My company has an Amazon business account created in Europe with the company's registration and VAT number.I logged in to the American amazon.com site to order an article that was much cheaper in the US. During checkout, I was asked for my company's tax ID number for customs purposes, which is the same as the VAT number.When I downloaded the invoice a week later, I could see that Portuguese VAT had been added, but Amazon had failed to provide a legally valid invoice indicating under which VAT number they had paid the VAT and indicating my company's VAT number. As such, this negligent invoice would not be valid for reclaiming the VAT paid. How is it possible that the world's largest online retailer doesn't know how to issue a valid invoice? They only care about their own tax optimisation. To hell with the customers' tax documentation.Also, VAT should not be charged when they sell to a VAT-registered company in the EU.When I got support on chat, they kept claiming it was a personal account, which it isn't. They forwarded me to a phone call with someone with an Indian accent on a distorted line where the sound kept dropping out so he could not hear what I was saying.That support agent also claimed it was a personal account. It turns out that Amazon is laying a trap for European business accounts logging in to the US amazon.com site, as amazon.com treats them as personal accounts, and without warning the user about it. The account already knew my delivery address, so how is the user supposed to know that a European business account, which works on amazon.com, is treated as a personal account on amazon.com?I wasted most of an hour on that support call, which ended with the agent sending me a paid return label.I later tried to see if I could create a separate business account on amazon.com, but it will only accept businesses in the US, so amazon.com clearly does not want business customers outside the US.I placed my first Amazon order on amazon.com in 1997. Once upon a time, customer service from Amazon was great, and prices were competitive. Much too often today, it's third-world customer service, and you can often find the same products cheaper elsewhere. No wonder they have to lay off staff.
