A Guide to Amazon Restricted Products and Categories
Wait, I Can’t Sell What on Amazon?
When most people look at Amazon’s massive catalog of over 200 million products it would lead them to believe that you could sell absolutely anything on the site. Most people probably couldn’t even imagine that there were 200 million products available in the first place. Well, even though Amazon boasts an enormous amount of products there are still some things that even they refuse to sell. There are also Amazon Restricted Products and Categories that are restricted to only allow certain sellers to sell them. Knowing these products is especially important to be successful with your Amazon business.
Amazon Banned Products
Banned items on Amazon are exactly what they sound like, items that you can’t sell under any circumstance on Amazon. These items are often items that you would not be able to sell legally in the U.S., whether it is on Amazon or anywhere else. For instance you are not allowed to sell illegal drugs and drug paraphernalia on Amazon’s marketplace. You are also not allowed to sell firearms. Also you always want to make sure that the items you are buying to resell on Amazon have not been recalled as Amazon will not allow you to sell recalled products.
One of the more controversial products that were banned within the last year was the Confederate Flag. This caused a big commotion in the media and also left sellers of the Confederate Flag in a troubling predicament.
Amazon Restricted Products and Categories
Now to address the question that is on every Amazon resellers mind, “ What categories do I need approval for sell in?”
While there are over twenty categories that require approval to sell in we will take a look at a few of Amazon Restricted products that are most popular among resellers.
- Beauty
Amazon’s beauty category is a very popular category among Amazon resellers. This category includes things such as Make Up, Perfume and Skin Care products. Approval in this category can be very lucrative for those creating their own Beauty products or those who are looking to utilize Retail Arbitrage.
- Clothing
The Clothing category is among the largest categories on Amazon. With such a large category of clothing there is an equally as large opportunity to make money selling everything from shirts to shoes. This category is restricted mainly to deter counterfeiters from selling.
- Grocery
Amazon’s grocery category has turned into a great moneymaker for many resellers over the last few years. In this category you can sell just about anything with a long shelf life. While this category is restricted with good reason, it is far from the hardest categories to get approved for selling and has a lot of upside for your bank account.
- Health & Personal Care
The Health & Personal Care category opens the doors to a lot of profits for resellers. In this category you can sell every thing from paper towels to diapers. These types of products are constantly on sale and tend to be easier to ship to help keep your costs down and profits up.
Check out the rest of Amazon’s restricted categories.
Amazon Restricted Products
Not only does Amazon have Restricted Categories, they also have Restricted Products that require approval to sell. These items tend to be highly counterfeited and high fraud risk items. While there is an extensive list of brands that require approval here is a short list of some of the most popular ones you are likely to come across.
1. Apple
2. Lifeproof
3. Microsoft
4. Beats By Dre
5. Levi’s
Check out this extensive list of restricted brands.
Now you have a great idea of the Amazon Restricted Products and Categories that are banned and restricted on Amazon. This knowledge will come in handy and help you avoid wasting money on sourcing products that will be hard to get approved to sell.
Do you want to be able to sell products in these restricted categories? In our next article we are going to take a look at the benefits of getting into restricted categories and how to get approved for them!