I consistently get asked questions about Amazon FBA restrictions. Many want to know how to tell if products are restricted to sell on Amazon.  I get asked these questions via email, and see the topic discussed in Facebook groups regularly as well.  There are even lists out there detailing Amazon restricted brands. I have nothing against these lists, but it’s virtually impossible to remember every brand or product that shows up on these lists.  As a result of that I have a process that is much simpler for identifying FBA product restrictions. I’ve outlined this process below.

Amazon FBA Restrictions: Just Ask Amazon

If I am in stores, then I will scan with the Amazon Seller App to determine if it is restricted.  If the product is restricted, the app is going to let me know.  See this image for an example:

As you can see the app makes it very clear that this particular product has an Amazon FBA restriction and cannot be sold on Amazon by me.  If I’m in retail stores, that’s literally it.  If I think the product might be restricted, I scan with the Amazon seller app and let it tell me if I can sell it or not.  The app will also tell you what condition you can list the items in, which is helpful as there are some items where only the new condition is restricted.

If I am sourcing online or am evaluating an online / wholesale buy, then I will do a very similar process.  I will login to my Amazon seller account, hover over inventory at the top of the screen, and then click “add a product.”  Then I will enter the UPC of the product to determine if I am eligible to sell the product in new condition.  Here’s a screenshot of the screen that you will see once you have searched for your desired UPC:

As you can see the screen that appears clearly tells me that I am not currently eligible to sell this product in new condition.

That’s really it for how I determine if a product is restricted for me to sell or not.  I scan it with the Amazon seller app, or check within my Amazon seller account.

Rather than use any list of restricted brands, I go direct to the source (Amazon) and see if they will allow me to sell the item in new condition or not. If Amazon ever publishes their own list of restricted brands, I would definitely reference that, but until that day comes I don’t plan on using any restricted brands lists.

The reason for this is that there will inevitably products that are restricted that do not show up on any restricted product list, and there will inevitably be products that are sellable that show up on a restricted product list.  Amazon’s info from the app and seller account will occasionally have inconsistencies regarding restrictions, but it’s the best info available at any given point in time.

My recommendation the next time you are looking to determine if you are eligible to sell a product on Amazon or not is to go straight to the source.

If you have any questions or comments, let me know below.