Amazon's bundling policy is tightened! A large number of listings need to be modified

For sellers, bundling products on Amazon can bring many benefits, including boosting sales, increasing profits, and promoting new products. However, Amazon's recent update to its "bundling policy" has stunned many sellers.

Amazon updates consumer product bundling policy

Amazon mentioned in the notice that in order to ensure that US Amazon users have access to high-quality bundled product options, the platform decided to update the product bundling policy for consumer goods in the groceries, pet products, maternal and child products, and health and beauty categories .

Starting October 14 , sellers can only list bundles that are created and supplied by the original manufacturer, and the original manufacturer must be the brand owner of all products in the bundle.

This means that sellers will no longer be able to mix products produced by different companies together; at the same time, sellers will not be able to publish bundled products under "generic" brands or their own brands.

Amazon also states that “to comply with the bundling policy, you may create new bundle listings using products from a single manufacturer.”

It also stated that before the end of the fourth quarter of this year, the platform will not make any requirements for bundled products that have already been released; and after the policy is implemented, it will send reminders of non-compliant product lists via email and account status control panel 30 days in advance to ensure that sellers have enough time to rectify non-compliant product details pages.

In order to help sellers better understand the new policy, Amazon also gave an example in the notice:

Sellers can list a bag of mixed chips packaged by manufacturer Frito-Lay, but cannot create a bundle that includes two bags of Doritos chips and one bag of Cheetos chips, even if both bags are made by Frito-Lay. And of course, you can't combine a bag of mixed chips from Frito-Lay with other products, such as paper towels or kitchen utensils .

In addition, Amazon's policy statement also states :

Sellers cannot exploit intellectual property by adding non-manufacturer branding to product images or product titles ;

If you are not the manufacturer, you cannot list any packaging or unrelated items (including supplementary services) as unique products in the bundle;

You cannot release a bundle under a “generic” brand, nor can you release an unbranded product in a bundle;

The barcode of the entire bundle should be clearly displayed in the product image .

Sellers have many questions about the new policy

After seeing the notice, the most common reaction from sellers was: What does it mean? I don’t understand.

“Will this affect multi-packs? Or just combination SKUs?”

“Will Amazon shut down all bundles in the ‘grocery’ category? According to the new rules, 70% of the bundles in the top 100 products in the category will not qualify!”

"This policy is so vague, can someone explain to me how this will affect stores that primarily sell bundles?"

Some sellers also asked, it says earlier that bundled products must be created by 'the original manufacturer, and the manufacturer must be the brand owner', but later it says 'sellers can use products from a single manufacturer to create new bundled product information', "Isn't this a contradiction?"

The seller also said, "As others have asked, does this affect multi-pack items? If so, then more than half of the items in the grocery, health and beauty categories will be gone."

In order to understand this policy update, some sellers carefully studied the policy description, which gave another example:

Sellers can list dishwashing liquid and dishwashing liquid refills that are originally manufactured and packaged by Dawn, but cannot bundle Dawn products with gloves or sponges from other manufacturers.

After reading the example given by Amazon, the seller believes that it is inappropriate for Amazon to use Dawn as an example in the description because "although Dawn is a consumer product, it obviously should not be classified in the groceries, pet products, maternal and child products, and health and beauty categories "; if Amazon wants to give examples to illustrate which listings comply with regulations and which do not, it should give examples from the categories mentioned in the policy.

In addition to the inappropriate categories given as examples, the seller also believes that Amazon’s explanation in the policy is not clear enough. “Why is it not compliant in Dawn’s (another) example? Because the gloves and sponges are not branded? Or because it is classified in the wrong category? ” If the gloves and sponges are branded but do not belong to the categories mentioned in the policy, and the ASIN is branded according to the highest-value product, does it still comply with the regulations?

Are small sellers and buyers the most hurt?

While the affected sellers are having a headache because they don’t understand the policy, the sellers who are not affected are also worried, “Will this policy be extended to other categories in the future?”

In the view of these sellers, Amazon’s move is to better manage the sales of bundled goods from the source. If this is the case, it is possible that the new bundling policy will be extended to other categories.

"Why make such a change?" some sellers wondered, "This policy change will have a great impact on small sellers and buyers."

He believes that the new policy only allows manufacturers to create bundled products, which will leave a large gap in the market . Because brands and manufacturers are often slow to respond to market changes, many brands and manufacturers are unwilling to meet the needs of niche consumers (taking into account various factors).

Previously, small sellers could fill these gaps based on their research and understanding of the market , so that they could make profits and meet the diverse needs of consumers. However, the new policy restricts the ability of small sellers to meet the specific needs of buyers by "customizing" bundled products.

"I understand that the platform is difficult to manage because of the increase in bundles," the seller said, "but most bundles are just to fill the gap in (buyers') choices, or to better use AMS to attract interested customers." For consumers, more bundles mean more choices; for Amazon, this can also earn advertising revenue and FBA fees. "This is (originally) a win-win situation," but after the new policy was implemented, " I'm not sure who is the winner . "

What is even more troubling is that Amazon encourages sellers to prepare inventory for the upcoming event before October 19, and sellers have also prepared inventory in advance. Now that the new policy has been released, the platform has given limited time for adjustment, and some sellers are worried, "Will this affect Christmas sales ? Do we have to deal with the remaining inventory after the holiday? " Based on this, some sellers remind the affected sellers to respond as soon as possible, such as " cancel all pending shipments as soon as possible " to avoid having to worry about clearing inventory.

The editor also agrees with this view. According to the current situation, for sellers who are certain to be affected by the new policy, the most important thing is to re-arrange and adjust their business as soon as possible according to the clear requirements before the next peak season arrives, so as to minimize or eliminate the adverse effects that the new policy may bring.

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Bundling Policy

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