How to Sell Adult Products on Amazon?

Thinking about expanding your product line to include adult items on Amazon? It’s not that you can’t, but it’s crucial to proceed with caution! Selling sex toys and other adult products (18+) on Amazon can be a tricky area. Some experts suggest steering clear of this category, while others argue it’s not as problematic as it seems.

However, be aware that many sellers have already had their accounts suspended for selling adult products. Amazon has strict guidelines and policies regarding these items, and violating them can lead to serious consequences. So, what should you do? How can you successfully navigate this market without risking your account? 

Understanding Amazon’s rules, carefully selecting your products, and ensuring your listings comply with all regulations are key steps. So, let’s know in detail how to sell adult products on Amazon successfully while staying within the boundaries.

Can You Sell Adult Products on Amazon?

A Big Yes! You can sell adult products on Amazon, but there are strict guidelines and restrictions in place. Here are the key points:

To sell adult products on Amazon, you need approval and must list them under the Health & Personal Care > Sexual Wellness category. This usually requires a Professional Seller account. Some examples of permitted adult products include novelty items, sexual wellness products, lingerie, and sex toys listed by pre-approved sellers. 

Furthermore, amazon prohibits the sale of explicit pornography, X-rated content, products with nudity or graphic sexual content, and anything promoting non-consensual sex or exploiting minors. 

To list adult products, you must:

• Set the “IS_ADULT_PRODUCT” flag to TRUE in your product feed. 
• Use clinical, objective descriptions without profanity or graphic language. 
• Package products discreetly in opaque, sealed packaging without nudity or suggestive images. 
• Comply with all applicable laws and Amazon’s policies on adult products.

Moreover, staying updated on policy changes is crucial to maintain compliance. Frequently review Amazon’s seller guidelines and policy updates, and subscribe to Amazon’s seller newsletters and forums for the latest information. 

Why Sell Adult Products on Amazon?

Selling adult products on Amazon can be appealing for several reasons:

• High Traffic

Amazon is among the busiest online marketplaces globally, with approximately 105 million visitors per day. Selling adult products on Amazon gives you access to this massive pool of potential customers, increasing your visibility and sales opportunities.

• Trusted Platform 

Amazon is a trusted and well-established online marketplace. Customers feel comfortable making purchases on Amazon due to its reputation for reliability and customer service. As a seller, you benefit from this trust, leading to increased sales and credibility.

• Fulfillment Options

Amazon offers fulfillment services like FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon), where they handle storage, packaging, and shipping of your products. This can save you time and effort, allowing you to focus on other aspects of your business.

• Visibility and Exposure

Listing your adult products on Amazon gives them visibility to a wide range of potential buyers. With the right optimization and marketing strategies, you can increase the visibility of your products and attract more customers.

• Potential for Growth

The adult products market is continuously growing, with increasing demand for a variety of items. Business Research Insights says the market was worth USD 43.566 billion in 2021. By 2031, it’s expected to skyrocket to USD 219.23 billion, growing at an impressive 15.5% per year.

Overall, selling adult products on Amazon provides an opportunity to reach a large audience, leverage a trusted platform, and capitalize on the growth of the adult industry.

How to Sell Adult Products on Amazon?

Selling adult products on Amazon requires careful planning and adherence to specific guidelines. Here’s a step-by-step guide to get you started:

Step 1: Setting Up Your Amazon Seller Account 

Before you can start selling adult products on Amazon, you’ll need to create a seller account. Here’s a checklist of what you need:

• Email ID 
• Active Mobile Number
• GST Number or PAN Details
• Active Bank Account
• Preferred Payment Method

And review and agree to Amazon’s terms and conditions for sellers.

Choosing the Right Seller Plan

Amazon offers two main seller plans: Individual and Professional. 

1. Individual Seller Plan

Individual sellers pay a flat $0.99 for each sales transaction, instead of a monthly subscription fee.

These fees are deducted only after a sale is made on Amazon. The amount is subtracted from your Amazon account balance. You do not have to pay the fee upfront.

