A large number of listings have been marked! Amazon's new rules are enforced!

Recently, following the verification of the Consumer Notification Act, the adjustment of Amazon's reservation policy, and the strict review of illegal variants, Amazon has once again put forward new requirements for consumer products containing button batteries or coin batteries.

A general certificate of compliance is required to demonstrate compliance

The announcement mentioned that from now on, if consumer products containing button batteries or button batteries are sold, UL4200A certification must be provided and a general compliance certificate that complies with UL4200A must be listed . If valid compliance documents are not provided, the corresponding product links will face the risk of being removed.

Specifically, sellers must provide Amazon with two documents to prove the safety of button batteries:

① Certification of compliance with Underwriters Laboratories 4200A (UL4200A) provided by an ISO17025 approved laboratory;

②General certificate of conformity to UL4200A.

Amazon also mentioned that previously Reese's Law only applied to button or coin cells themselves. For safety reasons, the law now applies to batteries and all consumer products containing batteries.

After the new compliance requirements were issued, a large number of sellers selling watches, cameras, flameless candles, glittery clothing, holiday decorations, key chains, flashlights, music greeting cards, remote controls and other products received background notifications from Amazon. A large number of listings were marked, and some sellers even had more than 80 listings marked at one time.

Sellers said:

“Dozens of our products were affected but we knew nothing about compliance and when I contacted the factory they had no idea either!”

"I received a compliance request from the backend. Are there any sellers who received the same request? Has anyone submitted information and got approved?"

"Should I ask the manufacturer for the GCC certification and test report I need?"

"Has anyone submitted a request before? Do you know if the product images required refer to batteries or to images of the products being sold?"

"The product contains button batteries CR2032 and CR2025. The backend has received a compliance request. What should I do?"

Image source: Zhiwubuyan

A large number of listings are facing removal

For the products marked by Amazon this time, Amazon has given a very limited time to submit the information. If the sellers affected by the new regulations fail to submit the relevant information in a timely manner as required by the Amazon platform, their listings will likely face a serious risk of being removed from the shelves.

"Many of our product listings have been flagged, 45 so far, and all of them were notified by Amazon in the past 24 hours. These flagged products need to provide compliance documents, product packaging pictures, and laboratory test results on April 22 (next Monday) or May 15-16 (within a month from now)," a seller revealed.

They have contacted the manufacturer to request the required documents, pictures and lab reports, but the response they received was that they could not be provided in time. Due to the tight timeline, they were unable to repackage all products and ensure that the requirements were met in such a short period of time. It may take months or even a year to complete the ISO lab testing of all more than 45 individual products.

Another seller also said that they had 30 product listings flagged and now felt at a loss. They could only try to contact the laboratory department for testing, but all relevant tests would take quite a long time.

In addition, the time when sellers who received compliance requirements were required to provide information by the platform also varied. Some deadlines were in April, while others were in May or June, which may be related to the types of products they sold. One of the sellers with a deadline of June said that they still had about two months, but they might choose to remove products that might be affected.

However, some sellers said that this audit is just a routine compliance check, similar to the CPC certification required for toys. They only need to prepare the GCC certificate and UL4200A report, take pictures of the product and packaging, make sure there are warning labels on it, and then submit these materials.

If the required information is not submitted within the specified time, the product link will be removed, but the seller still has the opportunity to restore the link by resubmitting the compliance documents.

Take timely response measures after receiving compliance requests

However, some senior sellers have pointed out after in-depth analysis that when sellers receive compliance requests in the backend, as long as they take appropriate countermeasures quickly, it usually does not cause too many problems. In the process of submitting materials in the backend, sellers found that they need to prepare GCC certificates and UL4200A reports:

1. Warning labels : All packaging and the product itself must carry clear warning labels stating the potential choking hazard and the risk of battery ingestion.

2. Safety battery compartment test : The product must have a child-resistant battery compartment to prevent accidental contact by young children.

As for whether the product contains button batteries, senior sellers also pointed out that the following strategies can be adopted:

#If the product contains a button battery, a series of documents need to be prepared and submitted, including a GCC certificate (indicating that the product has passed the UL 4200A standard test), a product packaging diagram with a barcode (which must be marked with warning signs, such as dangerous accidental ingestion, etc.), and a UL 4200A experimental test report that complies with the ISO17025 standard (including product photos to prove that it is consistent with the product described in the listing, which can be obtained through relevant institutions).

#If the product does not contain button batteries, the seller only needs to check and modify the sensitive words in the listing, then file a complaint, clearly stating the product's purpose and materials, and that consumers have been informed that it does not contain button batteries. In this case, there is usually no need to provide additional documentation, and the platform will mostly approve it.

Under the new regulations, many sellers are in a passive state, and the best way to avoid being affected is to strictly follow the requirements and submit the required information within the specified time.