Hoping to get some insight here. We see certain brands sometimes over time have offers removed. Under Fix Your Products, these can be found as inactive under the category “Approval Required”
When selecting “Request Approval”, we are met with either this (Brand Redacted):
It does not seem to be category specific - that is, within the same product category, many brands do not require approval / are not locked out.
The information out there is spotty about this. I saw on the NSFE a mod replying to a post about the second scenario (no option to apply) here: “There are many reasons a product requiring approval is currently not accepting applications, however these determinations are internal and confidential. Amazon Seller Support will not be able to provide a timeline to indicate when applications will, if ever, open again.”
I’m curious why either scenario happens exactly. I see a lot of brand registry users that would love to have the ability to restrict sellers from adding offers to their products by requiring authentic invoices, or to gate the brand completely and be the exclusive seller. However, per Amazon:
Types of notices not accepted on Amazon:
Exclusive Distribution (except in China, France, and the United Arab Emirates) – Amazon does not enforce exclusive distribution rights except within the countries that have laws specifically referring to selective or exclusive distribution.
Yet, Amazon is selectively excluding sellers on the retail side.
This all raises the following questions:
Does this have anything to do with brand registry?
How are these brands selected to require this sort of application process of sellers?
Why are some brands completely locked from sellers?
Why would a seller that previously had offers for these ASIN under these brands suddenly be locked out?
How are sellers that previously had offers for these ASIN under these brands chosen to continue to sell?
A common, and legitimate, reason for requiring approval is concerns about the authenticity of products.
Some brands are deemed high risk of counterfeits.
Others may be restricted because of parallel imports creating warranty issues. Although the product may be authentic, the warranty may not be valid in the US, or require different service centers.
In spite of Amazon’s written policies, Amazon may decide to restrict certain brands products by agreement with the brand.
I wonder if this is determined by a ratio of sales vs inauthentic product customer complaints.
I asked one of the brands I’ve seen this happen with and they said they’re not registered under brand registry, though that doesn’t mean someone else didn’t grab it first. I can’t see that from my end.
It would be helpful to know if the brand reaches out to Amazon about this or visa versa. Or if it just happens without any notification to the brand. Because, like I mentioned, some rights owners would kill for this kind of exclusivity and control.
In the case above, how would Amazon reach out if they’re not registered?..I have a few contacts that might provide some insight.
I would imagine it’s a decided on a case by case basis… who knows though.
Look at Nintendo for example, they repeatedly demanded Amazon to do a better job at not allowing randoms to sell their products and Amazon didn’t do a great job and now Nintendo has pulled out.
There were years when no 3P sellers were allowed to sell Proctor and Gamble products. They were Amazon only. And then without fanfare they were allowed.
Whatever the process is, it is viewed as proprietary. Amazon minimizes the amount of information it provides on its internal processes. They are handled as “trade secrets” and are subject to change whenever Amazon feels it serves its interests.
I have just encountered this, and I believe it is ‘broken Amazon’ bad code.
Where it has Other it should be showing an actual category name. Also I am selling new; used, etc are not allowed in my category.
I created the original listing 5 years ago and regularly add new SKUs because it is an expirable product that I send in to FBA. I was preparing a new SKU to send a new lot in.
I am and have always been the only seller. I know the brand owner and am their exclusive Amazon seller.
The brand is not Brand Registered. I sell 4 different products/ASINs under the same brand name. The other 3 ASINs are not encountering the same problem.
When I click the brand link on the detail page on those 3, it correctly shows the other product listings of the brand as always.
When I click the brand link on the blocked item detail page it shows many totally unrelated products, most books or other media, that has the same word or words that are in the brand name in their titles.
It is two words separated by a hyphen, like Why-So (example not actual name). Product names/titles with Why or So are connected to the brand, ie showing in the search results generated by clicking on the brand link.
Support cannot help, he said he cannot escalate the case either. I’m not sure if he understood everything I explained but he did not have the power to fix it even if he did.
I fear it is a new major mess that is just beginning.
So (if we are following along correctly) it won’t let you create the new SKU?
You have been selling this for 5 years.
Thinking that it Is possible that one of your earlier SKU(s) has sold completely through. If so, could you reuse that earlier SKU now with the new lot number? … would that allow you to by pass the creation of a new SKU which is triggering this Selling Application thing?
Maybe this would help you list now until it can be determined how to deal with this hurdle.
Note: we do not do FBA and have no need to use SKU(s) to control lots. Just trying to think around the box for a temporary fix for you.
No, the exp date (based on the lot number) is part of the sku. I cannot change an existing sku.
If I restock an older sku it won’t have the correct date that I need to track and monitor.
Here is an example of a sku:
SX: DSX Sauce 01-30-27
I repeat the sku sequence and change the date part when I create a new one.
Such as:
SX: DSX Sauce 06-29-27
I am using the Add Another Condition function as I always have.
The Copy Listing function does not keep all the info - description, dimensions, etc.
Based on what support told me there are no options. Does the Jeff email still work? I still need to try Account Health support - maybe they can since it involves account permission?
Too busy right now to deal with it. Maybe it will get fixed in the meantime.
It still works but they are less than helpful. I referred a seller there and they got a response in a couple of minutes. Of course the response had nothing to do with the exact question.
“I created the original listing 5 years ago and regularly add new SKUs because it is an expirable product that I send in to FBA. I was preparing a new SKU to send a new lot in.”
In general, there have been a number of posts about the fact that Amazon has ONLY been allowing the actual brands to create ASINs now so creating new ones appears to be closed if you are not the actual brand owner.
“I’m curious why either scenario happens exactly.”
Because Amazon changes their mind more often than some people change their underwear.
