Changes to program policies
Listed below are upcoming changes to Amazon’s program policies.
Updates to the commercial liability insurance program policy
Effective June 27, 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.
Updates to adult products policies
Effective January 17, 2022, all wand massagers and kegel and ben wa balls will be classified as adult products. These items will continue to be available for sale and discoverable to all customers who search for them in their current listing category. For more information, go to Adult products policies and guidelines.
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.
Update to the FBA inventory reimbursement policy
Since February 3, 2021, reimbursements for all FBA sellers that are determined based on sales now incorporate all sales over the past 18 months. The previous window was 90 days. We made this change to gather more data to help calculate accurate reimbursement values.
We’ve also updated the descriptions of how we determine reimbursement value when sales history is unavailable. For example, listing price is another way that we determine this value.
For more information, go to FBA inventory reimbursement policy and scroll down to “How we calculate reimbursement value.”
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.
