did you know that Amazon has both
category and product level restrictions
just can make things really confusing
which category should you be focusing on
even more importantly which category
should you avoid today we're going to be
breaking down all of Amazon's
restrictions and how that might impact
your next product choice stick around to
the end as well where I give you my
personal favorite categories and where I
like to look and why I'm going to start
off with the official restriction so
this is actually from Amazon itself
these are the restricted categories
they're also known as gated categories
if you've ever heard that term and I'm
going to give you my personal list of
restrictions as well so these are things
not officially mentioned by Amazon but
things I've personally found in my own
selling experience and also in chatting
with over 500 sellers one-on-one over
the years so on the official site let's
start off with the category level
restrictions these are the umbrella
restrictions for all products that are
in within this category
you're gonna need approval in order to
solve any product within that category
so here is a list for North America you
can see our product category over here
you can see the conditions those
products have to be in in order to be
sold in that category and then you can
also see whether
approval is required or not and also
these selling guidelines which are
clickable here I will leave links to
this below for you as well
but you can see here I'll quickly scroll
through this and you can see which ones
are actually required and which ones are
not
if a yes is present here it does require
approval in other words it's a gated
category so this is our first page over
here and this is a continuation of that
page and here is the list for the UK or
Europe you can see again product
category here what types of products in
there the conditions and if approval is
actually required and again I'm just
gonna scroll through this slowly for you
so you can check your specific category
you can pause
at that point and then have a look at
this as well again I will leave links to
this for you below so instant uncaging
can be achieved by clicking the like
button just kidding so to get unguided
for these categories amazon re-evaluates
a couple of different aspects but most
important is sales history in other
words have you been selling and for how
long so if you're a new seller that's
obviously a problem but in general once
you actually start selling this process
becomes far easier and you can usually
get on gated for multiple categories
once you have some good sales history so
how do you actually get on get it
well applying is actually quite simple
when you add a product to Amazon so your
inventory add a product you're going to
have to choose the category of that
product when you do that it's often
going to pop up with a message which
says listing limitations may apply
you're going to be able to click another
button which is request approval when
you do that you follow the process and
that's how you actually become unguided
for that category or that product now
sometimes it is super easy you simply
click request approval and instantly
become unguided for that category or
product other times there's a lot more
to it now there's a lot to go into so
what I'm going to do is link you to this
site you can see this is a MZ scout and
they are breaking down everything
required for different categories you
can see for example or the motive here
and then it says to become unguided in
this category you're going to need to
have your own website you need to use
compliant images UPC codes etc but this
page is going to break down everything
that you may require in order to get
ungettable that you're looking at so
definitely check this out for the more
in-depth details and onto product level
restrictions so these are Amazon's
restricted products again these are not
like your umbrella category restrictions
these are individual product type
restrictions and here is what I could
find on this for North America
categories and products requiring
approve
you can see things like collectible
coins you see the face masks all of this
has been added to the list of course
after the current situation and then you
can see the rest over here so if you're
looking to sell any of these you
definitely want to look closer at these
requirements again I'll leave a link for
you below additionally these specifics
were also pointed out you can see
hoverboards and personal electronic
mobility devices any laser pointers or
laser products and software so the first
two are probably danger hazards and then
software as well and this is what I
could find for the UK again same heading
but you have holiday selling
requirements in toys and games then
other categories you can see even made
in Italy as one you have to kind of
prove that it's made in Italy so if
you're selling any any of these you
definitely want to check the
requirements as well on holiday selling
requirements for toys and games this is
something that you may also find in the
US as well during peak season so that's
quarter four and you're going to need to
look at some of the requirements amz
Scout also breaks us down in detail on
their site so check it out there but
this is something you do want to think
about if you're thinking about selling
toys and games in the Christmas season
just make sure you're aware of what you
actually need to have done before you
list that product otherwise if you don't
meet the requirements your products are
only going to be made available for sale
in say January the following year which
is going to completely mess up your
strategy the UK site also had this
specific section which basically just
mentioned a couple more areas toys and
games as we have already spoken of and
this is approval between November to the
end of January
then consumer electronics generally open
to everyone but sale up specific
products in consumer electronics will
need approvals so as you list that
product you're going to become aware of
that so that's the best way to figure
out what specific restrictions are
needed and again that's also why I
recommend always listing your product
way earlier than you think is needed
but do you check the links below and
this should give you all the official
restrictions of both category and
product level and here is my unofficial
