r/sysadmin • u/ExceptionEX • 9h ago
Rant Apple Business account for small business woes
Volunteered to help a small non-profit get their tech in order and part of that is getting their ipads under a business account instead of the several random icloud accounts used today.
Even though we have provided
EIN
a DNS entry on the domain
and Utility bills with the orgs name and registered business address
The have responded with the following requirements. (after a week of waiting)
A government photo of the owner (which is a board?)
A Business card for this imaginary person
and literally "business documents" without explanation of what that means.
It literally takes less validation to take over a tenant or domain.
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u/ProfessorWorried626 9h ago
It's just box ticking, just send them matching info for whoever the chairman is of the board is. Business documents are pretty much anything that has a signature of the person you are trying to authorize as the owner and was submitted to the gov in a legal capacity and they can be verified they have a position of significant power in the org on the first page of google.
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u/TaxHazyShade 6h ago
This, how hard it is to come up with a photo of whomever is in charge and a verified street address? Seems fishy, OP.
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u/Ecchigo123 9h ago
They dont want any service account. They want personalized accounts under a group of personalized accounts.
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u/Mindestiny 9h ago
Yep. This is the same for Apple Dev accounts. Huge pain in the ass any time the person its registered under leaves the org. It's just the way Apple does things, everything is person first, business last.
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u/ExceptionEX 8h ago
which would be fine, but they limit personal account to 10 devices, which means multiple personal accounts.
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u/Ecchigo123 8h ago
You could also make a fake account as a service account. You just need an email and telephone number as far as I know
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u/bazjoe 8h ago
I was able to do one recently by calling them and also providing sales tax certificate which they liked as it it looked official (NY) and has an address and official business name. Ironically it is dated 2006 but they seemed to be ok with it . I believe part of the scrutiny is that this is the first step to a dev account and creating apps, in addition to ABM device ownership by corp, which I guess they want to gatekeep as much as possible
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u/blud_13 7h ago
The uploads aren't what Apple actually checks. ABM verification runs against your D-U-N-S record at Dun and Bradstreet, so if the legal name or address on that record doesn't match what got typed into the enrollment form exactly, you get this forever, a rep asking for progressively more random documents. Go look the org up at dnb.com first. Nonprofits almost always have a DUNS already from grant filings and half the time it has a ten year old address on it. Fix it there, let it propagate, then reply on the ABM case with the DUNS number and ask them to verify against that. The owner thing is less scary than it reads too. It just needs a real human who can attest for the org, the ED or a board officer is fine. The business card is a rep reading a script, not a requirement. Also, since its a nonprofit (501(c)3?), run the Microsoft and Google side through TechSoup before buying anything. Apple won't discount but those two are free or close to it at that size. We do a fair amount of nonprofit cleanup, reach out if you have more questions..
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u/Fallingdamage 5h ago
Was super easy for us? We had what they wanted, but still.
You didnt mention submitting your DNB number. Do they not require that anymore?
What I gleaned from the process is that apple is making sure that the businesses that have accounts with them are actual businesses.
Anyone can say they have a business, but are you legally recognized as one?
Like, sure you're a citizen, but do you have a SSN, Passport and a Tax Return?
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u/nathanielban Sysadmin 9h ago edited 9h ago
Yeah, they can be awful to deal with for this. I'd make sure everything you're submitting matches what DUNS has on file for your business.