2. Professional Seller Plan

Professional sellers pay a monthly subscription fee of $39.99 instead of a fee per product sold.

Like the fees an individual seller pays, subscription fees are taken from your Amazon account balance. If you don’t have funds in your account, the amount is deducted from your credit card.

Choose the plan that best fits your business needs and expected sales volume. Once you have set up and verified your Amazon seller account, you can move on to sourcing and listing your adult products.

Completing Account Verification & Documentation

Amazon may require additional verification and documentation to confirm your identity and business details. This may include providing government-issued identification, business registration documents, and bank account information.

Ensure you have all necessary documents ready and follow Amazon’s instructions for account verification carefully.

Once your account is set up and verified, you’re ready to move on to the next steps of selling adult products on Amazon.

Step 2: Product Sourcing and Quality Assurance

Once your Amazon seller account is set up, the next crucial step is sourcing high-quality adult products and ensuring they meet safety and compliance standards.

Selecting Reliable Suppliers

Look for suppliers with a solid reputation for quality and reliability. You can find suppliers through online directories, trade shows, and industry networks.

Check the credentials and certifications of potential suppliers. Ensure they have experience in manufacturing adult products and comply with industry standards.

Before committing to a supplier, request product samples. This allows you to evaluate the quality of their products firsthand.

Look for reviews and testimonials from other businesses that have worked with the supplier. Contact references to get feedback on their experiences.

Ensuring Compliance with Safety Standards

Familiarize yourself with the safety standards and regulations for adult products in your target market. This includes materials, labeling, and packaging requirements.

Ensure your suppliers adhere to these safety standards. Request documentation and certifications that confirm compliance with relevant regulations.

Make sure your products are properly labeled with all necessary information, including safety warnings and age restrictions. Packaging should be discreet and secure.

Conducting Quality Control Checks

Define clear quality standards for your products. This includes material quality, functionality, and overall appearance.

Conduct regular quality control inspections on your products. This can be done in-house or through third-party inspection services.

Test the products to ensure they function as intended and meet safety standards. This is especially important for electronic or mechanical adult products.

Pay attention to customer reviews and feedback. Address any quality issues promptly and work with your supplier to resolve them.

By carefully selecting reliable suppliers, ensuring compliance with safety standards, and conducting thorough quality control checks, you can provide high-quality adult products that meet customer expectations and regulatory requirements.

Step 3: Listing and Optimizing Your Products

Now that you have sourced high-quality products and ensured they meet safety standards, it’s time to list and optimize them on Amazon to attract customers and boost sales.

Creating Compelling Product Listings

• Product Title

Create clear, descriptive, and keyword-rich titles for your products. Include important details like brand, product type, and key features.

{Brand} + {Product Name} + {Items Per Unit} & {Product Volume (in g, ml)}

• Product Description

Write detailed and engaging product descriptions. Highlight the benefits, features, and usage instructions of the product. Ensure the language is clear and caters to your target audience.

• Bullet Points

Use bullet points to list key features and benefits. This makes it easy for customers to quickly understand the product’s main attributes.Use relevant keywords throughout your listing to improve search ranking and attract the right audience.

Uploading High-Quality Images and Videos

Visuals are crucial for selling adult products. Upload high-quality images that showcase your products from various angles and highlight key features. Consider including demonstration videos to provide a better understanding of how the products work and enhance customer confidence.

Setting Competitive Prices and Managing Inventory

Research competitors’ prices to set competitive prices for your adult products. Consider factors such as production costs, shipping fees, and Amazon’s selling fees when determining your pricing strategy. 

Use inventory management tools to track stock levels and ensure you have enough inventory to meet customer demand without overstocking.

Set up automated alerts and reorder points to replenish stock as needed and ensure a steady supply of your adult products.

By following these steps and optimizing your adult product listings on Amazon, you can increase visibility, attract more customers, and drive sales effectively.

