Best Practices

Sellers should use the following best practices to ensure that they provide the best customer experience:

1. Request a VIDR without any parameters. Without any parameters, this report includes all of the shipments from the last 90 days that don't have invoices (either invoices have not been uploaded or invoices have been uploaded and rejected). After you successfully upload an invoice for an order, that order will no longer appear in this report.

2. Request a VIDR at least twice a day. This will ensure that you are uploading invoices every 12 hours for all pending shipments in last 12 hours. This means you will always be uploading invoices within the 24 hour SLA. You can request VIDRs more frequently if you want.

3. Always use Amazon's tax calculation from a VIDR. Amazon applies the appropriate tax rate, depending on the product type, customer type (B2B or B2C), cross-border or domestic, ship from location and ship to location, and many other parameters.

4. Do not put a seller's bank account number on the invoice. Customers who buy on Amazon never pay sellers directly. Showing bank account numbers on invoices confuses customers.

5. Always include order related information, such as Purchase Order Number, on the invoice. This data is provided in the VIDR. Customers use Purchase Order Numbers to reconcile their payments.

6. Always include the billing address on the invoice. The VIDR provides the billing address details of the customers.

7. Always include the seller's and buyer's (if applicable) VAT numbers. Both of these VAT numbers are provided in the VIDR. Invoices without seller VAT numbers (if applicable) are not VAT invoices.

8. Every invoice upload must contain the seller invoice number in the metadata. Amazon will reject any invoices that are uploaded without any metadata.

9. Only upload PDF invoices. Amazon will reject any other format.

10. Amazon will scan for viruses every invoice that is uploaded.

11. If sellers are not uploading invoices within one business day after shipment, Amazon might remove them from the VAT Calculation Service. These sellers will then lose the Downloadable VAT invoice badge and its benefits.

12. Sellers must upload PDF invoices for each shipment. One order can be split into multiple shipments for FBA orders, and each shipment must have an invoice. Consolidated shipment data is provided in the VIDR.