accidentally fail.
Amazon looks at:
devices used
IP addresses
user permissions
team members
login patterns
catalog overlap
supplier overlap
If the same laptop logs into both accounts, Amazon sees “same operator, two accounts.”
A real example from last month:
A seller had two valid companies, two EINs, two brand identities – everything clean.
But their VA logged into both accounts from the same desktop in the Philippines.
Amazon flagged the entire structure and stopped verification until we clarified the operational separation.
E. Product and supply chain separation
You don’t need totally unrelated products, but you do need clarity:
different catalogs
different vendors
different manufacturing lines
or a clear commercial reason these businesses operate independently
The simple test:
If Amazon shut down all e-commerce tomorrow…
Would these companies still exist?
If yes, your justification is strong.
If no, you’re in dangerous territory.
“If Amazon suspends related accounts together, what’s the point of having multiple accounts?”
Every seller asks this.
And the answer is simple:
Multiple accounts are not a risk-avoidance tactic.
They are a business-structure reflection.
Amazon will suspend related accounts together as a trust mechanism, not a punishment.
If one business violates Amazon’s policies in a serious way – especially Code of Conduct violations – Amazon doesn’t want the same owner running another business on the platform without oversight.
However, when two entities are:
legitimate
structured
documented
and operated separately
…Amazon usually leaves each one on its own track.
The purpose of multiple accounts is not to create a fallback option.
It’s to align Amazon’s systems with how your companies actually operate.
Once a seller understands this, the whole policy becomes much easier to navigate.
This is not about hiding accounts. This is about being ready when Amazon asks.
There are sellers who try to hide accounts through:
VPN tricks
burner laptops
proxy identities
fake business setups
“backup accounts” opened in panic
Those sellers almost always get shut down because Amazon’s device-fingerprinting system is too strong.
This article is for the sellers who:
operate multiple companies legitimately
need clarity
want to stay compliant
and want to avoid a disaster during verification
Your structure doesn’t need to be perfect – it just needs to make sense.
How to correctly open a second account in 2025
This is where confusion skyrockets, so let’s make it clean.
A. Do you need Amazon’s prior approval?
No.
There is no pre-approval process.
But Amazon expects you to have your justification ready from day one.
B. What must be different? (Non-negotiable)
Amazon expects these to be fully separate:
legal entity
tax ID (EIN/VAT)
bank account
credit card
primary email and phone
business address (in most cases)
login devices and IPs
staff accessing each account through the main user
If these overlap, the accounts may technically be allowed – but the structure won’t survive verification.
C. What can be similar?
Amazon allows certain overlaps if the structure makes sense:
same ultimate owner or holding company
same accountant
same corporate attorney
same 3PL (with documented separation)
same employees
Total isolation isn’t required.
Logical separation is.
D. What you should prepare before opening the account
This is where sophisticated sellers win.
Prepare:
a short written explanation of why the second entity exists
corporate and tax documents
a separation plan for operations
a clear outline of who operates each account
which devices will be used
how your supply chains differ
why the structure is not designed to bypass Amazon risk
You never want to be caught writing this explanation at 2am because Amazon asked.
Why Amazon is asking for justification proactively (the real reason)
Amazon is tightening compliance because they’re merging:
identity verification
related accounts
beneficial ownership mapping
high-risk category oversight
and marketplace integrity enforcement
So when their system sees:
new devices
mismatched addresses
inactive accounts becoming active
ownership differences
financial updates
inconsistent tax data
…it triggers a deeper check.
The seller thinks it’s a routine verification.
Amazon is actually checking the entire corporate structure.
This is why being ready matters.
What sellers should do now
A simple, calm action plan:
Step 1: Audit your entire structure.
List accounts, entities, tax IDs, bank accounts, devices, and operators.
Step 2: Map the relationships.
Draw a simple diagram showing who owns what and who runs what.
Step 3: Clean operational overlap.
Separate devices, users, payment methods.
Step 4: Write your justification now.
One clean paragraph can save your account during verification.
Step 5: Fix anything messy before Amazon forces the conversation.
Especially if:
you’ve had prior suspensions
an old account is still floating
two accounts share too many fingerprints
you use VAs with mixed permissions
Getting ahead of this makes all the difference.
Amazon doesn’t punish multiple accounts. It punishes unclear structures.
This is the part sellers miss.
Amazon isn’t asking you to hide.
They’re asking you to explain.
If your structure is real, your justification is clean, and your operations are separated, you’ll be fine – even if Amazon asks out of nowhere during verification.
If your structure is confusing, reactive, or messy, you’ll run into problems even if your intentions were honest.
The goal isn’t to be perfect.
It’s to be understood.
Because the moment Amazon can’t understand your structure… they assume the worst.
And you don’t want that assumption to be the start of an investigation.