All You Need to Know About Amazon Product Restrictions

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What are Product Restrictions on Amazon?

Product gating is when Amazon refuses to allow you to sell a particular item or range through their platform. There may be millions of products on their database, but they have to have some control over what gets sold through the marketplace. I mean, it is theirs.

Gating restricts what sellers can list. Some things may be until your account has had a few sales, others may be until you prove that you're a credible seller in that particular category, and some just aren't ever going to happen. Amazon seems to be a bit inconsistent with this stuff, so it isn't as easy as x does x.

What Products are Gated?

Gated products tend to be the ones that are heavily counterfeited (like name brand headphones and designer clothes), perishables (food and beauty products) and any hazmat items. It's obviously why this is the case with Amazon-fulfilled items, because these are things that they will have to process and send out themselves. They haven't got time for sellers with no reputation. This is why sellers starting out usually deal with the Toys & Games and Home & Kitchen categories to get started with.

Amazon has to be sensible. A lot of these items pose risks if they are out of date or if they are stored incorrectly. They need to be able to trust its sellers with these items, before they allow them to trade them on their site. The customer usually views Amazon as the merchant, even if they buy through a third-party. The big AMZ has to protect its reputation and this is one way of doing so.

It's not just types of products though; it's some brands altogether. Increasingly, brands have been taking ownership of their Amazon presence, by restricting marketplace sellers from being able to list their items. Opportunists may hike up the price or lower-stocked items all the time, and that can be problematic for these companies. They don't want customers to think £80 is the RRP for their £30 toy. This specific occurrence been especially prevalent in America, where Disney gating has stopped thousands of FBA sellers sourcing Star Wars, Frozen and Moana paraphernalia. It's another thing to consider before you buy a large volume of products from one particular brand.

How Do I Get Ungated on Amazon?

Ungating deserves a post of its own, because there's a lot to it. I've been through the process on a few different categories and sub-categories, and the process was different for each. More often than not, it involves buying a large quantity of goods in a particular category from a wholesaler, and presenting that sales invoice to an Amazon employee.

For Grocery products, it's as simple as finding an Amazon-approved wholesaler, buying a load of Haribo, and emailing the details over to Amazon. It's advised that you do it once your account has been active for at least three months and that you buy something that you wouldn't mind keeping, if they decline your application.

Gating is seen as one of the major hurdles for those that are actively engaged in FBA retail arbitrage and online arbitrage. It orders people to just sell in a few categories – potentially missing out on ones with higher profit potential. As with the brand gating, these things can happen once you have already sent your inventory into an Amazon fulfilment centre, so there's the trouble of getting items returned to you and listed on eBay.

What Should I Do If I Accidentally Buy a Restricted Product?

#1 – eBay. It may be long-winded compared to something like Amazon FBA, but if it's going to guarantee significant profit, it's probably going to be worth it.

#2 – Return it. Make sure you keep your receipts, and take them straight back to where they came from, to save yourself the time and potentially lost profits.

#3 – Another marketplace. Go to Gumtree, Preloved, Craigslist, Depop, Facebook, Shpock or somewhere else., and see if you can get rid of your stock there.

What Else Do I Need to Know About Product Gating?

Product gating shouldn't deter it from undertaking a venture into FBA. There are so many opportunity to flip products elsewhere, without being concerned about what you're not allowed to sell. I, personally, believe it’s better to try selling in a broad variety of categories, to expand your knowledge of little-explored profitable corners of Amazon (rather than sticking to Toys & Games).

If you're struggling to find good online arbitrage deals, FBA Wizard Pro is the best sourcing software I know of. A few scans and it will unearth flippable deals in categories that you know you can sell in.