Amazon sellers are all too familiar with the concept of “gating,” which is when marketplaces restrict most or all sellers from selling a particular brand. Recently a seller described how working to become ungated can be a moving target, after Amazon raised the bar for them just 10 days after it had ungated the seller for a particular brand.
In a post on the Amazon discussion boards last week, the seller explained Amazon ungated them, requiring them to purchase 10 units from the brand. After buying and listing the 10 units, they discovered Amazon regated them 10 days after ungating them. “The difference is NOW Amazon wants an invoice with ONE HUNDRED UNITS,” the seller said.
“This absolutely DESTROYS trust between Amazon and the seller,” they wrote on the discussion board post. “I called support and was told the “only option is to re-apply”. I asked the agent how I could TRUST that Amazon wouldn’t re-gate me again and ask for even MORE units? SILENCE.”
The seller said they felt Amazon pulled the rug out from under them. “No communication that I was gated again. No transparency as to why they are requiring more units. Just an endless circle of hoops that seems like they don’t really want anyone to jump through successfully.”
It appears possible the brand was the party that changed the gating permission or conditions, but the lack of communication adds to sellers’ angst.
Another seller wrote, “I also have not yet gotten a single email about recent gratings. I don’t even want to attempt to try to ungate anything at this point as nothing is accepted even with legitimate documents. Then if they do accept it you may be back to being gated the next day… “
Amazon has been engaging sellers more frequently over the past year or so, and a moderator replied to the seller in the post: “Thanks for posting to the Forums. I’ve gone ahead and contacted my partner team and requested their assistance with reviewing this issue. I’ll follow up as soon as I hear back from the team.”
Gating of brands and categories is just another example of the perilous nature of selling online.