- What's up, guys?
My name is Dan Rogers and today we're going to be going over
Gated Categories also called Restricted Categories.
And as you know, these can be a bit of an issue
if you're looking to list a product that actually
sits in a gated category. There might be a few steps
you need to take before you can actually successfully list that product
but you'll be happy to know that this has become less of a problem.
I remember a few years ago when some of the most popular categories
were gated categories. That's not the case today with
most categories being unrestricted. Amazon seems to be focusing
much more on the niche categories or niche product types that they're
restricting and gating but there are some good reasons that you
want to know about gated categories or restricted categories.
It might be that you are actually looking at a product that sits in a
gated category and you need to know how to become ungated
and you need to know how to become ungated so you can sell that product.
Might also be that you want to sell in a gated area due to the lower
competition that that's going to afford you because it's more difficult to sell there.
And there are two levels of restrictions. This often causes a bit of confusion
but at the top level we have category restrictions,
so this is an overarching gate for a full category, for example,
for all of automotive. And then, at a lower level, we have
product restrictions and these are specific products based on the
nature of that product, not to do with its category
but based on the actual nature of that product, and Amazon chooses
to gate that for certain reasons. So we're going to be covering
both of these and the potential requirements that you might
need to fulfill in order to sell those. We're also going to be
doing this for the US first but then also for the UK market,
but before we move on I did want to drop you a couple links.
Now, we go through quite a few resources here and I want you to have access
to those as well to look at your specific situation.
So, make sure you check all the links below, and we're
also going to be giving you 90 minutes of free training.
This is training that a lot of these, Just One Dime students,
have been through, so, if you're interested in that be sure
to check the link in the description. Now, there are a couple other
restrictions I want to cover just so there's no confusion, this relates
primarily to when you're looking to resell a specific brand of products
on amazon and that brand— not that product, not that category—
that brand happens to be gated on Amazon. This is called 'Brand Gating' and
you're often going to need approval from that brand owner
in order to resell their branded items on the Amazon platform.
Today, though what we're going to be really focusing on is again our category
restrictions and our product restrictions. That's private label and
I think that's what most of you are interested in.
Now, something good to note at this point is a very common
requirement almost for all of these is simply to have a professional
selling account so if you want to get one step ahead make sure you're
on a pro account or upgrade to a professional selling plan
and that way you're giving yourself a better chance of becoming ungated.
So, let's start with the US market. So, the US gated categories are as follows.
We have automotive and power sports, we have collectible coins,
entertainment collectibles, fine art, music,
sports collectibles, video, DVD and Blu-ray, watches,
and toys at Christmas, but do know toys at Christmas
is specifically for FBM. FBA usually does not have
a problem with toys at Christmas. So, now, we've looked at the categories,
the big overarching gates on the US market. Let's look more at the specific
product gating that they put in place. Here are the US gated products,
we have hoverboards and personal electronic mobility devices,
laser pointers and any laser products, software, personal safety,
and household products. This relates specifically to
PPE products, that personal protective equipment stuff
due to the current situation. We've seen a lot of sellers selling
this and so Amazon has put in place a couple restrictions here
just to stop price gouging and other unfair practices.
Made in Italy products,
streaming media players, and services.
So, now I want to give you a couple example requirements.
So, I'm going to pick two of these,
the ones I think you're going to be most interested in, and these are
common requirements. So, in some of the others
it could be very similar obviously I can't cover every single one
and once you know the requirements, of course, you're going to
need to apply, then those requirements become really important.
So, I'm going to be covering
the application process in a moment as well.
So, our first example is the personal safety and household supplies.
So, really our PPE equipment and this includes face masks,
hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, and sprays, isopropyl alcohol,
sanitary gloves, soap, paper products, thermometers,
personal protective equipment, pulse oxymeters,
over-the-counter medicines, and supplement.
So, if you're looking to sell any of those as a new seller
of that item, you're going to need to fill out the new listing creation
form for that category or that product type, and this is something
you're going to find across gated categories. There's a new listing creation
form and within that form you're going to need to fill out various
things including some of the things we touch on today.
If you're an existing seller of this type of product,
you still might need to provide documentation,
you might need to provide one purchase invoice of
the products from a manufacturer or distributor.
So, you actually need to get an invoice from your manufacturer.
It cannot be a pro forma invoice which is very common with Chinese suppliers.
It has to actually be a commercial invoice, so, one solution here is to
ask them specifically for the commercial invoice.
If you cannot get that, the other way to do it is turn
your pro forma invoice into a commercial invoice using
the exact same details, and there are commercial
invoice generators online. You're also going to need to
provide photos of the product or it's packaging.
This proves the product's authentic, it also allows them to verify
your brand name, things like that, and lastly, you're going to need
to consent to Amazon's marketplace Fair Pricing Policy.
