How To Get Ungated in Music on Amazon
Popular music, just like other restricted categories has unique guidelines on how you can start selling on Amazon. Getting to sell any reproduction or recording on amazon means you need to ensure you are not infringing on other people’s copyrights. Amazon restricts the sale of some products on the site to only approved sellers.
The approval process usually varies from one product, category, or brand to another. Selling on Amazon, especially in categories such as popular music can be worthwhile for motivated sellers. With ideal conditions such as those the platform offers, you can easily make your business on Amazon flourish giving you sizable supplementary income.
In this post, you will find all you need to know about ungating popular music sub-category on Amazon. Additionally, you will be taken through a general step-by-step guide to getting ungated to sell in any category or brand on Amazon.
Let’s examine Amazon ungating music.
What Do You Need to Get Ungated for Popular Music?
Sometimes you can get ungated just for being a trusted seller. If your seller account history is impressive and you have credibility with Amazon, you may get ungated for a particular category that may otherwise be restricted to other sellers.
If you want to sell music CDs, DVDs, and other recordings on Amazon, you need to apply to get ungated. The process is standard such that even those who may be ungated without requiring additional documentation still need to apply. Here are the basic requirements. You should however note that these requirements may differ depending on your location, seller level, and other factors.
Ensure, at the very least, that you meet the following criteria first before you submit an approval request to the Amazon review team.
- Professional seller account. If you want to become a merchant in the popular music category, you need to pay a going fee of less than $50 per month. The alternative is getting a vendor’s account or a personal account. These alternatives may not give you what you are looking for on Amazon.
- Maintain a low Order Defect Rate. You should not have more than 1% of your products being reported or returned as defectives.
- Low pre-fulfillment cancel rates. You should not have cancellations of above 2.5%.
- Maintain a low late order shipment rate. Amazon recommends lower than 4%.
Additional Information to Getting Ungated in Music
On the back of maintaining a stellar seller central account performance, you need to provide more information to aid your application success.
This is where you get to present the required documentation to prove credibility, the authenticity of goods, and business legitimacy.
Since you can get sued for selling reproductions or recordings without knowledge and permission from the owners, it is prudent to ensure you get all the necessary documentation to prove you are a legitimate seller. Generally, here is what you need for the popular music category.
1. Commercial Invoices
You need to provide at least three scanned invoices proving the purchase of at least 10 units of inventory. These invoices should not be more than 180 days. In this case, buy at least 10 units of music CDs from a reliable distributor and present the invoice during application.
Additionally, this invoice should reflect the name and contact details of the distributor as well as the exact information of your business matching the details on your seller central account.
2. Selling History
To show credibility, you need to prove that you had a prior business selling on Amazon. You can, therefore, maximize your success rate by providing your eCommerce free platform. Having certified that you have a history of selling on Amazon, you can now move ahead with your application of selling popular music items.
3. Sourcing
Those who source their items locally, i.e., in the United States have a higher chance of getting approved for a respective category. This could be the reason many people like in Europe complain of denials when they have submitted everything that was asked. It is much easier to ascertain that the documents such as invoices provided are authentic if they are obtained locally.
Furthermore, you need to ensure that the products you are applying to sell are correctly branded and are easily found in stores. This makes the process of verification easier. Also, the items you order must come with accompanying ASINs and should be purchased from one store for a more consistent invoice.
What Counts as Music on Amazon?
Since this product niche is rife with counterfeits, amazon makes this category somewhat difficult to sell in. You should know that licensed distribution partners are not the same as authorized wholesale distributors. If you want to sell DVDs, CDs, and LPs, then you will probably need to get ungated for popular music. How to apply to get ungated for the popular music category:
- Log into your seller central account
- Click inventory and tap on Add a Product
- Run an ASIN search or name of the product you need to list
- In the description, you will see an invitation to request approval. Continue and click Listing Limitations Apply
- Hit the Request Approval button to begin your application process.
If you are a seasoned seller with immaculate performance rates, then you might just receive the “Your selling application is approved. Congratulations! Your selling application for popular music has been approved based on your performance history.” Text from Amazon.
Should I Try To Sell Items In Gated Categories?
We understand why Amazon has these restrictions on these products. The question is, should you, as a new seller, bother with these products? Is it worth the stress that comes with it?
The truth is that there are product categories on Amazon that do not require you to meet such strict requirements, so would it not be easier to sell these products?
There is no clear answer to this question, but what we can do is tell you some of the benefits of selling products in these gated categories.
Amazon is one of the largest online marketplaces in the world, and many people see it as an opportunity to become entrepreneurs.
It offers you a low-cost platform for selling your retail products. The implication is that there are a lot of people selling on Amazon.
At the time of writing this piece, there were about 9.7 million sellers on Amazon, and this list will keep increasing daily.
