Amazon Restricted Categories and Brands

What are Amazon Restricted Categories?

As a result of manufacturers’ demands, Amazon restricted many product categories. If a category is restricted, you must go through an approval process to be qualified, and then you are allowed to sell (put: the process of Ungating on Amazon). These restricted categories are also known as Amazon gated categories.

Becoming ungated in these categories means lower competition and higher profit.

We need to understand which product categories are restricted on Amazon and then try to get ungated on these product groups.

Besides the necessity of Amazon authorization for publishing your listing under these groups for Amazon FBA business, it is also vital to achieve certain performances and meet the requirements.

Which Categories Are Restricted on Amazon?

Amazon restricted categories have become significantly shorter in recent years, as Amazon decided to limit entry for Amazon subcategories niches.

Presently, the below categories are gated on Amazon:

• Automotive & Powersports
• Collectible Coins
• Entertainment Collectibles
• Personal Safety and Household products
• Fine Art
• Toys & Games (Holiday Selling)
• Jewelry
• Join Amazon Subscription Boxes
• Join Amazon Handmade
• Made in Italy
• Music & DVD
• Postage stamps
• Sports Collectibles
• Streaming Media Players
• Video, DVD, & Blu-ray
• Watches

What are Amazon Restricted Brands?

After the sudden increase of fake products from big brands such as Adidas, Nike, LEGO in 2016, this brand restriction was implemented by Amazon. Indeed, for this retail giant, customer satisfaction is vital (Read: how to get ungated in nike on amazon).

Amazon sellers who resell online arbitrage deals should know this restriction may vary from country to country.

You may be ungated in a category but cannot sell all brands in that category. Sometimes, Amazon restricts the whole brand, while at other times, it restricts just a specific product line or a product within the brand. When a seller is interested in selling these gated brands, S/he should ask for Amazon permission.

Which Brands Are Restricted on Amazon?

As brand owners become more aggressive in protecting their brands, brand restrictions are becoming increasingly common. Since Amazon has not released an official list of restricted brands, brand restrictions confuse sellers. Sometimes the whole brand is restricted, and sometimes it may be restricted by category or product line within the brand or just a particular ASIN.

There is an open-source list that Seller Assistant App provides to identify the restricted Brands on Amazon. The list is really long, but here are some of the most well-known gated brands:

Why Amazon Restricts Some Categories and Brands?

Although start selling on Amazon is easy to start, it is hard to master.

Some products and categories, like luxury cosmetic products, bags, and clothes, are more likely to be counterfeited. This is a crime in many countries, and the distribution and selling counterfeit products also have criminal penalties.

The brand owners have this right to protect their reputation and not allow third-party sellers to put their brand at risk.

As Amazon has a consumer-centric view, it wants to reduce selling counterfeit products on its site. So, for specific categories and brands, Amazon put a restriction on sellers, especially the newbies, due to below reasons:

1. Product Safety
2. Regulatory compliance
3. Best experience for customers

This policy motivates consumers to purchase products from Amazon without double-checking.

How to Find Out If a Category or Brand Is Restricted?

The easiest and most straightforward way to find out if a product is gated is to check the item on your Amazon seller account. As you go forward in your Amazon business and sell more items, you will get ungated in some categories. So every seller account has its own gated and ungated list. Thus, if you want to be sure that you can sell in a category or a brand, try to add some ASINs of that category, subcategory, or brand in your seller account (Catalog-Add Product).

If you click on the button “Show limitation,” it will show you if this product is gated. If this repeats for other ASINs of that brand or category, that brand or category is gated for you.

How to Get Ungated on Amazon Restricted Categories and Brands?

The general way to get ungated in Amazon-restricted brands is to provide authorization documentation from the brand owner that is not accessible for all the sellers.

Your Amazon Health Standard should be good. It means:

• Order Defect Rate should be less than 1%
• The pre-Fulfillment Cancellation rate should be less than 2.5.
• The late Shipment Rate should be less than 4%

After ensuring that you have met Amazon Health Standard, you need to begin the Amazon category approval process.

Now, follow the below steps:

1. Create a wholesaler account.
2. Buy a few products.
3. Scan the invoices.
4. Send in your “Request approval.”

You can do the ungating by yourself to save time and use Amazon ungating service. This process doesn’t have any harmful effect on your account, and just in 24 hours, you can get ungated any brand, category, or even a single product. This service doesn’t only belong to professionals but also the beginners are more than welcome.

Final Thought

Although Amazon’s restrictions on brands, categories, or products seem frustrating, it’s understandable for the sellers. Such limitations will always be there, while sellers can ask to get ungated.

If Amazon FBA sellers want to take their sales to the next level, they need to start the ungating process at once. Getting ungated on gated categories and brands will open up larger audiences to them, which will help them to scale up their business.

At last, if you’re a newbie Amazon FBA seller or don’t want to spend time and money to get ungated on Amazon restricted product categories or brands, the online arbitrage leads of OABeans in Fayot list are 100% ungated.