Amazon is delaying the requirement that sellers classify certain items as adult products. The new Amazon Adult Products policy change was set to take effect on November 15, 2021, and impacts wand massagers and kegel/ben wa balls, as we reported last month.
On November 7, Amazon said it would postpone implementation of the new policy until after the holidays.
“To support your business through the rest of the year, and give you more time to prepare for this change, we’ve postponed the effective date of the policy change to January 17, 2022 following which we will automatically classify wand massagers and kegel/ben wa balls as adult products,” Amazon announced.
The marketplace said sellers would not be required to take any action, as the reclassification would happen automatically when the policy takes effect.
In the meantime, however, items will only be available for sale and “discoverable” when customers search for them within their current listing category, explaining: “For example, if a kegel product is currently listed under the Health Care category, it will still be surfaced when customers search for this product within this category, but won’t be returned through general (all departments) search.”
Amazon said in its announcement it was making the change for consistency:
“Historically, we have classified over 85% of products in these two categories as adult products. This policy update extends that to all products so we are consistent in how these two categories are classified in our store, and ensures that these products (regardless of whether they are for medical use or not) are not surfaced to children or other unintended audiences who are not looking to buy these products.”