Step 4: Fulfillment and Shipping Adult Products

Once your adult products are listed on Amazon, it’s crucial to handle fulfillment and shipping efficiently to ensure customer satisfaction and maintain your business’s reputation.

Choosing Fulfillment Options: FBA vs. FBM

• Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)

With FBA, you send your adult products to an Amazon Fulfillment Center where they are stored, packed, and shipped to customers upon order placement. Amazon handles the entire fulfillment process, ensuring timely delivery and optimized distribution.

• Fulfilled by Merchant (FBM)

With FBM, you maintain inventory, pack, and ship orders to customers yourself. This method gives you more control over the fulfillment process but requires you to handle storage, packing, and shipping logistics.

Packaging Adult Products Safely and Discreetly

Adult products must be packaged using black, opaque poly bagging or shrink wrap to maintain discretion and comply with Amazon’s guidelines. Proper packaging is crucial to ensure products are received in perfect condition and provide a positive shopping experience for customers.

Ensure that packaging is secure, discreet, and meets Amazon’s specific requirements to prevent damage during transit and maintain customer satisfaction.

Managing Shipping and Delivery Processes

Ensure smooth shipping and delivery processes by providing excellent customer service. Address any shipping-related inquiries promptly and handle any shipping issues professionally to maintain customer satisfaction.

Step 5: Marketing and Promoting Adult Products

Once your adult products are listed and ready to sell on Amazon, it’s time to focus on marketing and promotion to attract customers and boost sales. Here’s how you can effectively market your adult products:

• Sponsored Products

These are pay-per-click ads that appear in search results and on product pages. You can target specific keywords related to your adult products to reach potential customers.

Here’s how amazon sponsored products ads work:

Targeting Options

• Automatic Targeting

Amazon’s system uses your product listing information to automatically target relevant keywords and products. This hands-off approach lets Amazon handle the targeting for you.

• Manual Targeting

 You select specific keywords or product targets (ASINs) for your ads to show. This method offers more control but requires you to conduct keyword and product research.

Bidding and Cost

As mentioned earlier, they use a cost-per-click (CPC) pricing model, so you pay only when someone clicks on your ad.

You set the maximum bid amount you’re willing to pay per click for each keyword or product target. Higher bids increase the likelihood of your ad appearing in prominent placements like the top of search results.

Ad Placements

Sponsored Products ads can appear in various ad zones on Amazon: 

• At the top, middle, bottom, and sides of search results pages.
• Product detail pages feature 8 distinct ad zones where ads can be displayed.
• In the cart area and highly-rated products section.
• On third-party websites and apps through Amazon’s advertising network (as of 2023).

By using Sponsored Products ads, sellers can enhance product visibility in Amazon’s search results, attract qualified traffic to product listings, and ultimately boost sales.

• Sponsored Brands

These are ads that feature your brand logo, a custom headline, and a selection of your adult products. 

These ads appear in prime locations on Amazon, including the top of search results pages, within search results, and on product detail pages.There are 3 ad format options: Product Collection, Store Spotlight, and Video ads.

Here’s how Amazon-sponsored brands ads work:

Targeting and Bidding

Sponsored Brands ads use keyword targeting, similar to Sponsored Products ads, where you bid on relevant keywords.

Ad Destinations

• Product Collection ads direct clicks to a custom Amazon landing page featuring the products in your ad.
• Store Spotlight ads drive traffic to your Amazon Brand Store.
• Video ads can direct clicks to a specific product detail page.

Benefits

• Increased brand visibility and awareness at the top of search results.
• Ability to create a branded shopping experience without competitor ads.
• Access to performance metrics like “new-to-brand” to measure new customer acquisition.

Off-Amazon Marketing Tactics

• Social Media Promotion Strategies

Use social media platforms such as Instagram, X (Twitter), and Facebook to promote your adult products. Create engaging content, share product images and videos, and interact with your audience to build brand awareness and drive traffic to your Amazon listings.

• Influencer Marketing in the Adult Industry

Collaborate with influencers in the adult industry to promote your products to their followers. Identify influencers whose audience aligns with your target market, and partner with them to create sponsored content, reviews, or giveaways that showcase your products.

