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Understanding Amazon’s gated product categories

  • March 5, 2014
Reading time: 2 minutes

People call Amazon the Everything Store because you can buy just about anything there.

But for Amazon sellers, it should be called the Nearly Everything Store because you can’t sell everything there, at least not without Amazon’s permission.

Confused? Keep reading to understand Amazon’s gated  Selling certain products and bran… More product categories.

 

Open Product Categories

Before we talk about what categories you can’t sell in, let’s start with what you can sell.

Many of the most popular product categories, like books, toys (except during the holidays), groceries and home & kitchen aren’t gated at all.

That means that any Amazon seller, from a college student selling a few books to a high-volume retail-arbitrage specialist can list and sell in most categories.

 

Gated Product Categories

However, there are a handful of categories that Amazon “gates.” In order to sell in these categories, you’ll need special permission from Amazon.

Here’s a graphic we made that shows the gated categories that are of the most interest to Amazon sellers.

Amazon.com Gated Product Categories

These categories are gated to protect both customers and sellers. Amazon wants their customers to have the best possible experience and wants sellers who specialize in these items to be protected from sellers who may not be as capable of providing a great customer experience.

The list of gated categories includes:

  • Automotive
  • Clothing
  • Collectible books
  • Entertainment collectibles
  • Fine Art
  • Industrial and Scientific
  • Luggage
  • Appliances
  • Sexual Wellness
  • Shoes
  • Sports Collectibles
  • Watches
  • Wine

Read what Amazon has to say about gated categories.

 

Selling in Gated Categories

Each gated category has its own requirements.

For example if you want to sell clothing, you’ll need to apply and show that you have product images that meet Amazon’s standards. If you want to sell entertainment collectibles, you’ll need to  authenticate your products with a third-party service like James Spence Authentication (JSA) or the Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA/DNA).

Amazon’s decisions when it comes to who gets approved and who doesn’t can be baffling and maddening, at times. We’ve heard from sellers who had to apply 3 or 4 times before being approved to sell clothing, for example. Our best advice is to understand the requirements and if you’re rejected, ask for feedbackA performance rating on a scale of 1 to … More. Depending on the category you might get some useful feedback that can help you improve your application.

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  • Posted in: News and Updates, Services

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8 Responses

  1. Marian Danut Topala says:
    July 21, 2017 at 5:49 pm

    Good afternoon,

    Kindly advice the properly solution for next scenario. As a Amazon seller, I want to start lauching a new products as a leather goods under my own brand. What I want to know, is the specified category which I should go for into and if it is gated or not. And if is gated, what should I do for approval, and how long it will take in order to launch before October? Thank you for your support.

    Reply
  2. Irina says:
    July 26, 2017 at 11:42 am

    Hello, Marian!
    Thank you for your question! It really depends on the kind of leather products you want to sell. You might be able to sell leather goods in non-gated categories, as well as in gated categories, depending on the type of product.
    Feel free to shoot us an email at services@SellerEngine.com so that we can talk more about your particular case and give you more specific advice.

    Reply
  3. shebu says:
    December 21, 2020 at 2:29 am

    is cow/buffalo leather belts and jackets are in gated/restricted category for German market ?

    Reply
  4. Adriana says:
    December 22, 2020 at 7:06 am

    Hi shebu!

    There might be some restriction to some specific products, but we just tested a number of random ASINS of cow leather belts and they didn’t appear under restrictions. However, this might not be the case for every product. If you need further help, please don’t hesitate to drop us a line at services@SellerEngine.com

    Reply
  5. V. L says:
    January 7, 2021 at 8:17 am

    hello, I am a new seller and was actually gated on cooking tools, which is nowhere to be found on their help as a gated category. so I was rejected but when I ask them what exactly is the issue they just respond that they cannot tell me.
    The only info I have i “label needs to be permanently attached” but I have sent them pictures of the label being stuck on the box of the product before shipping. label has all required info in german language, they approved it.
    where can I find more info on this?
    Thanks
    V.

    Reply
    1. Irina says:
      January 12, 2021 at 7:32 am

      Hello,

      I am really sorry to hear that you are having issues with the category. It would help to know more about when they gated you.

      We can offer a free consultation here, to see if we can shed some more light into what happened: https://sellerengine.com/free-services-consultation-request-2/

      Reply
  6. Muhammad Nazir Muslim says:
    January 8, 2021 at 10:42 pm

    Good Morning!

    I just want to know about selling Medicine at Amazon. So what kind of invoices and certifications they need for that ? Guide me

    Reply
    1. Irina says:
      January 12, 2021 at 7:26 am

      Hello,

      Thank you for your comment. It depends on the type of medicine you want to sell, as some medicine require FDA approval to be sold over the counter, so I’m afraid the answer isn’t as straightforward. However, if you want us to take a look at the products you intend to sell, you can book a free consultation with us here: https://sellerengine.com/free-services-consultation-request-2/

      You can also sign up for updates on our blog, as we are working on a new piece covering what changes Amazon has brought to the gated categories procedure: https://sellerengine.com/blog-sign-up/

      Reply

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