Sell Your Home Decor Products Listed on Amazon.com

Amazon.com has evolved greatly since its inception in 1994 as an online bookstore. Today it is robust marketplace with over 300 million active users completing more than 2 billion transactions per year. The company continues to roll out new products and services, including Amazon Prime, which now has over 50 million subscribers, original entertainment programming and even proprietary technology.

With over 170 million unique visitors to the site every month, Amazon provides an unparalleled opportunity to small businesses, manufacturers and suppliers looking to expand their brand and sell their products online. Business owners and managers may have the impression that the website allows just about anyone to sell just about anything, but that is not the case. While it is true that an individual can sell items on the platform, there are guidelines, rules, and expectations that all prospective sellers need to know in order to list items successfully.

Becoming a Home Decor Seller
Home decor products are among the categories of items that individuals and businesses are permitted to sell, which is a pretty lengthy list. After all, the company's mission statement explains they want to "be a place where people can... discover anything they might want to buy online." However, sellers cannot simply post anything they want when creating a listing.
There are strict guidelines for how to post items:

  • Categorize it correctly.
  • Title it according to Amazon's style and format.
  • Uphold the General Condition Guidelines.
  • Avoid prohibited seller actions.

These rules and expectations don't only serve to uphold the integrity of the site; they also increase the chances your products will sell.

Categorize Your Products Correctly
The first step is to verify that you are listing your home decor products in the Home & Garden category under the Furniture & Decor subcategory.

Title Items According to Amazon's Style and Format Guidelines
Amazon feels that you should be able to sell your home decor products listed on Amazon.com purely off of the title alone. Of course, pictures and detailed descriptions will close the deal, but the point is that the title has to be very well-written in order to lure the customer to your offering.

Use the following guidelines when creating your product titles:

  • The format should be: "brand + material + product type + model + size/style + quantity + color"
  • Capitalize the first letter of each word.
  • Use numerals instead of writing out numbers (ex. "7").
  • Spell out measurements with the full word (ex. "inches").
  • Only provide critical information and keep it under 200 characters.

The title is vital because it is used for more than just communicating information to customers. Amazon also uses the information in your product titles to ensure your items are listed in the correct section of the website and to filter customer search results. If you fail to title your listings correctly, customers will have a tough time locating them and Amazon may even remove them from the marketplace.

Uphold the General Conditions Guidelines
The overall guiding principle to keep in mind when attempting to sell your home decor products listed on Amazon.com is to be honest when assessing the quality and condition of your products. That is the theme that applies to all of the more specific expectations set forth below:

  • The item must be in good working condition.
  • It must also be clean and free of all mold, corrosion or heavy staining.
  • Do not list anything that requires repairs, is damaged, or is missing major pieces.
  • Avoid listing any products on Amazon's restricted item list.

If you are a business owner selling new items you should not come across most of these restrictions, but make sure you keep the standards in mind every time you list something.

Familiarize Yourself with the Home & Garden Category Conditions
The Home & Garden category only has one feature that is different than the site-wide standards. You can use "Refurbished" as a condition description for these items, but it can only be used when an item has been professionally restored. It is a good idea to have the item inspected to ensure it meets manufacturer specifications in situations where you are unsure whether you should select refurbished as the condition.

Avoid All Prohibited Actions
The quickest way to have your account or products restricted from the site is to perform a prohibited action. Don' do anything dishonest and follow the rules described below:

  • Never send inappropriate emails with language or tone that is not are acceptable in a traditional business environment.
  • Do not provide personal or business email addresses outside of the system-generated email addresses.
  • Signing up for more than one seller account can cause all of your accounts to be closed or suspended.
  • Don't attempt to divert sales from another Amazon seller or mislead customers.
  • Misuse of the Amazon site features, like: ratings, reviews, sales ranks, and guarantees, is not allowed.
  • Participating in price manipulation with other sellers is also explicitly prohibited.

The prohibited actions serve to reinforce the overall guiding principle mentioned earlier in this article. As long as you display honesty and integrity when you sell your home decor products listed on Amazon.com you should be able to find success on the marketplace.

As Amazon.com continues to grow and diversify their products and services, they are only going to gain more visitors and expose your products to more people. Your business can grow alongside them if you take advantage of the opportunity and abide by their expectations and guidelines.