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Step 6: Customer Reviews for Adult Products

Customer reviews are key when it comes to selling adult products on Amazon. Here’s why it matters and how to do it right:

Why Customer Review Matters?

Customer reviews are super important on Amazon. They help customers decide what to buy and how satisfied they are with their purchases.

Good customer reviews not only keeps customers happy but also boosts your seller ranking on Amazon. This means more people will see your products, leading to more sales.

Tips for Getting Great Customer Reviews

• Answer customer questions and messages quickly. Nobody likes waiting!
• Give clear and accurate info about your products. Make sure customers know what they’re getting.
• Always be friendly and respectful in your communication with customers. A little kindness goes a long way.
• Have a clear return policy and process returns & refunds quickly and fairly.
• Check your seller metrics regularly to make sure you’re meeting Amazon’s standards for performance. This includes things like shipping times and customer satisfaction ratings.

Remember, happy customers lead to more sales and better rankings on Amazon. So, focus on getting top-notch customer reviews to boost your success selling adult products.

How Much Does It Cost to Sell Adult Products on Amazon?

When selling adult products on Amazon, there are several types of fees you need to consider. Let’s break them down:

• Referral Fees

Referral fees are what Amazon charges for each item you sell. For adult products, these fees can range from 6% to 45% of the total sales price.

There’s usually a minimum referral fee of $0.30 per item sold.

• Closing Fees

If you’re listing a lot of products (known as ASINs), Amazon might charge you a monthly fee of $0.005 per eligible ASIN. However, if you have fewer than 100,000 products listed, this fee is waived.

• Fulfillment Fees (FBA)

If you use Amazon’s FBA service, there are extra fees for storage, fulfillment, and other optional services.

Storage fees range from $0.69 to $2.40 per cubic foot per month. Fulfillment fees depend on the size and weight of the product, ranging from $2.41 to $137.32 per unit.

Furthermore, amazon also adds a 2% fee on products sold by third-party sellers who don’t use Amazon’s fulfillment services and ship their own products.

The total cost of selling adult products on Amazon depends on factors like the product category, how much you sell, how you fulfill orders, and any extra services you use.

It’s important to keep track of all these fees when deciding on prices and figuring out your profit margins. Checking Amazon’s fee schedule regularly will help you stay updated on the latest fees.

Now that you’ve learned about  how to sell adult products on Amazon and the many restrictions involved, you might be wondering if there’s a better way. Well, guess what? You can create your own website without all those restrictions and fees.

Why Create Your Own eCommerce Website Over Amazon?

Creating your own ecommerce website to sell adult products offers advantages over Amazon. You can choose to build it from scratch or use an adult ecommerce website script, which costs less than starting from scratch. This gives you control over branding, customization, and costs, leading to higher profits and stronger customer relationships.

Here’s a comparison of the benefits of creating your own website over using Amazon:

Overall, to enhance brand visibility and boost revenue, consider selling products on Amazon. With its high traffic and expansive reach, Amazon offers significant opportunities to increase sales and visibility. By leveraging its platform alongside your own marketplace, you can tap into a larger customer base and maximize your earning potential.

Keep in mind that building your own site requires an initial investment and ongoing maintenance, but for established adult brands, it’s often the better long-term choice. For those interested in starting an adult product business effortlessly, consider xMarketplace by Adent.io. It is an adult e-commerce website script with dropshipping API.

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Conclusion

So, now you have a solid grasp on the ins and outs of how to sell adult products on Amazon.  We’ve covered everything from navigating fees and restrictions to maximizing profits. But here’s the deal: if you want to take your adult e-commerce game to the next level, consider xMarketplace by Adent.io. It’s a powerful software that supports both dropshipping and inventory ecommerce models, giving you the flexibility to optimize your gains. So, while Amazon is a great starting point, expanding with xMarketplace could be the key to unlocking even greater success in the adult product market.