PSA: Trader verification starting for all traders

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Oliver Dunk

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Aug 14, 2024, 7:20:52 PM8/14/24
to Chromium Extensions
Hi all,

Back in February, we announced new trader verification requirements which applied to new accounts, and that these would be required for existing traders in the future. These changes are now rolling out to existing traders as part of our work to comply with EU regulations.

If your account is marked as a trader, you’ll be prompted to start verification when you next sign in to the Developer Dashboard. This includes verifying and displaying publicly a phone number and organization DUNS number if applicable alongside the physical address and contact email shown today.

Currently, this verification is not mandatory, and you can leave the process to continue in the Developer Dashboard. Starting in September, we will require developers to have started the process and submitted their details for verification, and you will not be able to access the dashboard until this is complete.

We’ve seen some feedback in the mailing list already. In particular:
  • We’re aware that some organizations use phone numbers where SMS verification is not available. We don’t currently have any plans to provide alternative options, but we hear the feedback.
  • Some developers have mentioned not having a personal ID to verify on behalf of their business. This means you are in the individual verification flow based on the payment profile you selected. In this case, you can mark your account as a non-trader, and then opt-in as a trader again. This will restart the process, and by using an organization payment profile rather than an individual one, you will be able to see alternative verification options requiring a DUNS number or company documents instead.
Thanks for your patience and understanding with these changes. We weren’t expecting quite as much feedback on this so early, so we’re actively discussing the feedback and will make changes where we can to clarify the flow. We have an obligation to verify traders but want to make this as straightforward as possible and the team has been working hard on this for several months to avoid asking for more information than is necessary.

Thanks,
Oliver on behalf of Chrome Extensions DevRel

SmartSpeaker

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Aug 14, 2024, 8:04:07 PM8/14/24
to Chromium Extensions, Oliver Dunk
Thank you for posting in here, Oliver. The communication means a lot.

Apologies for posting this in multiple threads, but we're weighing up some privacy concerns so would love your help. 

If someone was previously a trader, and is now a non-trader due to this new verification process, could that impact rankings or impressions in the Web store in any way? Our company does not have a DUNS number, and we have to wait 30 days to get this. The only other option to registered as a trader is to reveal the personal address and phone number of a developer to the world. 

"you will be able to see alternative verification options requiring a DUNS number or company documents instead"

I don't see any way to bypass the DUNS number requirement while registering as an orgainsation. Is this possible? Because if so we would love to do it a.s.a.p.

Thanks so much for your time. 

Oliver Dunk

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Aug 15, 2024, 8:23:07 AM8/15/24
to SmartSpeaker, Chromium Extensions
Hi,

Let me follow-up and confirm that for you. I know there is a lot of nuance to the verification that is needed.

Thanks,
Oliver Dunk | DevRel, Chrome Extensions | https://developer.chrome.com/ | London, GB

Oliver Dunk

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Aug 15, 2024, 5:53:33 PM8/15/24
to SmartSpeaker, Chromium Extensions
Hi,

I just spoke to the team. The DUNS number field is optional when verifying an organization. If you leave this blank and verification fails multiple times, you will be offered an option to provide company documents instead.

The DUNS number is the preferred path, since it's quicker and easier, but you should be able to access the alternative path after a few failed attempts.

Thanks,
Oliver Dunk | DevRel, Chrome Extensions | https://developer.chrome.com/ | London, GB

Marius Stan

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Sep 5, 2024, 8:47:04 AM9/5/24
to Chromium Extensions, Oliver Dunk, Chromium Extensions, SmartSpeaker
Hello Oliver,

Many thanks for your guidance on this, we never would have figured out this step otherwise:

  • Some developers have mentioned not having a personal ID to verify on behalf of their business. This means you are in the individual verification flow based on the payment profile you selected. In this case, you can mark your account as a non-trader, and then opt-in as a trader again. This will restart the process, and by using an organization payment profile rather than an individual one, you will be able to see alternative verification options requiring a DUNS number or company documents instead.
As feedback, I would like to mention the following:
1. It would be a lot simpler if the validation process required two separate phone numbers - one for SMS validation, and another one to be displayed publicly in the Web Store for contact.
It currently requires a single phone number for both purposes, which really complicates things - we couldn't use the phone number from our company's support team, and we couldn't use personal phones either.
So we ended up buying a dedicated phone in the US just for this case (as other users on this forum have mentioned).

2. The SMS validation process only seems to work for US phone numbers.
If we tried using Romania phone numbers we got an immediate error: "Validation process could not be completed".
We then got redirected to the Chrome Web Store support which suggested we try with a different phone number :) 

And again, thank you for helping us with this process.

Cheers,
Marius

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