Stores creative acceptance policies

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Overview

Vendors and Sellers can create Stores through the advertising console or Seller Central. As Stores will become a native part of the Amazon shopping experience, they must uphold the high level of trust Amazon has established with our shopping customers.

It is the Vendor and Seller’s responsibility to comply with all applicable laws and rules and regulations that apply to the Vendor or Seller, the content of the Store, and any location where the Store appears. This includes obtaining any required authorizations or approvals from local regulatory authorities for the sale, distribution, or advertisement of the products that you intend to advertise with Amazon or include in your Store. In addition, the Vendor or Seller must comply with Amazon’s Restricted Products Policies, and the following Creative Acceptance Policies and Guidelines for Stores.

2. Content acceptability

2.1 General content guidelines

Store content must provide a consistent, high-quality customer experience. The policies in this section apply to all products and content in your Store.

Your Store must:

• Be suitable for general audiences.
• Not denigrate another company or product, for example, “better made than [company/brand/named product],” nor leverage another company name or product to promote other products.
• Be in the primary language of the Amazon site on which the Store is displayed.
• Use correct grammar and punctuation.

Your Store must not contain:

• ASCII art.
• Children in peril, around firearms, close to explosions, drinking alcohol or taking drugs, or in other dangerous or adult situations.
• Content that may be considered culturally inappropriate in the geographical location where the Store will be displayed.
• Content that encourages or glorifies smoking.
• Content that promotes practices that can result in the physical or mental harm of customers.
• Contact details, such as phone numbers and email or physical addresses; QR codes; or links to sites outside of Amazon.
• Social media buttons, to follow the brand on Facebook, Twitter, etc. are permitted.
• Brand website details in videos are permitted provided they are not accompanied with a call to action such as “Shop now at www.”
• Claims to diagnose, cure, mitigate, treat, or prevent a disease or addiction.
• Cruelty toward people or animals.
• Excessive or incorrect punctuation.
• Incomplete sentences, typos or misspellings.
• Profanity, including obfuscated text or inappropriate double meanings.
• Shipping or delivery claims.
• Time-sensitive promotions.

2.2 Call to action (CTA)

• CTAs in images and text must be clear and direct.
• Non-specific calls to action, such as “Click here” are not permitted.
• CTAs must link to a product detail page, product grid or another Store page and must be relevant to the content of that page. Examples of acceptable CTAs include: Shop now, Learn More, See more, See details.
• CTAs must not use language that may pressure customers into taking action, such as “Last Chance” or “Don’t Miss Out," or emotionally charged language.

2.3 Capitalization

• Sentence case is recommended for all title and description text.
• Capitalized words for common abbreviations (such as DIY), or where the registered product or brand names are capitalized are acceptable.
• Copy which combines random capitalized words with lowercase text are not permitted, for example “THIS headline is GREAT” or “ThIs TeXT is GREat”.

2.4 Claims and comparative statements

Advertising claims in your Stores must be truthful and accurate.

You must have evidence in support of your advertising claims:

• If you make a claim about your brand in your Store, that claim must be substantiated within the Store, with the date and evidence to support that claim.
• If you make a claim about your products, it must be clear which products this applies to and those products should be placed adjacent to the claim within the Store. Substantiation must be discoverable on the product detail page or the product packaging of the associated products.

Please see some examples of claims that require substantiation below:

• Accolades and awards: Must be supported with details such as date and awarding body and should be less than 18 months old.
• Survey results: Claims about the results of consumer surveys must be substantiated even if the survey collected subjective opinions. For example, “33% of people like XXX” must be accompanied by a disclosure citing the source and date of the survey (“*US Surveys Ltd, January 2017”).
• Quantified performance: Claims which imply to the customer that some objective measurement has taken place. For example, “Reduces 99% of wrinkles” or “Teeth appear three shades whiter” or “the best moisturizer.”
• Comparative: Must be supported with a citation of an independent source and dated within the previous 12-18 months. For example, “America's best hat, Hat Makers magazine, 2017." We do not permit direct comparison to competitor brands.

2.4.1 Warranty and guarantees

The Store must clearly describe warranties or guarantees, including any applicable limitations.

The party responsible for honoring the warranty or guarantee must be disclosed in the Store and on the product detail page of applicable products.

2.5 Fake functionality

Fake functionality can trick customers into clicking on ads by believing that certain inactive elements of your Store are interactive and can provide value to them.

