Amazon Blog Series: A Huge Tip

I want to share a huge tip that I see so many new Amazon sellers overlook and it’s something that can save you hundreds of pounds in costly mistakes.

When I’m teaching, working with people, or just chatting with new sellers, I often hear the same story:

“I’ve got loads of stock sitting here, but I can’t sell it because I’m gated on it.”

If you’re a complete beginner, that can happen as you need to ungate products and it’s part of the learning curve. But if you’re spending serious money on stock, say, £500 or £1,000 on a single ASIN and you find out after buying it that you can’t sell it, that’s a painful and completely avoidable mistake.

So let’s go through what you need to do instead, and how to approach this.

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Why Sellers Get Stuck

The problem usually happens when sellers buy first and upload into inventory after.

You find a great lead, and you jump straight in, buy 10 or 20 units, and think, I’ll add that to inventory later.

Then later comes around, and you try to add the product to your Amazon inventory, only to find:

• You’re gated on the brand or category.
• It’s a hard-gated brand that requires approval.
• The item isn’t eligible for FBA.
• Or, there’s a listing glitch, and you simply can’t get it to appear in your inventory at all.

Now you’re stuck with stock that Amazon won’t let you sell, and you’re sitting on dead money.

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The Simple Fix: Add to Inventory First

Before you buy any product, always add it to your Amazon inventory first.

Here’s the process you should follow:

1. Find a lead that’s a buy
2. Go into Seller Central and search for that exact ASIN.
3. Click “Add Product” and try to add it to your inventory.
   • If you’re ungated and everything is fine, you’ll be able to list it right away.
   • If you’re gated, Amazon will tell you immediately — so you can either request approval or move on before you’ve spent a penny.
4. Wait a few minutes to make sure the listing goes through and shows in your inventory.

Only once you know for sure that you can list and sell it should you go ahead and purchase the stock.

This one step can save you from all the headaches of buying stock you can’t move.

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A Note on Prep Centres

If you use a prep centre, the process is slightly different, because you’ll need to add the product to your inventory anyway when you book the product into your prep centre portal. This is actually an advantage, because you’ll immediately find out if you’re gated.

But if you’re self-prepping, where the stock comes to you directly — this step is absolutely essential. Add to inventory first. Always.

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Hidden Problems to Watch For

Sometimes, even if you’re not gated, there can still be problems that stop you from listing or selling an item properly.

A few examples I’ve seen:

• Dangerous goods restrictions: Certain products (especially aerosols, sprays, and liquids) can’t go through FBA unless they’re approved as safe to ship.
• System glitches: Occasionally, Amazon has errors where you can “list” a product, but it doesn’t appear in your inventory.

By adding the product first and doing a dummy shipment, you can spot these problems early, before your money’s tied up in unusable stock.

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The Benefit

Following this one simple rule will:

• Stop you from getting stuck with gated stock.
• Prevent you from sitting on dead money.
• Save you the stress of trying to return or offload items.

Every experienced seller has made this mistake at least once, myself included. In the early days, I used to rush in, buy stock, and think I’d sort it later. Now, I always add it to inventory first, it takes a few minutes and can save hundreds.

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