Mea culpa, it has been a long time since I had a debit card. The last one was from New Zeleand and used the EFTPOS network. But in the USA debit cards are issued by credit card companies e.g. VISA, Matercard etc.
So I was confused when Amazon stated a debit card could be used but only provided a list of credit cards companies for selecting the type of card. In fact our debit card is issued by VISA. This resolved one large problem – we do not need a credit card to open an Amazon Payments account. A debit card is just fine.
Even for an Amazon Payments Business Account there is a requirement to verify the Primary Contact person for the account. That person needs to be a US permanent resident or US citizen because Amazon verifies them using a Social Security Number (SSN).
Fortunately the lawyer who helped establish our company in the US was willing to be the primary contact for our Amazon Payments account. The primary contact is not liable for the account but it does mean you need someone with a SSN to help when opening an Amazon Payments Business Account.
We are just waiting for the verification of the Company’s bank account by Amazon. Then the account should be good to go. Funnily enough, Amazon (THE internet company) requires faxing a statement to verify the bank account. Of course there is no confirmation that they receive the fax – and it took two weeks before they told us the first fax disappeared.