Navigating Restricted Categories on Amazon
Selling products within restricted categories on Amazon comes with its fair share of challenges. Sellers have to be careful and plan accordingly if they want to avoid the pitfalls.
Here are our top tips for navigating the restricted categories minefield on Amazon.
The usual suspects
Products under the following categories will require approval to sell on Amazon:
Holiday Selling Requirements in Toys & Games
Organic Food, Organic Feed, and Organic Pet Food
Selling Books, Music, Video and DVD Products
The unusual suspects
Products under the following categories have restrictions associated with the category to sell on Amazon:
- Prohibited Product Claims
- Animals and Animal Products
- Car & Motorbike
- Clothing
- Cosmetics
- Currency, Coins, Cash Equivalents and Gift Cards
- Drugs, Drug Paraphernalia and Dietary Supplements
- Electronics
- Food & Beverage
- Gambling & Lottery
- Hazardous and Dangerous Items
- Jewellery
- Medical Devices
- Offensive and Controversial Materials
- Other Products
- Sex & Sensuality
- Tobacco, E-Cigarettes and Related Products
- Weapons
Words speak louder than actions
Make sure you’re using the right keywords to attract customers who are organically searching for restricted products.
If your product is ‘dermatologically tested’, make sure that’s in your titles, bullet points and product descriptions. Otherwise, those customers might never find you.
Papers please
It’s all well and good optimising your content, but do you have the relevant documentation to back it up?
Only say your product is 100% organic, for example, if you have the correct documentation to prove it. Unless you want a speedy product suspension. Details on documentation are:
Down, but not out
Do your research beforehand. If there’s a chance Amazon might deactivate your restricted product listing, they probably will.
If this happens, have a strategy in place to react quickly. Persist with Amazon’s customer support service until they restore the listing, and don’t take no for an answer.
How well can you ad?
Certain restricted products come with their own restrictions around promotions, which could seriously affect your revenue.
If Amazon promotions are off the table, can you drive customers towards your listing from outside the platform? Is your brand strong enough to attract customers on its own?
Could the grass be greener elsewhere?
There are plenty of other marketplaces out there which offer more flexibility in terms of what you can and can’t do within restricted product categories.
Be sure to consider these alternative options. Sometimes, the path of least resistance is often the best.