Amazon continues its project to reclassify products in the Amazon Handmade marketplace to “standard” product types, which it says will improve customer discoverability of Handmade products in the Amazon stores and is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Amazon Handmade announced the reclassification project in 2023, and in Occtober 2024, it provided details, calling it a multi-year project. When asked for information on the timing of the rollout last week, an Amazon spokesperson told EcommerceBytes that as it progresses, it is notifying sellers of timing and expectations.
As the 2025 holiday shopping season nears, however, sellers of handmade goods could find themselves dealing with the reclassification of their products during peak season.
The spokesperson told us that sellers do not need to delete their listings. The reclassification process is done in such a way that product listings retain their associated sales history, ratings, and reviews.
However, while products don’t lose their sales history, ratings, or reviews, “your reclassified products’ sales ranks will change from ranking within Handmade to ranking within their corresponding standard product types.”
Previously, sellers would list handmade items using one of the following nine Product Types using a “guild” prefix: Accessories; Apparel; Baby; Beauty and Grooming; Home; Jewelry; Pet Supplies; Shoes; and Toys and Games.
When Amazon Handmade reclassifies a product from a GUILD product type to a standard product type, it adds the Attribute “Handmade Classification” to ensure it remained part of Amazon Handmade.
“Your products will continue to belong to Amazon’s Handmade category, Handmade store, Handmade search, and all products search, even after they are reclassified to standard product types,” Amazon told sellers in October.
As we reported in March, standard product types are more granular. For example, it is reclassifying Handmade pillows from the “GUILD_HOME” product type (which is very broad) to the “PILLOW” product type (which is more specific and shows up in Amazon.com search results).
In a FAQ provided in October’s communication to Handmade sellers, Amazon provided the following response to the question, “Am I required to update my products”:
“Yes. You will be required to provide new required attributes when you edit your existing listings. The specific attributes that are required will vary based on your listings’ standard product types.
“For example, for listings in the SHOES product type, you will be required to provide the footwear_size attribute. As another example, in order to save changes to your products that are variation parents, you will need to provide: CPSIA attribute (cpsia_cautionary_statement.value), Supplier Package Type attribute (supplier_package_type.value), and for Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) products, the fulfilment center receiving and fulfilment center storage attributes. To view new required attributes, navigate to Seller Central’s Listing Quality Dashboard where you can update your products.”
An Amazon moderator updated sellers earlier this month in a thread on the Handmade discussion boards. He said in addition to improving product discoverability, reclassifying products would enhance detail page features and enable multi-marketplace listing capabilities.
In addition, he told sellers, “Once you have been notified, we encourage you to validate your new product types, assign appropriate Handmade classification attributes, and ensure all required attributes are complete. These steps are crucial to maintain optimal product visibility and buyability.”
Some sellers who replied to the moderator’s August 1 announcement said their products had been reclassified without Amazon having notified them, and others described additional work required to correct their new product listings. One seller said that while Amazon Handmade’s intention may have been to improve discoverability, “the execution feels like it lacks safeguards for Handmade sellers.”