For example, non-clickable tiles with CTA buttons are prohibited.

2.6 Featured deals

• The Featured Deals widget must be utilized to display Deals within Stores.
• Where the Featured Deals widget is present in the Store as a component to a Store page that also contains messaging or products that are not deal related:
• Promotional messaging is only permitted in Text or Image Tiles directly above or adjacent to the widget.
• The Store page cannot be titled “Sale,” “Discount,” “Deals,” or other terms that imply a promotion.
• If the Store page is created exclusively to promote deals the page must:
• Be appropriately titled. For example , “Sale”, “Discounts”, “Deals” or other terms that imply a promotion.
• Only contain the Featured Deals widget for product selection. (Product grids and other dynamic product selection tiles are not permitted).
• Promotional ad copy accompanying the Featured Deals widget must:
1. Only use general promotional language such as:
1. Discover our Savings/Discounts.
2. See our Savings/Discounts.
3. Savings on Brand or Product Name.
2. Not include:
1. Words or phrases intended to create urgency. For example, “Today only” or “Last Chance”
2. References to specific pricing or discounts (for example, $20 off or Save 5%).
3. Exclamation points, unless they are a part of the brand name.

2.7 Page and tiles

• Each page within your Store should contain a clickable link to a product detail page or another page within the Store and must not present customers with a circular experience.
• Empty tile or tiles with original default text “Text Will Go Here” are not permitted.

2.8 Special characters

• Only alphanumeric characters are permitted.
• Excessive use of ellipses is prohibited; we recommend no more than 3 instances per block of text.
• Emoticons are permitted; however, please avoid repetitive or excessive use.

2.9 Text

All text must be legible in contrast against the image background and size—a minimum of 32 pixels high in Hero, an image gallery, or an Extra Large (full width) image tile and 16 pixels high for other image tiles.

3. Image and video acceptability

In addition to the content acceptability guidelines in section 2, this section outlines additional guidelines for all image and video content in your Store.

3.1 General image and video guidelines

Images and videos must:

• Be high-resolution and must meet the minimum specifications for the selected tile.
• Not be pixelated, obviously distorted, or stretched.

Videos must:

• Stream correctly and be relevant to the product and Store.
• Not be longer than 5 minutes.

3.2 Images and video creative guidelines

• Stores should be viewed in desktop and mobile previews to ensure images are not cropped in a way that obscures important elements of the image.
• Hero images should not contain crowded or overlapping elements.
• Brand logo should not overlap with product images or other important content of the Hero image.
• Content in Text Overlay tiles should not obscure any underlying image text, nor other important elements of the underlying image.

3.2.1 Adult products image guidelines

• Images and videos must not contain any of the following:
• Nudity, including intimate body parts (i.e., genitalia, breasts, buttocks) obscured with hands, bars, stars or other graphics.
• Intimate body parts must be covered with clothing.
• Representations of human genitalia, including packaging.
• Contours of male or female genitalia may be permitted if not sexually suggestive.
• Profanities, including obfuscated profanities.
• Images of child models or adult models representing children.
• The product in use (for example, in video tutorials), including through lifestyle images or by mannequins, cartoons or other means.
• Verbal descriptions and abstract illustrations of the products are permitted if the language is not offensive.
• Overly provocative lewd or suggestive content.
• Sexual activities or positions.
• Sexually suggestive poses or gesticulations.
• Aggressive or violent content.

3.2.2 Distressing image guidelines

Images of actual or implied abuse such as humans or animals in distress, scenes of torture, molestation, actual or implied rape are prohibited.

3.2.3 Entertainment trailers guidelines

The content rating for the product must be displayed prior to the trailer starting. We cannot accept red-band, or age-gated trailers, nor can we accept trailers for movies rated NC-17, or video games rated AO or the local equivalent. If no rating is available, the video must be suitable for family audiences.

3.2.4 Intimate apparel image guidelines

• Images and video of intimate clothing, lingerie, and swimwear products may not be sexually explicit or obscene, as determined at the sole discretion of Amazon. In addition, images of such products must comply with the following rules:
• Images that show people in poses emulating a sexual position or alluding to sexual activity whether clothed or unclothed.
• Images and video that display full nudity (breasts, genitalia, bare bottoms, and so on) are not permitted.
• Images and video with live models wearing sheer or opaque products might be permitted, provided that genitalia and breasts are not exposed or presented in a lewd or provocative manner. No bars or other types of graphics are permitted to cover exposed body parts.
• Thongs and panties must use front views for the main product image or video.
• Thongs and panties that do not provide full coverage in the front and back must have images or video that do not use a human model. Air-brushing is not permitted for exposed skin areas.