This, of course, has to do with the PPE price gouging incidents
that we saw a couple months ago. So, our second example here is
automotive and power sports, of course, this relates to things
like parts and accessories, tools and equipment,
also power sports parts and accessories,
and protective gear, wheels and tires as well.
You must be on the pro selling plan. New sellers have to have an
independent e-commerce website, that means you need to
go set up your own independent website.
Existing sellers don't have to have the website but they
have to have a seller account in good standing with good metrics.
That's also always important for ungating, you must use compliant
product images, make sure you have pure
white backgrounds. And you must use UPCs,
I highly recommend GS1 UPCs. You must also provide any
fitment data and you actually have to add this to Amazon's
fitment tool, if your products are fitment-specific,
like only for certain models of vehicles. And products must meet all
North American products safety standards.
Okay, so, now we have a good idea about the US,
we're going to have a look at the UK and then we're going
to look at the application process which is the same for the US and UK.
UK gated categories, here we have beer, wine and spirits, apparel,
automotive, beauty, grocery and beverages,
health and personal care, jewelry, watches,
and toys at Christmas, again, primarily for FBM.
If you're FBA, you don't really have to worry about toys at Christmas.
And now that we've looked at those overarching category gates,
let's look at the specific product gates that the UK applies,
we have personal safety and household products,
once again, PPE.
We have Made in Italy products, music, DVD.
We have organic foods, and feed, and pet food.
We have streaming media players, and we have books, music video,
and DVD products. So, let's take a look at some
UK example requirements. First, we're going to look
at apparel or clothing. So, seller requirements,
we're going to break this into seller requirements and then,
product requirements. As a seller, you must be on
the professional selling plan, you must have an inventory
of more than one product in this category, you must have
a return address in the local country or provide free delivery,
you must be able to provide local language support for
customer service in the marketplace where that sale is intended.
And then, looking at product requirements, products that you sell must be new,
they must be intended for sale in the EU and of course,
comply with all laws there. Products with labels that
have been cut out. Remember, this is more common
in the clothing space, must not be sold under that
brand name, and that brand name that's been cut out must not
be mentioned anywhere on the listing. They even ask you to
clarify this in the description that labels have been removed.
For each product, a valid barcode or product identifier,
as it's often called on Amazon on your backend,
that is associated with that product is required.
So, like a UPC in the US or an EAN in the UK.
So, let's take a look at grocery, well, here are the seller requirements,
you must have an inventory of more than one product
in that category, you must have a return delivery address
in the local country or provide free delivery, and you must
be able to provide the local language support, again, your own company website
isn't required here but it's helpful in their review process in
when they process your application and you must provide documentation.
For example, invoices for the products that you wish
to sell if Amazon asks you for those.
So, looking at product requirements, here the products have to be new,
all products must be intended for sale in the EU, meeting those laws,
and for each a valid barcode is required again, all food products offered
for sale on an Amazon website have to be labeled in the language
of that website. So, for example, if you're selling on Amazon Germany,
the label and everything actually needs to be in German.
All food products must comply with laws and regulations
including food information and labeling regulations
such as the one listed here, so, you're going to need
to really look into that in terms of food and labeling
requirements and just make sure that your product
adheres to those and lastly, let's apply for ungating.
So, these are the steps you're gonna follow, number one,
under inventory, select 'add a product' so, you're now adding a product
to Amazon's catalog. You're gonna go through that
whole process but in that process you're going to then, search for your
specific category, in this case, you're actually searching
for your restricted category or product, you're placing your product in Amazon's category.
So, you're going to go through that process and select the
gated category you're looking to gain approval in.
Now, once you do that, it's going to pop up with
the screen and you're going to be able to click 'listing limitations apply',
that tells you, "Hey, there's some
things you need to do before you can list here.'
So, you want to click on that and at that point, you're going to
click the 'request approval' button. This is how you apply to
list this product in that category. This is how you apply to
get ungated in that category. So, this actually starts
the application process and at this point,
a couple things can happen. You may instantly be approved
to sell that product or within that category, this is going to be
the case for some sellers who've been selling for a long time.
You have good sales history and multiple other categories
very often you're going to get instant approval.
This has been the case for me a few times, I can't promise that
for you but if you've been selling a while, this is sometimes the case.
You might, of course, need to provide further documentation
so it actually enters an application process where you need to fill
a few things out or provide further documents as we've gone
through in some of our examples or you might not be approved
to sell in that category at this time, that's also a possibility.
You might need to build up some more sales history in
ungated categories and then, at that time, you might even
get that instant approval to sell in the gated categories.
Before you go,
I did want to ask you to please comment below,
"What is your favorite category?" I would have to say mine
is industrial and scientific but I want to know what is yours.
So, please comment for us below and if you enjoyed this video,
please remember to give us a like, that means the world to us.
Remember to subscribe as well, turn on those little bell notifications,
that way you're not going to miss an upload but
I hope this helped you guys, I hope you're making some
really good progress and I will see you in the next video.