Caught in an endless nightmare of trying to post an Amazon listing only for it to never show up in your inventory? It’s a frustrating situation that doesn’t seem to have a solution, but there’s a reason why Amazon may have an issue with your listing.
When posting a new listing on Amazon, sellers have to fill out essential information to build their listing page and sell their product. This includes Product ID (such as a GTIN, UPC, EAN, ASIN, etc), Product Description, Images, Shipping details and more.
If your listing isn’t showing up in your inventory or it isn’t active, there may be an issue with the information you provided. The problem is, it can be difficult to pinpoint why the listing isn’t being accepted. What a headache!
Unsure why your new Amazon listing isn’t showing up? This guide will help you figure out the issue is so you can get back on track to selling on Amazon.
See more:
- How to find your Amazon Product ID for new product listings
- Amazon Individual vs. Professional Seller Account: Which should you choose?
Why is my Amazon listing now showing up in my inventory?
After putting in all your product information and hitting Save and finish, Amazon states that it could take up to 30 minutes to process the listing before it appears in your inventory.
Usually, this process only take a few minutes. If you still can’t see you listing, there is likely an issue you need to address.
Before you go back into your listing and repeating the process, you’ll have better luck seeing what the issue is. To do that, follow the steps below.
1. On your Amazon Seller Central homepage, click the Menu icon in the top-left corner.
2. In Catalog, click on Complete Your Drafts.
3. Next to the draft listing you want to make active, see the Issue Description to find out the problem with this listing.
There are a number of reasons why Amazon can’t approve of your listing. For example, the issue may be that the product data you provided is not eligible for ASIN creation – like the issue below.
Other issues include not having the right product ID (GTIN) for your product, as it does not match the brand that it is attached to. Or, you may have a faulty GTIN if you haven’t enrolled in the official provider website, gs1.org. If you’re wondering what a GTIN is and how to get one, we’ve got you covered.
As for other issues, you may encounter the following:
- You cannot create new ASINs because your account was used to create duplicate listings or your account was in connection with other Amazon policy violations
- You cannot create new ASINs for your brand
- The value “xx” specified cannot be used as it conflicts with the value “yy” for ASIN “zz” in the Amazon catalog
- You are using UPCs, EANs, ISBNs, ASINs or JAN codes that do no match the products you are trying to list
- You cannot create new variation relationships for this brand
- You cannot submit listings temporarily (creating new offers or new ASINs) because an unusually high number of listings were created for you account
- The main image that has been submitted shows a product that is different that the product represented by the ASIN’s existing main image
- Generics error
Once you know what the issue is, you can click Edit draft to see if you can fix the error yourself.
However, if the issue persists and you have no idea why, you can get in contact with Amazon Seller Support to help you out. You can also try starting fresh; create a new listing from scratch and see if it was a technical error you missed (this is how I fixed an issue I was having).
Why is my Amazon listing now showing up in search results?
For sellers that have past the draft listing stage and can see their product in their inventory, good job! However, you may be wondering why the listing isn’t active – meaning customers can’t search for it on Amazon.com.
Using a similar method above, you can see what the issue is by heading to Catalog > Complete Your Drafts.
1. On your Amazon Seller Central homepage, click the Menu icon in the top-left corner.
2. In Catalog, click on Complete Your Drafts.
3. If not shown by default, click Completed with Issues in the left-hand sidebar under Display.
This page will tell you the reason behind your listing being inactive and the issue that needs to be fixed.
Your listing could be marked as inactive for a several reason. However, it may also not be showing up because it isn’t performing well due to keywords or images. Improving these can help boost your rank on Amazon, so be sure to check out how to find the best keywords to boost your Amazon sales.
Otherwise, here’s a few reasons why your listing may not be active:
- Inventory is out of stock
For seller that use Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) rather than Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM), the inventory stored at the Amazon fulfillment center may be out of stock. If this is the case, you can click Restock on the Complete Your Drafts page or go to Inventory > Manage All Inventory to see if you need to restock. - Inactive account
Amazon can mark a seller account as inactive if the user activates holiday settings or violates certain policies. If it is, then all the listings associated with the account will be inactive. To make sure everything is up to scratch, head to Settings > Account Info and make sure the account is active. - Suppressed listing
A suppressed listing indicates that a product listing doesn’t fit into Amazon’s style standards. This could be due to inaccurate information or details that have yet to be filled in. For example, the listing doesn’t have at least one main image or any product description. To fix this, go through the listing by selecting Manage Inventory > Suppressed if it’s present. Go through the listing and fill in any missing details.
