Safety isn’t a dirty word. And, needless to say, Amazon takes it seriously. That’s why it has a Dangerous Goods policy, often referred to as “Amazon HazMat” by merchants. And they take time to make sure that goods sold on their marketplace are safe for shoppers and comply with the necessary laws around the world. That means they have a process to check and assess goods being sold.
The Dangerous Goods, HazMat (hazardous matter), verification process covers a great deal of goods that might be sold as either a private label or FBA item on Amazon. You can find the full list here: Examples of Amazon products that may be regulated as dangerous goods.
Here’s a flavour of the various goods that need to be checked and assessed: hair removal solutions and treatments, self-tanning lotions and sprays, household batteries and battery chargers, dishwashing liquids and powders, laundry detergents, aquarium water treatments and test kits and (yes indeed) Christmas crackers. (That sounds like a fun job. – Ed.) But for a comprehensive list, check out the link above.
How long does this approval process take? Amazon says:
Each ASIN converted to “Fulfilled by Amazon” is reviewed by the Product Compliance team within 4 business days. If the dangerous goods information is complete and correct, we will complete the review and categorize your product within that time frame.
– Amazon Help page
But we’ve heard from several sellers, who have been in touch directly or been chatting on various online forums including Facebook, saying that Amazon Hazmat assessments have been taking more than a week and longer to come through. What’s not clear from the merchants complaining is whether they have provided the relevant paperwork requested on the help page quoted above.
The Amazon HazMat regulations exist for entirely noble reasons and doubtless we would all agree that we want goods sold to be safe for use and fit for purpose. And surely we’re all also in agreement that Amazon has a duty of care there that we support. But it is frustrating for merchants that the Amazon marketplace isn’t reportedly meeting its four working day commitment to verify goods in some instances. You want to get selling ASAP and doubtless Amazon wants that too. Have you been affected?
One Response
This procedure is becoming a joke!
We have had a product under Hazmat review for 9 weeks now. We sell a smaller size variation of the same product and have done for over a year. The smaller size went through the Hazmat process last year and went through within 4 days. It has the same MSDS as it is the same product, but for some reason this bigger size is proving difficult to get approved.
All Amazon keep telling us is that the MSDS is not filled out properly and doesn’t contain all of the relevant information (which it does) but they can’t tell us what information it doesn’t include.
Needless to say, we have been banging our heads against the wall for since the start of the year!