3.2.5 Sexual image guidelines

Images and videos must not contain:

• Sexually suggestive poses, such as the parting of the legs, gripping of hair, or accentuation of the hip along with amorous or sexually suggestive facial expressions.
• Images that draw undue attention to intimate body parts, such as breasts or buttocks, in a sexual way.
• Depictions of minors in sexual situations.
• Images of suggestive undressing, such as pulling down a bra strap or underwear.
• Models in sexy lingerie such as stockings, suspenders, or paraphernalia such as whips and chains.
• Provocative embraces or embraces in a provocative setting such as in a shower or on a bed.

3.2.6 Violent image guidelines

Excessive violence or gore such as characters that have excessive open wounds, are in the act of being attacked with weapons, dismemberment, graphic depictions of cadavers are prohibited. Please note that the presence of blood without violence or open wounds may be acceptable in entertainment or video trailers.

3.2.7 Weapons image guidelines

Images of weapons (including realistic and non-realistic firearms, swords, bows and arrows, etc.) must not be:

• Shown in a violent, threatening manner, for example, in the process of injuring another character.
• Displayed in a gruesome way (for example, covered in blood).
• Pointed at a character.
• Directed out toward the customer.
• Handled by or associated with a minor.
• Shown in the act of firing (for example, bullets visibly exiting the weapon, smoke or other residue shown around the barrel).

4. Product acceptability

All products must be suitable for general audiences and appropriate for the locale in which the Store is displayed.
The following types of products are prohibited in Stores globally:

• Adult products: Pornography or related content. See section 2. Restrictions for Products, for details on permitted adult products.
• Beauty and Personal Care: products that claim to permanently physically change natural body properties are prohibited.
• Competition and sweepstakes.
• Drug testing kits.
• Disease diagnostic kits.
• Digital and computer hacking services and products.
• Etching creams, and other caustic creams, gels, liquids, or solutions.
• False document services.
• Food and supplements that contain ephedrine alkaloids, Salvia divinorum, or salvinorin A.
• Get-rich-quick products.
• Graffiti-related paints, markers, creams, nozzles, refills, and "how-to" videos and other content.
• Illicit and recreational drugs and drug-related paraphernalia.
• Medical devices intended or marketed for professional use.
• Nitrous oxide canisters and chargers.
• Prescription drugs and devices.
• Products that claim to diagnose, cure, mitigate, treat, or prevent a disease or addiction.
• Products designed to be used for privacy invasion, such as spy cameras, or to evade law enforcement, such as a police radio scanner.
• Products or content that promotes hate, incites violence or intolerance, or advocates or discriminates against a protected group, whether based on race, color, national origin, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, age or another category.
• Products related to gambling services.
• Products that may infringe, encourage, or enable, the infringement of intellectual property or personal rights.
• Profane or vulgar products or content.
• Products that could be used for questionable or potentially dangerous activities, such as Fireworks.
• Tattoo and body branding products.
• Tobacco and other smoking products and accessories, including products containing nicotine, cigarette papers, e-cigarettes, vapes, and similar products (including nicotine-free equivalents).
• UV tanning services and equipment.
• Weapons (Please review Explosives, Weapons, and Related Items for a comprehensive list), including:
• Ammunition or reloaded ammunition.
• Assault weapon parts or accessories or products marketed as assault weapon parts or accessories, including reference to various assault weapon models.
• Destructive and explosive devices, such as fireworks.
• Handgun safety certificates.
• Pistols, revolvers, or any form of firearm.
• Products that resemble or include realistic or actual weapons, weapon parts, or ammunition.
• Weapons or other items intended solely for law enforcement or military use.

5. Restrictions for products

In addition to the content and image acceptability guidelines listed above, this section outlines additional product specific guidelines.

