They do take significant measures to block repeat offenders, but bad actors are sophisticated.
I've heard, for example, that if a new account is selling inventory that's too similar to a banned account, it will get flagged. If accounts ramp up sales too quickly, if too many details match existing accounts (name, address, IP, credit card, etc) it's gone.
Online signups work when risk is low to the point of being non-existent. Regulators aren't worried about students buying Ramen noodles.
Online signups don't work when there are credible risks of malfeasance. When you're a merchant making more than X in revenue, vetting becomes necessary. If banks can do this, then so can Amazon.
If a bank were to say "we're trying our best but people are still heavily abusing our online signup", then I'm all but certain that the regulatory response would be "too bad, then you can no longer offer online signup".
The client is a small wood-working shop somewhere in Ohio, has been registered as business for 30 years, and has a projected volume of 5-10 items sold per day? -> low risk, can be approved online.
The client is some LLC or similar that sells USB cables and USB flash drives, and that has been registered as a business only days or months ago, and the client is somewhere in a jurisdiction associated with exceptionally high reports of counterfeiting? -> high risk, no online approval. Visit some office.
Again: banks have been doing this for decades.
I don't think they've internalised the extent of this problem yet. I agree with the previous post that in some cases it's worse than ebay.
Maybe scorched earth is the best answer here and built up a new resilient system slowly. The current system is demonstrably broken.
1. The same thing that any of the millions of businesses that operate storefronts do. They've figured this out, somehow.
2. Alternatively: I don't know, and I don't care. They are a logistics company. It's their job to figure this out, not mine. If they want to pay me, though, I'll be happy to consult.
> commercially viable for Amazon
why does it have to be? What if the business that Amazon chose to engage in simply isn't commercially viable? I personally think there is a way to make it viable but I am almost certain that'd significantly bite into the crazy profit margins Amazon is reaping. And maybe that's the explanation, maybe Amazon's huge profits are largely coming from ignoring market rules that everyone else needs to abide by and, when the market is made fair, they'll still be profitable, but forced by competition to survive on much thinner margins.
All Amazon needs to do is just use their own site. It's so laughably obvious, like 1TB flash drives.