that stub gated categories first is user
dependent products and I know I've
touched on this a few times but if the
products performance is largely based on
the user and what they do this can often
result in a lot of negative reviews
particularly if the product is hard to
use so that's just something to be aware
of then number two is size dependent
products this is where you're doing
clothes or shoes etc and this is going
to split up your moq so instead of doing
a thousand units of a standard normal
product you're doing 300 small 300
medium 300 large that of course can make
supply as well as reordering more
difficult and which one to reorder more
of and just as a side note you do have
to use different GTI ends for each of
the variations so it's actually quite an
expensive way to sell if you're using
gs1 barcodes number three is cheap
electronics you're gonna find a lot of
potential products in electronics but
just be careful of cheap electronics
they're pretty common and that of course
is going to result in really bad reviews
if the product is not good so it doesn't
mean you cannot do them just means to
bet the quality and rather go with the
higher cost item if it's higher quality
and charge more for it that's much more
sustainable than going for the cheap low
cost side and low sell price side number
four kind of tying in with the above
point but app dependent products we've
all seen this for products great but the
app is terrible and the app just makes
the use of that product really bad make
sure if you're using apps that those
apps are really good that they work that
you enjoy them this really comes down to
product inspection and how much you're
testing these products doesn't mean you
cannot do them just make sure you're
getting a ton of samples and you enjoy
the process of using those products
number five is watertight airtight or
inflatable products anything like this
of course is going to need a ton of
inspection because if it leaks air or
water or even worse maybe it's meant to
TEKT an expensive product the consumer
ad has you're putting yourself in a
precarious situation if that product
fails so those products just make sure
you've got an amazing manufacturer and a
good inspection process
number six is adult and hemp products
the only reason they're on the list here
is because they lack advertising
capability on other platforms for
example Facebook will not allow you to
advertise this type of product so that's
going to limit your external or off
Amazon advertising capabilities again
doesn't mean you cannot do it but
overall with these two just be careful
if your main strategy is going to be
external advertising you're gonna have a
lot of problems of those types of
products number seven is glass or
fragile products and this one again I'm
on the fence with because I like it
because a lot of people will also avoid
it for the reasons I'm going to mention
but for new sellers probably not the
best one to go with remember if it's
fragile it could break very easily and
these products have to ship quite a long
way until they actually land in the
consumers hands so your packaging is
gonna have to be amazing
in terms of protecting that type of
product and number eight this one's a
little bit obtuse but potentially
dangerous products so there are certain
products they look really safe at face
value as you research them take for
example these baby corner pillows or
even just supplements untested
supplements these are things I could
really impact people and be potentially
very dangerous and you just want to be
very careful of that type of thing make
sure you're an expert or become an
expert at whatever it is you're going to
be selling and number nine all
categories for those who don't click the
like button and on a positive note my
favorite categories now these are
putting restrictions aside I'm just
going to give you some of the categories
I personally really enjoy scouring and
the reasons why I enjoy them number one
is industrial in scientific no surprises
there if you've watched my content for a
while but I like this category because
it's set for far less than your other
common categories like pets or home and
kitchen it also benefits from a twelve
percent Amazon referral fee as opposed
to the normal 15% referral fee and this
category is full of a diverse range of
products things you have never even
thought of even more importantly these
are things your competitors have never
even thought of if a seller doesn't even
know a product exists they're probably
never going to research it and so that
also represents an opportunity for you
lower competition in some of the areas
in industrial and scientific number two
here is camera and photo this one
benefits from a crazy 8% Amazon referral
fee that's again down from 15 and has
some avid buyers of course people are
very enthusiastic about cameras and if
they're in that niche they're willing to
pay a lot for accessories because camera
equipment it solves very expensive
they're willing to pay a lot for
accessory items to that equipment so it
represents a lot of premium herbal
markets as well
number three is automotive and again
benefiting from a nice 12 percent Amazon
referral fee their category has a lot of
strange and niche automotive products it
has a large supplier base a lot of
supplies produced products in this area
and that means consistent new
developments in this area as well of
course it also does very well during
gifting seasons particularly for men it
is gated but quite easy to get into and
once you are in that gating also
presents a barrier of entry so lowers
your competition number four here is
arts crafts and sewing so this is one of
the least common categories maybe you
didn't even know it existed it is also a
smaller category but of very creative
products in the creative sphere it lacks
brand dominance which is very cool to
see and it allows for a lot of product
creativity on your end and lower
competition in a lot of areas so now
that you know all about Amazon's
restricted categories and products and
even my suggestions what are your
favorite categories please let me know
in the comments below and if you do
enjoy the info put our chair please
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always thank you guys so much for
watching and I'll see you in the next
video
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