Most of these sellers will not like to go through the stress of meeting the requirements to sell products in the gated categories, so they will stick to selling the products with fewer requirements.
The reality is the gated categories offer you less competition and higher profit margins.
Because not everyone is willing to go through the hassle, you have fewer people selling these products and fewer people competing with you.
These advantages and the profit they promise should incentivize you to play by Amazon’s rules.What Are Amazon Restricted Or Gated Categories?
Amazon gated or restricted categories are those with strict selling rules that no seller is allowed to sell freely. These categories, brands, and ASINs have specific approval guidelines, and any seller who meets the standards can enjoy a vast market with less competition. That means Amazon only has the power to draw the rules and open gates for more sellers to access the categories. There are some of the best Amazon ungating service providers out here ready to help you with access.
The good news, however, is that Amazon does not always restrict the entire category, like in the previous gating practices. Instead, it gates subcategories, leaving some products open, even though they might be under gated categories. This explains why there is a short list of gated categories and a long list of restricted products or subcategories. Generally, any seller who wants to sell within a gated category must apply for Amazon to let them in.
Why Does Amazon Gate Its Categories?
Most multi-million investments are built on trust, customer satisfaction, and a healthy working environment, and Amazon is no exception. Being a huge marketplace with millions of users globally, Amazon strives to maintain a good relationship with both buyers and sellers by ensuring only high-quality products are in circulation. It achieves this by gating some categories, brands, and ASINs. As a seller, you can seek professional ungating services to help with ungating popular music on Amazon. Here, are the four main reasons why Amazon gates its music categories:
1. To Monitor Product Standards – One of the first missions of the company is to ensure buyers are offered both high-quality and safe products. It does this by allowing only sellers whose products have undergone stringent quality assessment steps to access highly-demanded categories. Since the platform is home to millions of brands and buyers, there are high chances of buyers getting counterfeit products. Hence, it is Amazon’s responsibility to block such products by setting up strict selling rules.
2. To Protect A Brand’s Reputation – Amazon also works jointly with big brands to ensure only authorized resellers can list products from certain brands. Therefore, to protect the brand’s reputation, Amazon asks sellers to provide legit documentation from these brands to show they are allowed to list their products. Resellers who do not provide proof of authorization are locked out of certain categories. Many large and well-known brands require pre-approval with them directly, before even applying for Amazon’s popular music CD ungating assistance. This is true for both seasoned sellers, and individuals new to the platform.
3. To Enhance Customer Satisfaction – Besides ensuring buyers can get high-quality products, Amazon also restricts some categories to prevent sellers from exploiting buyers. That means only sellers with a positive track record can access the categories and reach buyers. This enhances customer satisfaction and a positive rating. The company may also limit or dictate maximum pricing to ensure buyers are not being fleeced by being sold pirated copies of music for top dollar.
4. Adherence to Record Labels & U.S. Copyright Office – There are several ways for musicians and others invested in their music to protect their brands, labels, music, and trademarks or copyrights. Because of this, both sellers and Amazon are required to follow these laws and rules, too.
Categories And Products That Require Amazon Approval
As stated earlier, Amazon has a long list of gated products and a short list of restricted categories. That is because one category can have more subcategories, which can add up to tens of products. Therefore, when applying for approval, sellers need to consider three Amazon popular music ungating levels; category, brand, and product ungating services. They should also differentiate between category and product unlocking.
To learn about ungating DVDs, CDs, and music videos, check out our other guide here!
General Guidelines to Get Ungated on Amazon
Whether you are a new reseller or an established FBA seller, utilizing the vast market space offered by Amazon should never be a challenge again. Amazon’s mission is to see its users grow, and thus, increase sales and profitability. And this does not matter if you are listing your products in a locked or unrestricted category. As a result, if you want to expand your selling portfolio by accessing restricted categories, here are the general guidelines to get ungated on Amazon:
- Sign Up for A Professional Amazon Seller Account
- Analyze And Verify Your Account Health
- Check Specific Music Category or Sub-Category Guidelines
- Choose A Reputable Music Supplier
- Prepare Your Documents – Before submitting your approval to sell in the music category request, you need to prepare your documents, which include recent purchase invoices from reputable wholesalers. These scanned copies of popular music CDs ungating sales invoices should have all the ASINs written next to the product name. These invoices show completed transactions of FBA music ungating.
- Request Approval
Final Thoughts on Ungating Music and CDs on Amazon
Selling popular music on Amazon is gated because of various reasons. Mainly, it gates this category to minimize the proliferation of counterfeit items on the site. Also, gating items such as music makes it easy to prevent sellers from infringing on the copyrights of the owners of the records being sold. Therefore, Amazon music ungating makes the most sense.
Getting ungated to sell in the popular music category can add to your business. However, you first need to submit an application supported by other documents such as commercial invoices.This process may vary from one seller to another but it is pretty much standard on a wider scale.
