Ethoxydiglycol and Amazon's Awful Help System - HELP!
If someone from Amazon is reading this - please help me before I rip out my hair!
I am trying to list a self-tanning product range on Amazon - identical in formulation to many 1000’s of other tanning products ALREADY listed. These products contain Ethoxydiglycol, which is used on 10’s of 1000’s of products already listed on Amazon, from tanning products to skincare and hair dyes.
My listing was ‘MANUALLY YANKED’ by one of your team for containing Ethoxydiglycol !!! When I asked why, I was given a completely automated response that offered no help at all. Now, seven days later, I am STILL receiving answers that are clearly of no use to me - and am no further forward in getting my listing reinstated.
The ASIN is B07X8VBHXB
I have sold tanning products for over 15 years with this ingredient - and as I say, you already have products listings in the tens of thousands with the same ingredient - yet here I am today!
Nobody is actually reading my messages in your help section! I am running a BUSINESS!!! And I am paying Amazon a monthly fee for the privilege!
- What is the ruling on Ethoxydiglycol?
- If it is banned/restricted - why are there 1000’s of live listings with that ingredient for sale?
- How can I get someone to read my messages and give a proper response?
Anyone!??!?
7 replies
Seller_qZO3ZCjoBXEeL
It is just us sellers here so Amazon will not directly help or respond (at least they are unlikely to).
I would suggest not to look at what other sellers are doing or ‘getting away with’ but to review your product and ensure it complies with all EU safety guidelines and restrictions with the appropriate testing documentation.
Seller_EJIX7rqDNQJi2
Unfortunately, it sounds like something from your product’s description, bullet points or title made bots trigger the listing removal after scanning your inventory.
It would be better if you posted the original performance notification which includes options how to appeal.
Also, the fact that there are still other sellers selling the same items doesn’t matter and Amazon will not accept it as an excuse.
You are responsible for managing your own Seller Account and knowing all the policies. In many cases, the policy pages don’t even include the full lists of prohibited ingredients, just examples. So you may find your listing removed even if the particular ingredient isn’t on the list.
Seller_hC0hNVDuILaKO
Does “Ethoxydiglycol” have a more common name?
But even just googling that name shows that it is
Ethoxydiglycol is a cosmetic grade solvent that is used in various skin and hair care products to dissolve ingredients, increase the efficacy of active ingredients, and decrease the viscosity of formulations
So it is hardly surprising if Amazon have this on a prohibited list.
As advised, forget what others are doing as that is not relevant to your situation and focus solely on your own business.
You are “trying to list” but maybe Amazon are gradually working through existing listings to shut them down, whilst at the same time preventing other, new listings, from being created.
Sell these, if safe, elsewhere would be my advice.
Seller_JTxN4afaDUTxZ
Thank you for all your responses.
It could be the case that they are working through the existing products, as suggested by Adrian - although it is a safe ingredient - I have been in cosmetic manufacturing since 1995 - and it seems there is a new scare every month for some ingredient or another (mostly fuelled by the internet and ‘so-called’ professionals’).
All of our products are safety tested and registered with the EU Cosmetics Safety Portal - so we know they are safe and perfectly legal. We are also ISO 9001:2015 registered and a long established UK manufacturer of skincare products.
Suppose we just have to play by Amazon’s rules on this one - even though they themselves are sadly lacking in supporting evidence to hold up their restriction. (I have asked repeatedly for info on their reasoning, to no avail.) With no real ‘alternative’ to Ethoxy and it’s DEGEE relative, there will be some massive changes in the cosmetics market if Amazon have their way - even though the EU Cosmetics Directive, British Medical Institutes and the almighty FDA have all approved it safe for cosmetic use.
Re: the customer support system - it needs an overhaul. If I responded to my customers the way Amazon do, I would expect to go out of business! Real questions need real answers from real people.
Time for a strong coffee.
Seller_pHcaBfRrv7QoP
Have you tried changing the name of the chemical to one that appears on REACH. Ethoxydiglycol is not one of the terms used for this chemical - the official registry name for it is;
Regulatory process names
2-(2-ethoxyethoxy)ethanol
EC Inventory, Pre-Registration process
The bots are probably programmed with only these names for chemicals and flag any that do not appear on the list.
Whilst this chemical is known as ‘Ethoxydiglycol’ it is not the official registry name or any of the IUPAC / Trade names on REACH which I think may be the problem.
