Selling Restricted Items on Amazon?

Oh, and something else... If you keep hitting walls, don't get too frustrated or discouraged. Amazon has set up an Olympic grade set of hurdles for sellers trying to get in to some categories. Sometimes their information can go from lacking to downright baffling very quickly. However, they are vague and ambiguous for a few good reasons.

The first of which is that they are a business themselves. And, unlike the eBay model, Amazon is often trying to dominate certain categories or items for their own sales.

The second thing is that Amazon has been very careful to protect their brand. This means some categories require guaranteed quality products - from a limited amount of highly-controlled sellers.

The third thing is that Amazon will sometimes honor even the most ridiculous of corporate requests from manufacturers or distributors because, even if Amazon doesn't sell that product themselves, it is likely that they are selling or profiting from some other product or service from that company (or hope to be soon.)

Amazon is a great opportunity for some sellers. But make no mistake about it, their bottom line is profit and their bloodline is customers. So...

• A) They don't give a quack about your "seller" experience versus their profits. They are not in business to give you a fair shot at selling, they are in business to make money for themselves.

• B) They will protect their customer base like a mother bear protecting cubs and similarly their brand (which means they will suspend and forget you quicker than you can spell their name if you purposefully cross a customer or even if you simply break the wrong rule.)

• C) They are quite unlike eBay when it comes to rules... There are no slaps on the hand. Which means you may want to actually study up on some of their policies, etc., because they are known for shooting first and (NOT) asking questions later.

With all of that said, it is still one of the best opportunities for sellers who want to thrive in what is probably the worlds largest online marketplace at the moment. You just can't reach out to such a high volume of customers ANYWHERE else on the web. So, stay determined to get in to your niche category. But if Amazon just won't let you in (for whatever reason) then just accept it and find another category or item that you CAN get in to. There's just far too much opportunity to walk away from over one item you can't sell there. There will ALWAYS be something you can sell there for a profit. Just stay determined.

On that note, I don't know if you ever heard of a guy named Jim Cockrum (I think his name is spelled that way) but if you search YouTube for his name you will find some great videos about Amazon selling, etc.

Best of luck to you!

(Damn! No more hopping out of bed and replying to posts after two cups of coffee. I started writing another small book in this thread!)