Want to sell restricted products on Amazon? Here’s how to get approved easily…

There are some categories on Amazon that sellers need to obtain approval from Amazon before selling. These are also called "Restricted Categories or Ungated Categories."

• Clothing and accessories;

• shoes, handbags and sunglasses;

• watch;

• Fashion jewelry;

• Health and personal care products;

• Beauty products;

• Grocery and gourmet food;

• Luggage and travel accessories.

• Professional sellers;

• The order defect rate should be less than 1%;

• The order cancellation rate before shipment should be less than 2.5%;

• The late shipment rate should be less than 4%.

These three categories are the most difficult to pass the audit due to the lack of documentation standards. In order to pass the audit, Amazon requires sellers to provide invoices or letters from different agents.

You have to have a lot of patience when trying to get approved for these categories. Amazon currently requires sellers to provide a commercial invoice from a reputable supplier. Retail receipts are not acceptable for approval for these categories.

The best way to get a commercial invoice is to buy directly from the wholesaler, and it is best to communicate with them to ensure that there is a commercial invoice. The invoice must include your name, address, phone number, and website. Your company name should be the same as the seller account, and the address should be the same as the address on the store opening documents.

Amazon's updated policy in 2018 shows that sellers do not need to provide pictures or corresponding documents for these product categories. Amazon will ask a few questions during the review, and it will determine whether you can sell these products based on your answers.

Amazon will ask you what products you plan to sell, your business model, and your intention to apply to sell in this category. Amazon usually wants you to source products from brand owners or manufacturers. If the seller's product source is not one of the two, then the review is likely to fail.

To sell products on Amazon, you first need to create your own seller account. Go to the Amazon homepage and click "Sell". Amazon will then want to know whether you sell "single" or "multiple" products; whether you sell products only on Amazon, and whether you sell products as an individual seller or a professional seller.

Sellers can change their selected status at any time later and can try selling various versions of a single product to gain exposure.

If you decide to open a professional seller account, Amazon will charge a monthly fee (currently the first 30 days are free). For individual sellers, the fee is calculated on a per-product basis. Both professional and individual seller accounts have their own advantages and disadvantages.

After choosing which account to open, you will be redirected to the Amazon login page. If you already have a buyer account on Amazon, you can register using its data. If you do not have such an account yet or want to separate your shopping and selling accounts, you can open a new account by entering another valid email address and password.

After that you have to agree to some policies, seller agreements, etc. You have to fill out a series of forms including your company and business information. Finally, there is phone number verification, and that completes the setup. It may take a few days for Amazon to review your data and documents. Once the review is complete, you will be notified and can start selling products on Amazon.

In the seller account settings, sellers should set the data required for compliance at the beginning to avoid subsequent conflicts with sellers or warnings from Amazon. You can find the corresponding area in the upper right corner under "Settings>Your information and guidelines". In addition, if possible, please indicate your VAT number in the registration form so that you can get a tax-free invoice from Amazon. If you have not done so yet, then you can write "NO" to continue the registration and submit the sales tax number later.

*Regulations and Prohibitions

On Amazon, sellers must abide by certain rules and prohibitions. During the registration process, you have the opportunity to learn about the corresponding policies and regulations. If sellers violate the rules, they will receive warnings or even have their accounts completely frozen or banned by Amazon.

Amazon provides sellers with two options for uploading product listings. One is manual upload of individual products, and the other is bulk upload of listings via documents. For manual upload, sellers only need to fill out the form under "Inventory > Add product".

Another difficult process is listing a product that is not currently sold by any seller in the Amazon category. Sellers can check beforehand whether the product already has an existing listing. Sellers can simply conduct a general search on Amazon or a targeted search for the product identifier.

Amazon supports EAN (European Article Number), ISBN (International Standard Book Number), UPC (Uniform Product Code) and ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number). If you still can't find the product by searching for the above product identification codes, it means that there is no listing for the product on the platform. This may be because the product is produced or manufactured by you, or printed with your own logo.

If you want to sell your own branded products and keep selling new products, then you can create a private label. Sellers can buy non-branded products from manufacturers and sell them under their own brand.

Before you can list your product, you’ll need a unique EAN or GTIN (Global Trade Item Number). You can purchase these from a number of standard identification number providers.

Sellers need to add search terms/keywords when creating products, which plays a particularly important role in whether buyers can find your products. Sellers should try to determine what search terms buyers may use to search for your products. Here, sellers can use some keyword research tools

Sellers can enter keywords one by one in the backend Search Term, separated by commas or spaces. The more keywords you use, the more likely your product will be found.

On the one hand, your price depends on the number of buyers who buy your product, the profit, and whether the product sells. It is not easy to set a reasonable price. If your price is too high, then in theory you will get a high profit when selling the product, but this in turn means that only a few or no one will buy the product from you.

But if you set the price very low, most consumers will buy from you, but your profit may be very low, or even a huge loss. Your pricing should be based on the balance between sales and profit, and it is important to consider all costs.

You need to include all the expenses you paid, including shipping, packing materials, any taxes, advertising, commissions, etc. Remember, the amount of money you earn is not the key to success; it's the profit you make from selling your products that matters.

On a platform like Amazon, most sellers have competitors, and buyers will always decide who to buy from based on price. Your prices will also have an impact on what your competitors do, so you should keep a close eye on them. From a competition perspective, regular cost checks on the products you offer are essential.