How to Create an Amazon Business Account

Almost nobody fails at this because the form is hard. They stall because they opened it without the tax identification number, or because the verification email went to an inbox they cannot reach. Ten minutes of preparation removes both.

The eight steps

1. Collect the four things Amazon asks for. Your business name and address as registered, your tax identification number, access to a business email inbox for the verification message, and a business payment method. Gathering these is the part that actually takes time.
2. Decide: new account, not a conversion. Register a fresh business account with a business email address rather than converting the personal Amazon account you already use. Converting is the most common cause of business and personal orders becoming entangled, and it is far easier to avoid than to unpick later.
3. Go to Amazon Business and start registration. Open Amazon Business and begin creating a business account. Registration is free — there is no signup fee and no monthly charge for the account.
4. Enter the business credentials. Provide the business name, address and tax identification number. Enter the name and address exactly as registered — a mismatch causes problems later, most visibly at tax-exemption enrollment where Amazon requires documents to match the account.
5. Verify the business email address. Amazon verifies the business email address you provide. Open the inbox and complete the verification before continuing.
6. Add a payment method. Add a valid business credit card or other payment method. This is separate from extended payment terms, which require a Business Credit Account on a paid Business Prime tier and are granted upon approval.
7. Invite your other buyers. Invite additional users by email and set per-user permissions for each. This is free on the account — there is no per-seat charge until you buy a Business Prime tier, which introduces a seat cap.
8. Enroll for tax exemption, if you qualify. If your organization holds a valid sales-tax exemption certificate, enroll now rather than later — enrollment is not retroactive. Go to Business Settings, then Tax Exemption and licenses, then Tax exemption, then Add Tax Exemptions.

The decision at step two, explained

It gets its own section because it is the one choice here with lasting consequences.

Amazon lets you convert an existing personal account into a business account. It sounds convenient — your addresses and payment methods are already there — and it produces the most common complaint about Amazon Business: business and personal orders sharing one history, one set of recommendations, and one order stream you now have to disentangle for bookkeeping.

Registering fresh with a business email costs you five extra minutes of setup. Keep the personal account for personal things. If your business has its own domain, use an address on it — it also makes the business email verification straightforward.

Step eight matters more than it looks

If your organization holds a valid sales-tax exemption certificate, enroll during setup rather than later. Enrollment is not retroactive — it applies to purchases from activation onward — so every order placed before you get round to it carries sales tax you were entitled not to pay.

Before you attempt it, read the tax-exempt purchasing guide, specifically the list of documents Amazon rejects. Nonprofits in particular tend to submit an IRS determination letter first, which Amazon does not accept for enrollment unless state law requires it — what it needs is the state-level exemption certificate. Amazon says exemption activates within 15 minutes once the enrollment succeeds.

What to do in the first week

Registration is the beginning of the useful part, not the end of it. Three things worth doing while the account is new:

1. Price your recurring basket. List the six things you reorder most and compare them against what you were paying. That gives you a real figure for what business pricing is worth to your business — far more useful than any average you will read online.
2. Set up approvals before you add buyers. Deciding who approves what is easier before six people are already ordering. It is free — see multi-user accounts and approvals.
3. Do not buy Business Prime yet. Use the free account for a quarter first. The main reason to pay is shipping, and you cannot price that benefit until you can see what you actually spend on delivery.

If you hit a wall

No EIN. Amazon asks for a tax identification number, not specifically an EIN, and sole proprietors are a supported case — Amazon aims the Business Prime Duo tier at them directly. Which identifier applies to your situation is a question for whoever prepares your return. More on the requirements page.

Verification email not arriving. Check the address you entered is one you can actually access, and that it is not already attached to another Amazon account.

Second thoughts. Entirely reasonable, and worth having before rather than after. The honest case for and against is on is an Amazon Business account worth it — including four situations where we would tell you not to bother.

Once you are set up and wondering about the paid layer, that is how to upgrade to Business Prime — but read Amazon Business vs Business Prime first, because a lot of upgrades buy features the free account already had.