Amazon sellers in the dietary supplement space beware – the requirements surrounding this category have just become much stricter. It’s important to understand what is now required, what you can expect, and the costs involved.
Amazon's New Dietary Supplement Policy and Requirements:
Amazon has rolled out new requirements for dietary supplements. Previously, sellers could provide Amazon with their existing 3rd party lab testing, but this is no longer the case. Now, sellers must request a 3rd party lab test from one of Amazon’s partnered providers.
Sellers need to keep a close eye on their Manage Your Compliance (MYC) dashboard and Performance Notifications to ensure you are acting on these requirements as soon as possible, to prevent the detail page from being removed (and avoiding a disruption in sales).
The dietary supplements category encompasses quite a large range of different products – such as protein powders, pill supplements/vitamins, ingestible oils, electrolytes, etc. If your product falls under the dietary supplement category, you must act quickly when your ASIN appears under the MYC dashboard.
Preparing for the Changes to Amazon's Dietary Supplement Policy:
Sellers should start preparing now by determining which products in their catalog will become impacted, and proactively be on the lookout for their ASINs to appear under their MYC dashboard.
The associated cost varies depending on your specific product type as well as the Amazon-partnered 3rd party provider you choose to go with. Amazon made it clear that the seller will be responsible for all associated costs. It’s also important to note that these requirements are not a “one and done” scenario – this will be a yearly requirement for sellers in the dietary supplement space from now on.
Responding to a Dietary Supplement Manage Your Compliance Request:
To respond to a dietary supplement compliance request in Seller Central, navigate to the Manage Your Compliance (MYC) page by using the menu on the left-hand side of the page, hovering over Performance – and choosing “Account Health”. From there, on the right-hand side of the page at the bottom, click “Product Compliance Requests”.
It’s reasonable to predict that this is only the beginning of a “testing” phase of sorts and that Amazon will likely begin to phase this out to all categories that require lab testing from 3rd parties. This is because Amazon wants to ensure the health and safety of all shoppers using their platform – requiring sellers to maintain adequate 3rd party lab testing proving their product is up to date with all applicable laws and regulations.
If you're a client looking for more information, contact your Account Team! If you’re interested in learning more about how Blue Wheel can aid in your brand efforts in online marketplaces, schedule a consultation with our team, we would love to hear from you.