Sellers Hampered from Listing OOP Books on Amazon

Sellers can no longer create a product detail page for a book, magazine, comic book, or sheet music - only publishers are allowed to do so. (Sellers can sell books, as long as a product detail page already exists for the title.) An Amazon moderator confirmed the information on July 28th in a post on the discussion boards, writing in part the following:

"Amazon has limited new Books ASIN creation privileges on the Amazon U.S. store to publishers to enhance the catalog quality and maintain a great customer experience." 

And, she added: "I can understand any disappointment in this change. We have instituted this policy to protect the catalog from duplication, inaccuracy, and abuse which in turn protects buyers."

One seller who did not have a problem with the policy because they deal with "a mess in the grocery category" where they said other sellers use their brand's barcodes and images, and it's "way too complicated and time consuming to get them fixed."

"I would think someone would have created a different website devoted to used books for sellers," the seller wrote.

Another replied, "Actually, someone did create a website for used books. It was called Amazon," to which another seller responded, "100% exactly correct and then Amazon wiped out many of the other used book sites, like Half.com. Now they are destroying their own selling base they created. It's beyond bizarre."

In another thread, a seller said they were unable to list a 34-year-old book from an out-of-business publisher. "Clearly, this new policy needs to be amended to allow for situations such as this," they wrote.

In that thread, an Amazon moderator responded and published the current policy for new book creation as follows:

"To create new ASINs for Books that do not already exist on the Amazon United States store, you must be the publisher of the new Books ASIN you are creating. After you submit your application, we will contact you via email with our application decision."

On another Amazon discussion board thread, a seller explained what was so baffing to sellers about the new policy:

"Creating listings for books not already in the Amazon catalogue has been the bread-and-butter for sellers of rare and out-of-print books on Amazon for more than 20 years. It has not only expanded the Amazon catalogue and enriched it with books that buyers are looking for, enabling Amazon to become the world's largest online marketplace, but it has allowed booksellers to find buyers all over the globe for scarcer books published before 1970 (when the ISBN system became nearly universal.)

"Every day, I attempt to list older books on the Amazon platform, only to find there is not already a listing (often a listing had existed and has been removed by Amazon in favor of Print-on-Demand editions) and I cannot add it to the catalogue."

Another seller pointed out that Amazon had recently prohibited sellers from listing used toys and games, a policy we reported on last month. Effective September 15, 2025, Amazon requires all Toys & Games listings to be in "New" condition only and gave sellers until October 30, 2025 to sell their existing "Collectible" condition Toys & Games inventory. 

We're awaiting information from Amazon about the policy and whether and how booksellers will be able to request permission to override the new policy - check back for updates.

Update 10/8/2025: Amazon confirmed it only allows publishers to add new product listings to its catalog in the books category, a change it made some time ago in order to help provide customers with more accurate details.

It doesn't affect any sellers' (including those that are not publishers) ability to sell books (including out-of-print books) that have already been created in its catalog - the seller simply has to add an offer to an existing books product listing.

(We also updated first paragraph for clarity to make it clear that sellers can continue to sell books as long as a product detail page already exists for the title.)

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