Changes to program policies
Listed below are upcoming changes to Amazon’s program policies.
Updates to the Commercial Liability Insurance program policy
We will no longer be making changes to our Commercial Liability Insurance program policy that we previously posted on June 13, 2022 with an effective date of August 1, 2022. On August 15, 2022, our commercial liability insurance program policy will be updated with the following changes:
- We have removed the restriction on policies with no deductibles for sellers with gross proceeds of less than $1 million.
- We have reinstated our previous requirement stating that deductibles for any policy(ies) must not be greater than $10,000. Any deductible amount must be listed on your Certificate of Insurance.
- We will not be changing our new requirements for single-member LLCs, and will continue to allow the insured name to match either your legal entity name or the name you publicly use to identify your business ("trade name", "doing business as", or “DBA").
For more information, go to the ‘frequently asked questions’ section on the Business Insurance page or the Seller Forums announcement.
Updates to fee category names
On August 10, 2022, we are renaming a number of fee categories on the Amazon fee schedule to provide clarity to the categories. For example, “Industrial & Scientific (including Food Service and Janitorial & Sanitation)” will become “Business, Industrial, and Scientific Supplies.” There are no rate changes associated with these updates.
Updates to product safety alerts, recalls, stop sales, and market withdrawal policy for sellers
Effective August 8, 2022, Amazon is updating its Product safety alerts, recalls, stop sales, and market withdrawal policy. The policy pertains to your responsibilities as a seller and the actions we take when we learn of a potential product safety defect. To learn more, go to Product safety alerts, recalls, stop sales, and market withdrawal policy for sellers.
Updates to Monitor Your Account Health policy and expansion of the Account Health Rating policy
Effective August 9, 2022, with the launch of additional features to the Account Health Rating, we are making the following updates to the Monitor Your Account Health program policy:
- We are removing the Monitor Your Account Health policy and converting it into two separate policies: the Account Health Rating policy and the Order Performance policy.
- The Account Health Rating policy has been expanded. Please review the full policy as it includes detailed information regarding new and existing Account Health Rating features.
- The Order Performance policy was previously part of the Monitor Your Account Health policy. We have moved that content into its own policy page and renamed the policy, but it has not significantly changed.
To learn more, please see the following:
- Account Health Rating policy
- Frequently asked questions about Account Health Rating
- Order Performance policy
Updates to Adult Products Policies
Effective July 26, 2022, our adult products policies and guidelines will be updated with clarifications about adult products and explicit sexual imagery.
Effective January 17, 2022, all wand massagers and kegel/ben wa balls will be classified as adult products. These items will continue to be available for sale and discoverable to all customers searching for them within their current listing category.
For more information, go to Adult products policies & guidelines.
Update to the FBA inventory reimbursement policy
Effective July 21, 2022, the eligibility criteria in the FBA inventory reimbursement policy will be updated. For an item to be eligible under this policy, the following must be true:
- The shipment for the item is not in canceled or deleted status.
- When a lost or damaged item claim is filed, under review, and during any appeals, the seller’s account must be in normal status.
For more information, go to FBA inventory reimbursement policy.
Updates to the commercial liability insurance program policy
Effective August 1, 2022, our United States commercial liability insurance program policy will be updated with the following changes:
- Your policy can include a deductible if (i) your gross proceeds from sales of your products in the Amazon.com store exceed USD 1 million in the last 12 months, and (ii) the deductible is listed on your Certificate of Insurance;
- For single-member LLCs, the insured name can match either your legal entity name or the name you publicly use to identify your business (“trade name,” “doing business as,” or “DBA”);
- We will provide guidance on how you can obtain a commercial liability insurance if you currently do not have one or are looking for a new policy;
- We will delete the frequently asked questions section from the current program policy page, have them updated, and move them to a newly created help page.
For more information, go to the ‘frequently asked questions’ section on the Business Insurance page.
