With April fast approaching, it’s an appropriate time to talk about meltable products and the policies, management, and other requirements around this subject.
Perhaps you’re wondering if you’ve got a product that might melt under certain temperatures, yet the product you have sells well, and you want to continue selling it past April.
Do you know how your product fits into Amazon’s meltable products policy? What happens if your product does melt? How do you know if your product is considered meltable?
Let’s dive into the answers to these questions.
Amazon FBA Meltable Policy
Let’s start with the rules as stated by Amazon:
“FBA accepts meltable products from October 16 to April 14 only. Meltable inventory stored or arriving at our fulfillment centers from April 15 to October 15 is marked unfulfillable and disposed of for a fee.”
If you want Amazon to handle your order fulfillment for your meltable products, the date range where Amazon will accept your meltable products is October 16th through April 14th.
That means after April 15th and before October 15th, you’re not able to send anything to Amazon FBA that’s meltable, since Amazon can’t guarantee low enough temperatures to properly maintain your product during those months.
If you have any remaining meltable inventory as we get closer to April 14th, you should consider recalling it before the target date range. If you don’t remove it by that date, Amazon’s policy is to dispose of any goods remaining in Amazon warehouses that are meltable, and they’ll charge you a fee based on the amount of your remaining inventory.
What Heat Do These Meltable Items Have to Endure?
First of all, it’s important to understand that Amazon FBA warehouses can get hot.
This temperature range they state products should be able to withstand is between 75 to 155 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s why items that we know will melt need to be out of these warehouses by the stated date of April 15th.
What Products Are Considered Meltable?
According to Amazon, any item that cannot withstand temperatures up to 155 degrees Fahrenheit is deemed meltable. If this describes your product, it can’t be sent to FBA during the time frame outlined above.
Such products can include anything that’s prone to melting, such as:
- Gummies
- Chocolate
- Candles or other wax-based products
- Jelly-based products
- Makeup like mascara, eyeliner, foundation, and lipstick
Amazon maintains a list of products they believe are meltable, which you can find here if you have an active Seller Central account. The list is over 400,000 lines long, so there are lots of products Amazon considers meltable.
If you think your product may be considered meltable, I recommend searching the list to see if there’s a match. You don’t want to incur the cost of sending and then removing your product because you didn’t check to see if it’s meltable.
If your product is not on the list, you’re good to sell it all year long.
If you need to remove your product from Amazon’s warehouse, see this post for how to place a removal order.
What Happens if I Believe My Item Is Not Meltable?
So, you know your product can withstand 155 degrees, but Amazon still flags it as a meltable item. Since you know this isn’t true, how do you convince Amazon to accept your product between April 15th and October 15th?
Well, the good news is that you can have them reevaluate your product. These are the steps Amazon advises you to take:
“Note: If you believe your product should be exempt from the meltable category, send a letter from the manufacturer to Selling Partner Support. The letter must be written on manufacturer letterhead, and must include the following information:”
- Specific products and/or ASINs
- Explicit confirmation that the ASIN or ASINs can be stored at a maximum temperature of 155 degrees Fahrenheit for extended periods
- Point of contact for verification
What is Not Included in the Meltable Products Policy?
You may be wondering if this policy is related to foodstuffs or similar products. However, this policy only concerns meltable items sold via Amazon FBA.
For other foods that are spoilable, or perishable, those cannot be sold through Amazon FBA, ever. Perishables are fresh foods, meats, fruits, vegetables and the like.
Along with perishable products, any product requiring refrigeration, air conditioning, or freezing are also prohibited to be sold through FBA.
This measure is in place as Amazon doesn’t have any form of cooling or refrigeration storage for these types of products, so it would be the equivalent of these products staying outside in the open air until they become spoiled.
Amazon FBA Rules Protect You and Your Customers
When you decide to use Amazon FBA, you may think that the rules are a bit more restrictive than you first imagined – such as for meltable products.
However, understand that the rules are in place to manage the needs of Amazon and its thousands of sellers on its marketplaces.
Keep in mind that Amazon hasn’t outright banned meltable goods from Amazon FBA, they’ve just decided this is the best balance between the needs of those that sell through Amazon FBA and their customer base.
Customers rightly expect to get their products in working (or edible) condition, without any concerns of the product melting, staining, or breaking another product within the same shipment.
Could You Dominate the Amazon FBA Meltable Market?
Quite often, the harder a product is to sell, the fewer competitors it has, and the more profitable it can be. So, where many sellers will avoid selling products on the meltable list, perhaps this is where you can capitalize on seeing opportunity in the effort it takes to manage meltable products.
Whatever you think, the products you can choose to sell through Amazon FBA are varied, and you should explore all aspects of a product to determine if selling it is right for your business.
Want to read about how my Amazon business has evolved since I started selling in 2015? Check out this post.