5.1 Adult products

• Adult Product Stores must only include adult products. Adult Product Stores cannot feature any non-adult products. Similarly, a non-adult Store cannot include any adult products.
• The following are adult products and may only be featured in Adult Product Stores (this list is not exhaustive):
• Virility equipment and other sexual enhancing supplements and aphrodisiacs.
• Erotic lingerie with an obvious sexual intent i.e. mesh material.
• Erotic games, books, costumes and joke books.
• Intimate sex products of a non-natural or generic design (lifelike or natural designs are not permitted).
• Lubricants.
• Massage oils, creams, candles, body paints & powders.
• Comfort furniture (sans intimate appendages, cushion, and rests), poles.
• Adult Product Stores must:
• Not contain any explicit or prurient content.
• Not contain overtly sexual references, profanity or obfuscated profanity (for example, in the product title).
• Include the Store brand logo or name displayed clearly in the hero image for all pages within the Store.
• Contain an “adults only” message in the hero image for all pages within the Store.
• Dedicate each Store page to a single adult product category or to closely associated adult products.
• Sexual Wellness Stores, which include adult products, must display those products in a separate and appropriately labelled sub-page. The subpage must include an "adults only" message in the Hero Image.
• Please see Section 3 (Image and video acceptability guidelines) for further details.

5.2 Art and industrial supplies

We permit Stores for art and industrial supplies that are intended and marketed only for home, industrial, automobile, or art-related uses. Products must not encourage or promote defacing of public or private property, vandalism, or anti-social behaviors.
The below products are prohibited in Stores:

• Graffiti-related paints, markers, creams, nozzles, refills, and “how-to” videos and other content.
• Etching creams.
• Caustic creams, gels, liquids, or similar solutions.

5.3 Alcohol and related products

5.3.1 General guidelines

• Image, video and text must promote the responsible consumption of alcohol and must not:
• Suggest or imply that alcohol has therapeutic or other benefits (for example, that alcohol improves performance, contributes to success, or solves problems) nor claim that the use of a substance or device will assist with the prevention, diagnosing, curing or alleviating a disease, ailment, defect, or injury or will influence, inhibit, or modify a physiological process.
• Show people actively engaged in drinking.
• Contain adults that appear to be under the age of 25.
• Be directed toward, contain images or content designed to appeal to minors.
• Associate drinking with motor vehicles, driving or operating machinery.
• Disparage abstinence from alcoholic beverages.
• Irresponsibly incentivize people to drink.
• Promote excessive consumption.
• Focus on the alcoholic strength of the beverage.
• Be associated with pregnancy, maternity or parenting.

5.3.2 Alcohol beverages and merchandise

• In addition to the above general guidelines, Alcohol beverage and merchandise Stores must follow the below guidelines:
• All pages within the Store must have the advertisers brand logo enabled in the hero image.
• Stores cannot contain a mixture of alcohol and non-alcohol related products.

5.3.3 Breathalyzer

In addition to the general alcohol guidelines above, products in this category must not suggest that the products help you consume alcohol in a safer way.

5.3.4 Hangover remedies

In addition to the general alcohol guidelines above, products in this category must not make medicinal claims such as "cure your hangover" or claim that ingredients included will do so.

5.4 Beauty products

Products in this category must not:

• Claim to permanently change a normal body function or condition.
• Directly reference private, intimate, or sensitive bodily conditions.
• Talk to customers directly, such as “Embarrassed about the way look? Then try this.”
• Make any therapeutic or health claims related to a disease, ailment, physical condition or discomfort, defect, injury, or psychological condition.

5.5 Child safety

• Products for children must not show the product being used in an unsafe way. For example, paddling pools or other products that could cause harm to the child if misused, must show the product being used under adult supervision.

5.6 Hemp

• Stores for hemp-based products must not be associated with or encourage the consumption of illicit drugs, including the use of marijuana or cannabis imagery.

5.7 Infant and follow-on formula

Stores for infant and follow-on formula must not contain messaging that discourages breastfeeding or that claims that the product can be a substitute for breastfeeding.

5.8 Knives

We prohibit knives whose primary purpose is, or is marketed to be, for combat or military use, self-defense, or to encourage violent behavior. Examples include zombie knives, combat knives, assault knives, throwing knives, daggers, boot knives, spring-assisted knives, hand-to-hand or fighting knives, gravity knives, bayonets, drop-point knives (Mexico only), swords, self-defense knives, and ninja stars.

5.9 Medical products, Over-the-Counter (OTC) drugs and supplements

Products in this category must not:

• Claim to diagnose, cure, mitigate, treat, or prevent a disease or addiction.
• Make unrealistic or unrelated claims as to the efficacy of the product.
• Directly reference private, intimate, or sensitive bodily conditions.
• Discourage customers from visiting a qualified medical professional.

