European Shipping Regulations for Fulfilment by Amazon

mhk1l

Are you a small business owner looking to expand your horizons? Then Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) might be something that interests you.

FBA works by allowing third party sellers, such as yourself, to sell products through Amazon. Buyers will receive the same delivery and shipping rates as Amazon’s own customers, as well as having access to Amazon’s super save delivery and tracking.

If you have a small business and you’re interested in working with Amazon, all you have to do is register yourself as a seller, ship your products to an Amazon Fulfilment Centre and wait for your orders to come in.
But what can you actually ship with Amazon?

As you can imagine, Amazon has very strict regulation on which products can take advantage of their service, so it is important to take note of their regulations before signing up, to ensure what you sell is appropriate.
If you send products to Amazon that they do not accept, or that do not abide to their guidelines, they will be refused and returned or disposed of at your expense. Having a good understand of these rules and regulations will help the whole process run much smoother.

Check the following list from Amazon UK’s own website before signing up:

  • Alcoholic beverages and liquor confectionery
  • Cigars, cigarettes, tobacco, and any other products containing tobacco
  • Weapons, including:
    • Firearms and all associated parts, kits and ammunition; realistic imitation firearms; air weapons, air guns, BB guns and airsoft guns (not including toy guns provided they are not realistic imitation firearms)
    • Spear guns; mace; black powder and all explosives
    • Crossbows (all types, but not including toy crossbows which shoot plastic/foam darts)
    • Slingshots/catapults (not including toys such as catapults that come with an action figure toy)
    • Offensive weapons as defined in the U.K. Criminal Justice Act 1988
    • Any ammunition, kits spares or accessories for any of the above
    • Fireworks or other pyrotechnics
    • Machetes, kukuris, knives, knife blades, razor blades, swords, daggers, axes and any other articles with a blade or a sharp point and which are made or adapted for use for causing injury to persons; with the exception of the following products which can be sold without age verification:
    • Razor blades permanently enclosed in a cartridge or housing with less than 2mm of blade exposed
    • Unlockable folding blades of less than 3 inches
    • Medicines and veterinary medicines, medicinal products, medicinal feeds and remedies of any type, including for example general sales list medicines, pharmacy only medicines, prescription only medicines, AVM–GSL medicines (Authorised Veterinary Medicine–General Sales List), NFA–VPS medicines (Non–Food Animal–Veterinarian, Pharmacist, Suitably Qualified Person) and POM–V medicines (Prescription Only Medicines–Veterinarian)
  • Any device, drug, vitamin, herbal product or other product which requires a doctor’s, optician’s or other health care provider’s prescription as a prerequisite for purchase or can only be stored, sold or shipped by a licensed health care provider
  • Elements of the human body and medical implants any products made of or containing parts of any regulated endangered plant or animal such as for example elephant ivory, coral, sea turtle shells, most reptile skins
  • Any product that contains other ingredients that are prohibited, restricted or regulated under applicable law
  • Sex and sensuality products
  • Products containing prohibited images of children and any other violent, offensive, obscene or sexual content that is unlawful in any of the countries to which Amazon enables your products to be sold
  • Loose gemstone products
  • Any product that is placed on the market in the EU without the consent of the relevant brand or trademark owner
  • Any product for which Seller either is not an “authorised reseller” (as designated by the product’s manufacturer or distributor), or does not provide to customers the manufacturer’s standard warranty
  • Any products that cannot be lawfully shipped to or sold in the U.K. or any other country to which Amazon enables your products to be shipped
  • Any product that is subject to export licenses, declaration or authorisation when shipped to any country to which Amazon enables your products to be shipped
  • Any other types of products that in Amazon’s discretion are not supported for sale through the Amazon.co.uk site pursuant to this Agreement; provided that an excluded product will cease to be an excluded product at such time as Amazon informs seller thereof
  • Gift cards, gift certificates and other stored value instruments
  • All video media (including, but not limited to, VHS, DVD and Blu-ray formats) unless, together with the casing in which it is packaged, it displays an age rating of U, PG, 12, 15 or 18 as determined by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) under the Video Recordings Act (VRA) 1984 for the specific video content included, unless that content is exempt from such a requirement under the VRA; and DVD, it uses region codes ‘0’, ‘2’ or ‘All’, or, if Blu-ray, it uses region code ‘B’ or is region-free
  • Any product that:
    • Is greater than 150cm in length or weighs more than 30kg or has a girth of more than 3 meters: girth = (2 x height) + (2 x width) + length
    • May result in a shipment that Amazon reasonably designates as requiring LTL carrier handling
    • Is a liquid item in packaging containing greater than 1 litre or not having secure, sturdy closures that can withstand the stress of direct to customer fulfilment

If you have looked into FBA and are thinking of taking the next step, choose a shipping company who have previously worked with Amazon and understand their booking and delivery processes to get your products to an Amazon Fulfillment Centre.