Update to policy for shipment of dangerous goods in limited quantities
Effective April 25, 2022, we will no longer allow limited quantities of dangerous goods to be shipped to offshore US island destinations through FBA. Sellers must use third-party shippers to ship all dangerous goods to those destinations.
Update on countries accepted for seller registration
Effective March 11, 2022, we are not accepting registrations from Russia or Belarus. For more information, see Countries accepted for seller registration.
Introducing fee category guidelines
As part of our efforts to make fee categories easier to understand, we are introducing fee category guidelines. These guidelines, effective March 16, 2022, provide detailed lists of products mapped to each fee category, allowing you to quickly find the fee category for a specific item.
For more information, go to Understanding fee categories.
New policy: Strike anywhere matches
Effective November 19, 2021, we will no longer allow the sale of any product that contains "strike anywhere" matches on Amazon. To learn more, go to Strike anywhere matches.
Referral fees reimbursement policy
Effective December 2, 2021, we are removing the 90-day dispute window requirement for referral fee reimbursement claims. We are adding additional clarification that we will consider claims to be invalid when the fee transaction is contrary to the fee category guidelines in effect at the time of the fee transaction. For more information, go to Referral fees reimbursement policy.
Free returns on Fashion items for seller-fulfilled orders
Effective October 26, 2021, all seller-fulfilled offers on Fashion items will feature a free return message, and sellers will no longer be able to deduct the return shipping fee for Fashion items listed under Apparel, Shoes, Jewelry, and Watches in the US. To learn more, go to Free returns on Fashion items for seller–fulfilled orders.
Upcoming changes to program policies
Effective May 18, 2021, the following fee-related program policy pages will be updated in the US for clarity and the names will be changed where indicated:
- “FBA features, services, fees, and resources,” which will also be renamed to “FBA features, services, and fees”
- “FBA fulfillment fees for Amazon.com orders,” which will also be renamed to “FBA fulfillment fee”
- “FBA removal order fees”
- “FBA long-term storage fees,” which will also be renamed to “Long-term storage fees”
- “Inventory storage fees,” which will also be renamed to “Monthly inventory storage fees”
- “Returns processing fee”
- “Selling on Amazon fee schedule”
There are no changes from the rates currently charged.
Further, effective on the same date mentioned above, new program policy pages dedicated to the FBA disposal order fee, lithium batteries fee, and special handling fee will be added in the US for clarity. There are no changes from the rates currently charged.
Upcoming changes to program policies
Effective March 19, 2021, we are adding the unsuitable inventory investigations policy as a new program policy.
Under this policy, if there is suspicion that a selling partner may have been engaged in the sale of counterfeit products or other illegal goods at Amazon, we may require additional information regarding the affected FBA inventory. If the requested information is not provided, or we find after investigation that the inventory constitutes unsuitable units, we may dispose of it.
Update to selling services terms and policies – September 2020
The Selling services terms and Selling services on Amazon policies were updated to include product sale and delivery requirements
Update to communication guidelines
Effective November 6, 2020, our communication guidelines were updated with additional information related to buyer-seller messages. For more information, go to the updated guidelines.
Update to restricted products policy
The Animals and animal-related products page of our restricted products policy was updated to include veterinary diets as an example of permitted listings on August 19, 2020.
Sold by Amazon terms and conditions
The Sold by Amazon terms and conditions page will be removed from the program policies page on July 4, 2020.
Amazon Vine legal entity change
On January 24, 2020, the legal entity listed in the Amazon Vine terms and conditions was changed to Amazon.com Services LLC.
Update to tax policies
Our tax policies are being updated with additional information related to tax treatments that could apply based on your use of Amazon services and selling in Amazon stores.
- Responsibility for taxes
- Taxes on fees and payments
- Shipping products internationally
Referral fees reimbursement policy
The Referral fees reimbursement policy page will be added to the program policies page on February 5, 2020.
Your continued use of selling services after February 5, 2020, constitutes your acceptance of the updated agreement.
