Amazon helps brands and manufacturers ensure proper product safety and documentation through the Manage Your Compliance tool when selling on Amazon. Offering safe and compliant products on Amazon is a baseline necessity for selling on Amazon. Generally, we focus on how we can increase sales or perform better in Amazon Advertising. However, the ability for a customer to purchase or even use Amazon Advertising goes away if your product is removed from the Amazon store due to a lack of documentation supporting that your product is safe to be sold. At Goat Consulting, we consider risk mitigation a top priority when leading accounts, and we strive to ensure your listings and accounts remain active. A more compliant, and safer Amazon store will build more trust with Amazon customers. More trust with Amazon customers will raise the tide for all sellers on the platform. If you have any questions about Amazon policy and compliance, please reach out to Goat Consulting to see how we can help. This post will cover an overview of the Manage Your Compliance tool, how to use the compliance reference guide for known compliance requirements, and how to submit requested compliance documents.
Manage Your Compliance on Amazon Overview
Ensuring you maintain Amazon compliance through proper regulatory and safety requirements is an essential part of selling on Amazon. It can be frustrating if you open up your Amazon Seller account to find an Amazon notification of restricted products removal and your product listing removed and showing the Amazon Page Not Found indication of a removed listing. This indicates that you need to check Amazon’s account health notifications and policies to ensure your product is compliant. Amazon must ensure they offer products that are safe and have no risk of causing injury or damage. In order to manage this customer safety, they use the Manage Your Compliance Tool which allows sellers to view required compliance documents, submit documents, and research when documentation may be required for your products. In order to navigate to the Manage Your Compliance Dashboard, simply click the performance tab and choose Account Health. From there, click on the Product Compliance Request link.
How to Proactively Check Amazon Compliance Requirements
When it comes to risk mitigation and compliance, it is better to be proactive rather than reactive for ensuring the correct Amazon product compliance. It is your responsibility as a seller to have the proper testing and documentation required for your products to satisfy laws, regulations, and Amazon policies for selling on Amazon.
Sometimes Amazon policies go above and beyond the requirements of regulations and other marketplaces, so it is important to review all relevant policies related to your product. During an Amazon Compliance seminar at the Amazon Accelerate 2023 event, an attendee asked, “Why do I need to provide more regulatory testing and documentation on Amazon than is required by the law?” The speaker at the event had an interesting perspective in her response, which is that the law is just a baseline for compliance, and that Amazon strives to go above and beyond in order to ensure a safe and trustworthy marketplace for customers. It is always worth the extra effort to review the Amazon specific policies around your product. It’s important to remember Amazon may have policies around your product that go above and beyond the law, and you will have to comply with those policies if you wish to sell on Amazon.
Amazon wants to help brands and manufacturers with understanding the required documentation and created the Compliance Reference tool within Manage Your Compliance as an educational and informational tool for researching compliance on certain products. This tool allows you to search by product type/category or HS code, to identify your product group. When you locate your product group, this helps you find the appropriate Amazon policy page with the required information, testing regulation standards, and helpful resources. Certain categories even provide a list of third party service providers that are certified to properly test your products.
Submit Requested Amazon Compliance Documents
If you find that Amazon is requiring you to submit a requested compliance document, this can be done through the Manage Your Compliance tool. Under the Incomplete requests tab, you will see a list of SKUs that show the compliance requirements, impacted items, at-risk sales, compliance status, and action required. When you click provide documents, you will see a section for each of the required documents. Upload your documents (ensuring that you have the correct requirements outlined by Amazon), add in a note of 350 characters if you have additional context, and hit submit. From there, your submission goes into a review state. Amazon will either reject, approve, or note that the requirement is no longer requested. It is important to monitor the submission status to ensure reinstatement of the listing. If Amazon rejects the document and does not provide additional context, reach out to us below for help in troubleshooting the issue further.
Frequently Asked Questions on Manage Your Compliance Selling on Amazon FAQ
What is the Manage Your Compliance tool?
The manage your compliance tool is the Amazon interface to view and upload requested compliance documentation for your products.
How do I know if I need to upload an Amazon product compliance document?
If you have a required document, you will see a number under the Manage Your Compliance product compliance request on the Account Health page.
How do I submit compliance documents on the Manage Your Compliance tool?
In the Manage Your Compliance page, click provide documents and upload your documents. You can also add up to 350 characters of additional information to provide context about your product
How to Appeal a compliance documentation request on the Amazon Manage Your Compliance page?
If you would like to appeal an Amazon compliance documentation request, you can click “Appeal Request”, select the appropriate appeal reason, add a 350 character comment explaining why you are appealing, and hit submit for review.
How do I proactively check the compliance required for my products on Amazon?
Using the Compliance Reference section under the Manage Your Compliance tool you can research and find the Amazon help documentation page and connect with a 3rd party service provider for product testing.
Conclusion
Following Amazon policies, laws, and regulations is a baseline requirement for selling on Amazon. Amazon created the Manage Your Compliance tool as a way to help brands and manufacturers be compliant when selling on the platform. Use the Manage Your Compliance tool to research requirements using the Compliance Reference section and maintain active testing documents requested by Amazon. Selling compliant and safe products will create a safe and issue-free environment for customers to shop. If you would like help with understanding Amazon policies or requirements for your products, please reach out through the Contact Us form.
About the Author
This post was written by Reed Thompson, the co-founder and CEO of Goat Consulting. Reed leads Goat Consulting supporting account manager’s clients on Amazon by increasing sales, mitigating risk, reducing costs, and solving problems. He has experience and expertise in helping brands and manufacturers mitigate risk and comply with Amazon policies. If you want help with the Manage Your Compliance tool or assist with other aspects of selling on Amazon, please reach out.
Disclaimer: The information provided on this page does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice. All information, content, and materials available on this site are for general informational purposes only. If you supply products for sale on Amazon, you must comply with all applicable laws and Amazon policies for each of those products and product listings. The information on this page is provided as an informational resource only and the user is ultimately responsible for confirming the accuracy of the information before submission. If you choose to retain a service provider, you will be contracting directly with them and they will be providing services to you at your direction. Amazon does not endorse any service provider or its services nor does Amazon accept any liability or responsibility for services by service providers.