" I don't want to waste any money. "

Amazon is NOT a good place for people to START a business despite all the cr#$ on TikTok and YouTube. Every business is about taking a risk. If you are not willing to make a small investment and START SOMEPLACE ELSE to learn the ropes you are unlikely to survive on Amazon.

Pay attention to the new rules for the new, improved, Amazon --

THE AMAZON TWO STEP -- A NEW DANCE FOR SELLERS

More and more frequently Amazon is taking a TWO STEP approach and you are probably caught with not doing one of the steps (or either one!)

You are confusing AMAZON allowing you to list (or at least "ungate") an item or category and actually being APPROVED to sell a product. Amazon might ungate you for a CATEGORY, but there can be 100's of brands in the category and they ALL have their own restrictions.

AMAZON is only interested in FEES. They will allow a chimpanzee to list if it means they collect $$$$$.

Additionally, brands that you COULD sell yesterday may be restricted today or next week. Amazon is a moving target to deal with.

DO YOU have an LOA from the brand allowing you to sell on here?

If you have an LOA that specifically says you can sell on Amazon you MIGHT survive listing items.

More and more brands are providing a "whitelist" of their approved sellers and if YOU are NOT on the list you will be stopped in your tracks and probably hit with an IP violation.

DID YOU source from AUTHORIZED wholesale sources that your rep at the brand says are OK? You DO have a sales rep at the brand, don't you?

NOTE the verification is required from the brand that the source is legitimate and authorized, NOT from one of those touted on TikTok and YouTube as having "thousands of brands and products" that assures you that they are authorized.

If you have watched any YouTube or TikTok videos FORGET everything you saw there.

Spend hours/days on Seller U and read the Forum to see all the really creative ways rookies and experienced sellers find to get suspended by ignoring the advice above!

https://sell.amazon.com/learn

If you don't already have the above requirements in place you are probably going to have stranded inventory and a suspended account.

For any rookies out there reading this, please take the following steps while you study so you don't end up suspended!

HINT #1 -- VACATION MODE -- NOW!

HINT #2 -- SELLER U -- NOW!

https://sell.amazon.com/learn

If you don’t want to follow the advice above, go directly to this step and save some time --

HINT #3 -- Start writing your "please help with my Section 3 suspension' letter NOW. It will save you time when you get it.

Pay attention to this recent story in the Amazon 'news' from September 25, 2024.

Sellers were given a 5 day warning that this was being put in place. Sellers have posted that LOAs are required in Europe, so you can see the handwriting on the walls -- this is coming for EVERYTHING on Amazon eventually!

"Updates to listing products with compliance requirements, effective September 30, 2024"

https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/headlines.html?id=GTF566XNEPCPXKDM&ref=nslp_at_6_GTF566XNEPCPXKDM_en-US_ttl_rf_recent_news_7

"if anyone can give also good recommendations where to find ungated items already would gladly appreciate it."

HINT --

NO ONE is going to give up a source that they spent months/years developing.

As to the sourcing I go back 20+ years for my first products and I ended up with them because I could not find supplies for one of my hobbies (since gone dormant).

I looked around and found one of my old packages and called up the company. Found out they DID/DO sell wholesale and only required something like $500 initial order and a tax exempt number.

Filed with the state for maybe $10 and put an order on plastic for the $500+. Took about six months to pay off the card balance.

Kept adding suppliers and it became easier since they all ask for trade references and I had ONE. Found another small company that didn't have a large footprint and they let me in and again a small opening order.

NOW with TWO references it got easier for larger companies in the same or similar industries -- competitors of company #1 or #2 since competitors LOVE to compete for your business!

Find local or regional businesses looking to expand distribution, new companies just starting out ( I have had a few that I bought from and they failed.)

Something that you know about or WANT to know about that doesn't have 10,000 offers on Amazon.

The possibilities are endless but it is VERY hard if you start with the 'big boys' in any industry. Those guys want some large orders. I had one manufacturer of products that I was sourcing from hobby supplier #1 but I wanted to go direct to save about 20%. They wanted $5,000 minimum and a pallet full of two or three SKUs as a starter. Did NOT happen back then. Now, I would think about doing it.