What do you do if you’re getting gated on Amazon?
Recently, we talked with one of our members who is in our accelerator program and was getting gated on Amazon in a couple of categories. We wanted to talk about that because it’s something Amazon does to make sure sellers are legit. There is a lot of red tape to sell on Amazon and this is one of the reasons we don’t do it.
The short answer to are you tired of getting gated on Amazon is: Try eBay!
The member we were speaking with was selling expensive textbooks, but he was unable to sell those because the category was gated. Textbooks are what would make the most money in the book category. Since he was unable to sell them on Amazon he had to actually open an account and sell them on eBay. He was able to immediately list them on eBay and start selling them. If you’re finding you can’t sell a certain gated category on Amazon, consider bringing the items to eBay.
Gated Amazon Categories
If you’re new to the phrase “gated,” it basically means with certain items you need permission from Amazon to be able to sell them. Since we don’t sell on Amazon, we don’t know the process to get ungated. We have heard it can be a bear to do it. We’ve also heard the process is different for different categories, which can be challenging for a seller to figure out.
When you sign up as a seller on Amazon you have to get ungated from different categories. The most common ones are collectibles, art, jewelry, holiday items, toys and games, made in Italy, watches, collectibles, and music and DVDs. That’s a short list of a lot of categories, and you can sell all of that on eBay without waiting.
You don’t have to get approval to sell those categories on eBay. On eBay, you just have to set up an account, link a bank account to accept payments, and then you’re good to start selling. There are some eBay restrictions when you first get started to protect the buyers that are buying for you. The first restriction is you can list up to 10 items or $1,000. The only reason they cap you at that is to make sure you’re a legit seller. They want to see you make a sale, and follow through on the delivery of the item to make sure you’re providing the service and delivering what you listed.
Once they start seeing activity on your account, they’ll lift those restrictions. One little hack that also can help you to get those lifted faster is to boost your eBay feedback. That can be done by buying items as well. Consider buying items you’d normally purchase on Amazon. They may take a few more days to arrive when purchased on eBay, but you can boost your feedback faster.
eBay Gated Categories
eBay doesn’t have gated categories but does have some restricted categories and they’re typically related to medical items. This is a bummer for us because we’ve found incredible deals on medical supplies in thrift stores and yard sales. It’s usually items people don’t need anymore but someone else could benefit from. The general rule of thumb with medical supplies on eBay is that if you need a prescription to buy it, you probably can’t sell it.
We’ve sold a couple things that don’t require prescriptions, such as knee braces, a knee rehabilitation machine, and ambulance stretchers.
Sometimes eBay may flag an item and say you can’t sell it. Make sure you are checking if it’s an item you’re allowed to sell before you purchase it. And don’t try to list it again. Once it’s flagged, just don’t do it. It’s not worth having them close your account.
If you’re an Amazon seller and you do not have an eBay account, open one up today and start building feedback. Then if you ever have items in a category you can’t sell on Amazon, you’ll be able to sell it on eBay instead.
Show Notes
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