By Ali Khoddami, founder of Vela K Products Ltd., a registered British Columbia distribution company selling brand-direct on Amazon.ca and Amazon.com since 2021. Updated October 23, 2026.

Short answer: you move one product line at a time, and you build the paper trail before you need it. Buy from the brand, or from a distributor the brand authorizes, on invoices in your company's name. Keep selling what is safe while the first brand accounts open, then replace receipt-only stock as it sells through. A store receipt shows you bought a product. It does not show the product came through the brand's supply chain, and that is what Amazon and brands look at when a complaint comes in.

I did arbitrage for years. Deals from store shelves, receipts instead of invoices, boxes on my living room floor. Then Amazon suspended my account over arbitrage, and it almost ended the business. I got the account back the documented way Amazon asks for, and I moved to buying from brands. This is the order I would follow if I had to make the switch again today. It is written for people who already sell.

Why receipts stop being enough

Reselling genuine products is generally legal. In the United States, the first sale doctrine is the main defence for resellers. But legal and safe on Amazon are not the same thing. A brand can argue that a product sold outside its authorized channel is materially different from the real thing. For example, the warranty may not cover it, or the packaging may have changed. Traverse Legal explained in April 2026 that retail receipts may not satisfy Amazon, while invoices from authorized distributors carry more weight.

Amazon has also built systems to stop counterfeits and suspected infringing listings. In its 2025 Trustworthy Shopping Experience Report, published in April 2026, Amazon said it identified, seized and disposed of more than 15 million counterfeit products in 2025. It also said it blocked more than 99.9% of suspected infringing listings before a brand had to find and report them. From what I have seen, that net catches honest sellers too when all they have is a receipt.

The risk is not that every arbitrage product gets a complaint. It is that a complaint can arrive on any product at any time, and when it does you need documents a receipt cannot give you. I wrote more about that in How Do I Avoid IP Complaints on Amazon?

What you already have that brands want

An existing seller is not starting from zero. You have things a brand looks for that most beginners do not.

A live account with a record. Account health, feedback and a history of orders show a brand you can run a listing without problems.

Knowledge of the listings. You already know which listings have too many sellers, which ones have weak images or missing details, and which ones go out of stock. Brands care about all three.

Working systems. Prep, shipping into FBA, pricing and reorders. Brands want a reseller who will not create problems on their listings.

Use these in your first email. A brand cares far more about how you will sell its products than about what you sold before.

The switch, in order

Step 1: Sort your catalog by risk

List every product you sell and mark which ones you can back with an invoice and which ones only have a receipt. For the receipt-only products, stop sending new stock of brands that have filed complaints before, and of brands Amazon already restricts. Keep every receipt you have. You may still need them.

Step 2: Set the business up the way brands expect

Brands open accounts for businesses. That means a registered company, a resale or sales tax number, a business bank account, an email on your own domain and a simple company website that presents what you do. This is online presence, the first of the four steps I teach, because most brands look you up before they reply. The full list is in How Do You Get Brands to Approve You for Amazon Wholesale?

Step 3: Start with brands you already sell well

You already know their demand, their price and how fast they sell. Contact the brand and ask how to open a wholesale account. If the brand does not sell to resellers directly, ask which distributors it authorizes in Canada or the USA. Starting where you have sales data makes the first order an informed decision instead of a guess.

Step 4: Check every new supplier before the first order

Not every company with wholesale in its name is authorized by the brands it sells. Liquidators and other resellers can be legal businesses, but their invoices may not protect you on Amazon. I explain the five checks I run in How Do You Know If a Wholesale Supplier Is Authorized?

Step 5: Move one product line at a time

Do not switch the whole catalog in a month. Open one or two brand accounts, place small first orders, and replace receipt-only stock as it sells through. This keeps cash moving while the new accounts prove themselves. Brands decide on their own schedule, so plan for some of them to say no or not reply at all.

Step 6: Keep the paper trail for every unit

For every product, keep the invoice in your company's name, the supplier's contact details, the purchase order, the payment record and the packing slip. The quantities on your invoices should cover what you sell. File everything by brand and by ASIN so you can answer a request in minutes. If Amazon has rejected an invoice of yours before, read Why Does Amazon Keep Rejecting My Invoice?

What changes in your numbers

Arbitrage profit comes from a price gap you found once. Brand-direct costs come from a price list, so you know your cost each time you reorder. The margin per unit is often similar, or thinner. In seller survey data Jungle Scout published in 2024, 48% of retail arbitrage sellers and 58% of wholesale sellers reported profit margins under 20%. The bigger change is not the margin. It is that you can reorder the same product, from the same supplier, with documents that hold up.

Cash works differently too. Brands set minimum orders and sell in case packs, so you buy more units of fewer products. Plan your cash around reorders, not around one big buy. The math is in Why Do Beginners Calculate Amazon FBA Profit Wrong?

Mistakes I see in the switch

Buying from a wholesaler who is not authorized. A low price from a company that cannot show its link to the brand carries the same risk as a receipt, with a bigger order.

Writing to brands from a personal email. A one line request from a free email address gets ignored. Write as a company, about the brand's listing.

Switching everything at once. Cash gets stuck in first orders while sales slow down. Move in stages.

Throwing away old records. Keep receipts and invoices, organized. You do not choose when Amazon asks.

Treating the brand as a price list. Brands keep resellers who protect their pricing and their listings. Follow their pricing policy, and tell them when something on the listing is wrong.

Common questions

Is retail arbitrage illegal? In most cases, buying genuine products and reselling them is not illegal on its own. The risk on Amazon is complaints and account health, not the purchase itself. This is not legal advice, and the rules differ by country.

Can I keep doing arbitrage while I switch? Many sellers do during the move. The risk stays with the receipt-only products, so reduce them as invoiced stock replaces them.

Will a brand work with someone who did arbitrage? Many brands care more about how you will sell from now on: a registered company, a healthy account and respect for their pricing. Your sales history can help you.

Do I need a new Amazon account for wholesale? No. You keep the account you have and change where you buy and how you document it.

How long does the switch take? It depends on how fast brands reply and how much capital you have. Brand approvals are the brand's decision, so I do not put a date on it.

The short version

Sort your catalog by risk, set the business up properly, start with the brands you already sell, check every supplier, move one line at a time and keep a paper trail for every unit. A receipt shows you bought something. An invoice from the brand's own supply chain shows where it came from.

I teach brand-direct wholesale one to one, in a paid private mentorship, and I work with sellers who are making exactly this move. To apply for a call, start at academy.velakproducts.com/programs. No result is promised.

Ali Khoddami is the founder of Vela K Products Ltd., a distribution company registered in British Columbia, Canada, with operations in Coquitlam, BC and Blaine, WA. He teaches brand-direct Amazon wholesale through Vela K Academy. Vela K Products Ltd. is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Amazon.com, Inc. This article is educational and is not legal, tax, or financial advice.