How to Sell Hazmat Products on Amazon - The Ultimate Guide
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This guide will help you get started, understand the basics of Amazon selling, and explain in simple words how it all works.
Do you plan to sell on Amazon products with batteries, gadgets, or items containing magnetic materials, like speakers? Then you must be aware that Amazon categorizes such products as hazmat. Because hazmat are classified as high-risk items, Amazon requires merchants to get approval to sell them.
This post tells what hazmat goods are and how to sell them safely on Amazon.
What Are Hazmat Products on Amazon?
Hazmat stands for hazardous materials — substances that pose a risk to health, safety, property, or the environment. These products must be handled and transported with special care, requiring special safety measures and infrastructure to store them.
Some products can be considered hazmat because they contain dangerous materials or substances (for example, Amazon can consider laptops hazmat because they include lithium batteries that are classified as dangerous substances). Hairspray, nail polish, pet care items, or shaving cream may appear to be hazmat.
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On Amazon, there are hazmat products that FBA merchants can sell if they get approval; and the categories prohibited from sale.
Hazmat categories allowed for FBA sales with approval
- Flammable solids;
- Flammable liquids;
- Flammable gases;
- Non-flammable and non-toxic gases;
- Oxidizers;
- Organic peroxides;
- Toxic substances;
- Corrosive substances;
- Miscellaneous dangerous substances (such as lithium batteries and magnetized materials).
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Note: All hazmat products allowed for FBA sales are subdivided by categories. Each category includes many hazmat products. You can find the full list of hazmat products in Seller Central.
Hazmat categories prohibited from FBA sales
- Explosive substances;
- Toxic gases;
- Substances dangerous when wet;
- Substances liable to spontaneous combustion;
- Infectious substances;
- Radioactive materials.
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How to Check Products for Hazmat?
Before selling a product on Amazon, you must check if it belongs to hazmat. That is because selling hazmat products on Amazon requires approval. If you send a hazmat product to an Amazon fulfillment center without it, they will only deliver it once you provide all the necessary documents.
You can check a product for hazmat in your Seller Central. To do it, you’ll need to follow several steps:
- Step 1. Go to the FBA Dangerous Goods program.
- Step 2. Navigate to the Manage Dangerous Goods Classification workflow, select Look Up an ASIN, and click Next.
- Step 3. Enter the ASIN in question and click Check status.
However, you can do it much faster and easier with the product research extension Seller Assistant App. With it, you can immediately see if an item is a hazmat right on the Amazon product page. Seller Assistant App shows a hazmat icon if a product belongs to the dangerous goods category.
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How to Sell Hazmat Products?
Before selling hazmat products, you must be informed that:
- you must get approval from Amazon to sell hazmat products and submit additional documents;
- hazmat inventory must be processed in specialized hazmat fulfillment centers;
- hazmat inventory must be fulfilled with extra care;
- all the above incurs extra cost and effort.
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Hazmat approval process
When you discover that the product you want to list is hazmat, you must ask for approval to sell it. When uploading it to the listing, you must provide the proper documentation specified by Amazon, including Safety Data Sheet (SDS).
If the information is complete, Amazon will classify the product and give you the approval to sell it in two (or fewer) business days.
When you sell hazmat products, you must ensure they are treated safely while handling, packaging, and storing.
You must also remember that at any time, Amazon can do its own dangerous product review.
What if you send an unapproved hazmat item to FBA?
Suppose you send a hazmat product to a fulfillment center without the proper documentation, and Amazon identifies it as potentially dangerous. In that case, they’ll not ship it out and give you 14 days to submit documents. That will create delays in customer delivery. If you don’t submit the required documents, they will dispose of them.
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What Is an Amazon Dangerous Product Review?
Amazon may initiate a dangerous product review if the item is flagged as hazmat or similar products were classified as dangerous goods. During a dangerous product review, Amazon inspects a product to ensure it doesn’t pose a risk.
When a product is under a dangerous product review, you can’t sell it. Amazon will require you to provide Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) or Safety Data Sheet (SDS) documents within 4 business days. MSDS must be updated within the last 5 years, match the product listing, include supplier information matching product label, and include 16 standard sections. Amazon will review the document in 4 business days.
After the review is over, Amazon classifies a product as Non-dangerous (business as usual), Restricted dangerous (you may be asked to enroll in the FBA Dangerous Goods Program; inventory will be shipped in specialized hazmat fulfillment centers), or Unfulfillable dangerous (a product can’t be fulfilled through FBA).
FBA Dangerous Goods Program
Amazon features an FBA Dangerous Goods Program helping merchants sell hazmat products. Members of the program can send additional products to special hazmat warehouses that have limited capacity.
To participate in the program, products must be FBA-fulfilled, in New condition, and packed and shipped in limited quantities per the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations.
For the US sellers who want to join the program, it has a current waitlist. Some sellers can be automatically added to the waitlist if their items are reclassified as dangerous goods.
Dangerous Goods Program shipping and packaging requirements
- products must not be shipped using an Amazon Partnered Carrier;
- products must not be shipped with other types of units;
- products must be shipped only to the fulfillment center designated by Amazon;
- products must be packaged safely and comply with all applicable packaging, labeling, and weight and size requirements (including US Department of Transportation regulations).
Applying for the FBA Dangerous Goods Program step by step
- Step 1. Log in to Seller Central.
- Step 2. Go to “Manage Dangerous Goods Classification”.
- Step 3. Select the FBA Dangerous Goods program option.
- Step 4. Click “Apply to the FBA Dangerous Goods program”.
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How to Store FBA Hazmat Products?
Hazmat products require storing in specialized hazmat fulfillment centers. They are equipped to handle and store dangerous goods. The storage of hazmat products together in the same building can be restricted. Therefore, the storage space for hazmat is limited.
Sellers can monitor hazmat storage limits in Seller Central at the bottom of their Shipping Queue page.
Hazmat Product Fulfillment and Storage Fees
Amazon charges specific fees for the fulfillment and storage of hazmat inventory in its warehouses.
Amazon hazmat FBA fees are calculated based on the weights and dimensions of the product. Hazmat storage fees are calculated based on the daily average volume of the space inventory occupies.
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Final Thoughts
If you want to sell hazmat products on Amazon, you must get approval. If you try to sell an unapproved hazmat product, Amazon will only fulfill it once you get permission or dispose of it. Therefore, before purchasing a product, it is essential to check if it belongs to dangerous goods.
Seller tools created explicitly for product research help sellers quickly check their items for hazmat. Seller Assistant App is one such tool. It’s a powerful product research extension for Amazon sellers engaged in online arbitrage, wholesale, and dropshipping.
Seller Assistant Аpp is an all-in-one extension incorporating features vital for product research. Advanced IP Alerts can immediately tell you if a product has any sales restrictions or has led to problems with account health in the past. It combines an FBM&FBA profit calculator, Quick View, Stock Checker, and Restrictions Checker in one tool.
