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Originally published on March 22, 2022, updated June 7, 2024
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Success on Amazon is all about finding the right products. When you identify items customers want that aren’t too competitive to make a profit from, it feels like hitting the jackpot. But sometimes products with low competition are that way for a reason.
If the lucrative product you’re ready to start selling falls into one of Amazon’s restricted product categories, listing it without taking the proper steps first could come at a high cost to you. Here's what you need to know about Amazon restricted products and how you can go about selling some of them.
An Amazon restricted product is any product that Amazon either doesn’t allow sellers to list at all or requires sellers to apply for approval to sell. This includes products that face legal restrictions in some geographic areas, like alcohol and gambling items. It also applies to those that have certain safety requirements, such as automotive parts and food products.
Amazon wants to make sure it stays on the safe side of all laws and regulations. For sellers, that means you have to be careful that nothing you list could get them (or you) into trouble. If you do list a restricted product without the right permissions, intentionally or not, it could impact your ability to continue selling on the platform. Ensure that you're aware of the Amazon restricted products policy related to your categories before investing in inventory.
The list of product categories that include Amazon restricted products is long at first glance, but when you look closer most of them make sense. You can find more details on each category on Amazon’s restricted products page, but here's the main Amazon restricted products list:
In some of these categories, understanding what’s restricted is straightforward. For something like warranties or subscriptions, you simply have to make sure you go through the approval process with Amazon first.
For other categories, the nuances of what you can and can’t sell are more complicated. For Cosmetics and Skincare, there’s a list of prohibited ingredients and rules about packaging and labeling you have to follow, for example. And in addition to the lists above, Amazon has the more murky category of “Other Restricted Products” that includes a mix of product types ranging from real estate to Confederate flag memorabilia.
You obviously don’t want to break any rules. But that list of categories with restricted products is long, and the explanations for each one can get complicated. You don’t want to inadvertently start selling products that could get you into trouble with Amazon (or the law). To avoid making an honest mistake, here are five smart steps you can take.
You don’t have to memorize the legal details for every single product category listed above, but you definitely need to be familiar with those that include products you sell. Any Amazon seller listing products in a category with regulatory requirements, like food, cosmetics, or dietary supplements, needs to get really familiar with the rules relevant to each product listed.
Staying on the right side of the law is the first step toward staying on the right side of Amazon’s rules.
Laws don’t always stay consistent, so knowing what’s allowed today could still get you into trouble in a year if you don’t stay on top of things. That’s where hiring actual legal counsel comes into play. Smart business owners should have a go-to lawyer to help them stay abreast of laws and regulations and ensure they learn quickly when something changes.
Not listing illegal products is important, but that’s just one type of restricted product on Amazon. For a lot of these product categories, you’re allowed to list restricted products as long as you get permission from Amazon first. In those cases, just make sure you take the steps required to apply for approval before you start selling the items on Amazon.
This is another one of those ways you can slip into troubled territory without realizing it. If a product you sell gets recalled, it’s on you to know about the recall and remove your listings for unsafe versions of the product.
Accidents happen. But the moment you realize you’ve made a mistake and listed a restricted product that you don’t have permission from Amazon to sell, remove your listings from the site right away. Marking the product as “out of stock” while you figure out how to handle things isn’t good enough. It needs to be removed completely.
The process to apply to sell restricted products you can legally sell that require prior approval from Amazon is fairly straightforward. If the product is one Amazon already has in its database:
If you want to sell a new item that Amazon doesn’t have listed, you can find links on where to start the process of applying for approval based on the category your product falls into on Amazon’s Categories and Products that Require Approval page.
The possibility of short-term profits isn’t worth putting your seller account at risk. Make sure you understand any restrictions related to the products you carry, only list those that are allowed according to Amazon’s rules, and get the proper permissions for any restricted items you sell.
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