Mark this one as developing. Amazon has sent out e-mails to sellers of a number of Apple products’ ASIN’s, that come 2 June, they will no longer be permitted to sell them without manufacturer (Apple) approval.
On Twitter, Josh Lucas shared the news, and was kind enough to share the e-mail he received:
Apple Products being restricted
For now, it looks like the products are limited. The two ASIN’s in that e-mail are the Apple iPad Pro Smart Keyboard, and an Apple MacBook Pro (and in fact, some MacBook and MacBook Air products have been restricted for a while). I’ve also seen reports that the Apple Pencil is also restricted.
But wait, there’s more news about Apple Products on Amazon
As if the above news was not bad enough, Amazon seems to be doing an audit of UPC’s and associated identifying numbers. Also shared by Josh:
UPC Issue for Apple Products
This product is again, an Apple MacBook, but I’ve also seen other products, including Apple Watch listings with a similar warning that the UPC, EAN, ASIN or JAN code doesn’t match the actual product. Some of it, seems to be derived from where you purchased the Apple products from–Apple has different model numbers for different countries. I ran into this issue a while back when I was reselling iPhones and the most popular listing was associated with the UK version, vs. the US. It took many messages back and forth with Amazon to get that clarified.
What does this all mean?
First, it is another reminder to always verify that you can list and ship a product before buying. Second, make sure that when you buy a product, it is really the product you intended to buy, and are listing under. I’ve had a couple of times, where I’ve bought stuff off of eBay and it came with a different product code, and this is not just for Apple products! One of those issues was a Cuisinart Griddler that came with a French product code (ended with FR), so be wary. The last thing I would offer is this: Don’t rely too heavily on reselling Apple products! There has been a lot of discussion over the past few months, that the margins are just not where they used to be, but they usually sell really fast, and the return rate is quite low/non-existant (at least not in my experience). But the fact remains, it is important to diversify.
I got the same email for B00VJ1P7TS. Do you have any advice? Remove the item and relist? Even though Amazon said they removed my listing, I still see my listing as for now.
@Raulf – Are you certain the product code / UPC is correctly reflected (e.g. same info on package was same as is online?) If so, and you’re still showing – I personally would drop the price so I could get it sold and be done with it. Alternatively, you could try relisting, but I’d verify that its not going to get restricted (I’d hate to pull something back to find out I can’t relist it).
I did not record the product code/UPC. The only way to verify is to have it send back to me. I would just lower my price to sell quickly as you said. Thank you.
In a way, this is a relief. Now I won’t be tempted to buy Apple products with a good ROI, and then watch as idiots drop the price by $100 or more dollars so they can quickly pay their maxed out CCs.
There certainly are enough other items to sell on Amazon…