Hazmat Products

Some products are classified as dangerous goods, which Amazon calls hazmat. They are subject to separate rules, and a hazmat item that reaches a fulfilment centre without approval can be blocked or destroyed. This lesson covers what counts, why beginners should leave it alone, and the three routes to selling it if you do not.

What counts as hazmat

A hazmat product is one that contains or is made of a substance considered a risk to health, safety, property or the environment. The category is much wider than the name suggests, and that is the reason it catches people out. It includes:

• Anything with lithium batteries, including a device that merely takes them.
• Aerosols and pressurised containers.
• Flammable liquids: nail varnish, some cleaning products, perfume, lighter fuel.
• Corrosives, and many cleaning chemicals.
• Strong magnets.
• Products that are simply flagged as hazmat because a related version of them contains something restricted.

Ordinary supermarket items appear on that list. A perfectly normal-looking product can be classified as dangerous goods.

Why to avoid it while you are new

The lesson gives a specific reason, and it is one worth taking seriously. Applying for hazmat approval brings Amazon staff to look at your account. If anything else about the account is untidy, an application that would have been routine becomes the moment a different problem is noticed.

So the sequence is: get the account established, keep the health metrics clean, learn what you are doing, and only then approach dangerous goods. There is plenty to sell in the meantime.

Route one: sell it yourself

Nothing prevents you selling a hazmat item as fulfilled by merchant. Amazon's restriction is on holding the item in its own warehouses; it is not a ban on the product existing on the marketplace.

What that means for you:

• You store the stock and you pack and post every order.
• You are responsible for correct dangerous goods labelling on the package.
• Your courier has to accept the item. Many carriers will not take aerosols, flammable liquids or loose lithium batteries at all, and those that do have their own paperwork. Confirm this before buying stock, not after.
• You lose the Prime badge and the delivery speed advantage, which weakens your position on the Buy Box.

Route two: join the FBA Dangerous Goods programme

Amazon runs a programme that permits approved sellers to send dangerous goods into FBA. It has historically operated with a waiting list, so applying is something to do in advance of needing it rather than when a deal appears.

To apply, search Seller Central Help for "Dangerous Goods programme", or find the page through a search engine and follow the link into your account. Select the Dangerous Goods option, continue, and use the application link at the foot of the page. Amazon opens a case and normally replies immediately to confirm you are on the list. After that it is a matter of watching your notifications. The wait is not predictable.

Route three: an exemption sheet

This is the route most often relevant, because many products are flagged as hazmat without actually containing anything hazardous. A common example is a device sold without the batteries it can take: the listing is flagged, the item in the box is inert.

Amazon provides two spreadsheets for this, downloadable from the dangerous goods identification page in Seller Central Help. Scroll to the bottom of that page and the links are in the right-hand sidebar. The upload link is at the top of the same page.

• The battery exemption sheet. For products powered by batteries, containing them, or being batteries. You enter your name, the ASIN, the product title, and whether the product actually contains a battery. If it does, you specify the chemistry.
• The general exemption sheet. For products flagged as hazmat that contain nothing harmful. This one asks more: the type of hazard claimed, the ASIN and title, whether the product contains magnets and their strength, the ingredients, and whether it contains compressed gas. For an aerosol the last answer is yes, which tells you the sheet is not going to help in that case.

Both files have an Instructions tab, and it is worth reading before filling anything in. It explains each field, and the sheets are rejected for formatting mistakes as readily as for substance.

Fill the sheet in, upload it, and wait for the review.

The practical summary

1. Check the hazmat status of a product before buying it. The Seller app and the listing will tell you.
2. While your account is new, skip these products entirely.
3. If a product is flagged but genuinely harmless, the exemption sheet is the quickest route and often works.
4. If it is genuinely dangerous, either sell it yourself with a carrier that accepts it, or get on the Dangerous Goods waiting list well before you need it.