5.9.1 Home test kits

We permit Stores for home test kit products that do not claim to diagnose, treat, or assess the risks of a disease, condition, or ailment. You may promote only products that comply with applicable local regulations in all the locale(s) where your ads will show. You are responsible for obtaining all necessary authorizations or approvals from local regulatory authorities for the sale, distribution, or advertisement of the products that you intend to advertise with Amazon, as applicable.

Permitted products include, but are not limited to, diabetes and blood sugar monitoring kits; blood pressure monitors; ancestral, DNA, and personal genetic profiling kits; urinalysis kits; lancing devices (medical only); and pregnancy and fertility tests. These product categories are subject to locale-specific requirements, including the following:

5.9.2 Medical

• Non-prescription health and beauty products cannot claim to be as effective as prescription products.

5.9.3 Weight loss

Content must not speak directly to customers, such as “Are you overweight?”, nor make any unrealistic or excessive claims, including, but not limited to:

• That customers can lose weight by merely using the product without following a calorie-controlled diet or exercise program.
• That results are effective for everyone, or that are permanent.
• Weight loss of a specific amount over a defined period of time.
• Substantial weight loss no matter what or how much the customer eats.
• That a customer will lose weight by wearing a product on the body or rubbing it into the skin.
  

5.10 Political products

We do not accept content or products related to campaigns, elections, or political issues of public debate; that advocate for or against a politician or a political party; or that personally attack a political figure.

5.11 Sexual wellness

We permit the promotion of sexual wellness products provided the Stores comply with the following requirements:

• Products must not contain claims related to increase sexual performance or boost libido.
• Products must not explicitly reference private, intimate, or sensitive physical/medical conditions nor sensitive bodily functions or conditions.

Sexual wellness products must not be mixed with non-sexual wellness products. Advertiser who may sell multiple unrelated products should place sexual wellness products in an appropriately titled subpage within the Store, such as “Sexual Wellness.”

5.12 Sports and outdoor products

Stores for sports and outdoor products must not:

• Encourage customers to be less watchful or responsible for their health and safety.
• Condone or encourage violent or anti-social behavior.
• Mislead customers, including by presenting as safe products that are generally deemed to be unsafe without proper care and precaution.

5.12.1 Image guidelines

In addition to the content and image acceptability guidelines listed above, Stores for sports and outdoor products that contain images of weapon or weapon accessories must:

• Focus on the weapon accessory and not the weapon itself.
• Not show the weapon in use, or about to be used (for example, an ad for a gun holster cannot feature the gun drawn, or in the act of being drawn).
• Not contain products or accessories superfluous or unrelated to the primary product. For example, a gun holster product must not feature a combat knife.

5.12.2 Product acceptability

We permit the following products in Stores:

• Airsoft accessories such as masks and gloves.
• Arrow rests, flights, bowstrings.
• Binoculars, monoculars, and night vision monoculars.
• Decoys.
• Flashlights.
• Game and trail cameras.
• Handheld spotting scopes.
• Paintball masks, headwear, and protective eyewear.
• Rangefinders.
• Targets.
• Ammunition storage such as bins and safes.
• EDC/multifunctional/tactical pens.
• Gun cleaning kits.
• Gun holsters.
• Gun safes.
• Tactical cases, bags, paracord.

6. Amazon branding

Amazon content

Amazon trademarks, products or references to Amazon products or services are prohibited in Stores. This includes:

• References to Amazon programs such as Subscribe and Save and Kindle Unlimited.
• Amazon logos and UI elements such as Add To Cart buttons or elements that mimic these.
• Static copy cannot include dynamic customer ratings, sales ranking, prices, and savings at Amazon.

Accurate references to Amazon products for compatibility purposes, such as “Works With Alexa," are permitted, provided the primary product is positioned first in the headline or image and Amazon products are referred to correctly.

Customer reviews

• Third-party customer reviews, star ratings or other elements that could be confused with Amazon Customer Reviews are not allowed.
• No changes can be made to Amazon Customer Reviews, including the correcting of spelling or grammar errors. Reviews with gross misspellings or significant grammatical errors must be avoided.
• To omit unwanted portions of a customer review, use ellipses (“…”) with no spaces before or after; truncations must not alter the meaning of the review.
• A maximum of three ellipses can be used in a customer review: one at the start of the review, one in the middle, and one at the end.
• Amazon customer reviews must not include the customer name.
• Amazon customer reviews must be verifiable on the associated detail page.