Selling on Amazon is almost essential for every eCommerce site that wants to grow and survive in the long run. At this age, when even brick and mortar stores are creating their product listing on Amazon, it is not an option for an eCommerce site owner to miss out on this channel. But while selling personally manufactured products, either you need to register your Brand or you need to fill in the standard product ID in form of UPC, EAN, JAN or ISBN. So, here are some GTIN exemption cases that can help.
Case 1: The brand or manufacturer hasn’t provided GTIN
If you are selling private label products or phantom brands, you may request for GTIN exemption to list your products on Amazon. You can also request GTIN exemption for handmade products too.
But, if you are selling products from these brands that require GTIN value on Amazon listing, don’t miss to fill them in.
Case 2: Selling parts that do not have GTIN
If you are selling products such as parts of automobiles or other machinery, you can request for GTIN exemption. You should only request for exemption of the products you are selling after thoroughly checking whether the original manufacturer has provided the GTIN or not.
Case 3: Non-branded products that do not have GTIN
If you are selling the products that do not have GTIN, you can request for GTIN exemption. Mostly if you are selling wholesale products then you can request for GTIN exemption while listing your products on Amazon.
Case 4: Product bundles that do not have GTIN
If you are creating a bundle that does not have GTIN of products then you can apply for the GTIN exemption while listing on Amazon. But you need to make sure that you apply for the exemption before listing your products.
Also, while creating the bundle, you cannot declare your primary product as one of the BMVD products. The primary product should be the highest price and in case the highest value product is of BMVD category, your second highest priced product should be the primary product.
GTIN Exemption don’t apply for your products? Get your UPC codes here.
How can you request for GTIN exemption to sell products on Amazon?
In order to request for GTIN exemption while listing on Amazon, you will need to supply two documents:
1. Support letter from the Manufacturer
The criteria set by Amazon for the support letter requires some details. Such as:
- Clarity,
- Manufacturer/publisher’s (issuer’s) name and contact info,
- Seller’s physical address, and contact addresses.
But more importantly, the letter issuer should mention explicitly that they do not provide GTIN for the products that you’re selling on Amazon and the letter should be written in English language or the Marketplace that you are listing products. Like if you are listing for Amazon.it, the support letter should be written in English or Italian. Here’s the sample template for support letter from the Manufacturer.
2. Letting Amazon see the products
The most recommended way is to list your product images on your website and provide the link to Amazon. But if that is somehow not possible, you can upload the products to your Google Drive in publicly viewable settings and provide the link to Amazon. You can use any other publicly viewable image service to provide the product link.
After you have checked the details about if you can apply for GTIN exemption while listing on Amazon and gathered the necessary information and documents, you can apply for the Exemption here.
Please note that Amazon will provide a GTIN exemption on SKU level for around 50 products, but if you are applying for more than that, you may need to mention that you want to apply for the category or Brand level exemption.
Here’s how you can register your brand on Amazon. If you have any confusion relate to listing products without GTIN on Amazon marketplaces using ExportFeed, please feel free to contact our support team.
What if you can’t get the GTIN Exemption?
It is up to the Amazon whether you get an exemption for listing your products without the GTIN codes. So, there’s also a possibility that you may not be able to achieve that.
But, Amazon marketplaces offer so many benefits that you cannot skip this sales channel. When you don’t have the exemption and the GTIN codes, you may get stuck – better is to purchase the UPC codes.
When you are about to purchase the UPC codes, you need to make sure that they are legit and haven’t been used for other products. Along with that, as each of your product variations may require a different UPC, you need to strategically plan how many UPCs you need.
If you are concerned about the reliability and affordability, you can…
Thanks for all the info. GTIN exemption is actually necessary for local made products.