[Hidden-tech] Amazon sellers product listing with GTIN exemption

[Chris Hoogendyk]

Hoping there is someone with some experience doing this who can offer 
some guidance.

It's clear that Amazon Seller Support personnel are low paid workers who 
have automated tools for classifying questions and giving canned 
answers. I've been around this loop at least 10 times over the last 
month and can't seem to get a thinking person who can get out of the box 
and actually examine my case.

I have a DVD with jpg and pdf files that contain scanned primary source 
historical documents related to my grandfather. The DVD has been 
catalogued by the UMass Amherst library and is listed in Worldcat with 
an OCLC number – "2019: Hoogendyk, C.G. (ed. & producer). David Crockett 
Graham Historical Diaries. 葛 史日 维汉历 记. CD for computer. OCLC 
1098242149." However, to list on Amazon, you need an ISBN number or you 
have to apply for and be granted a "GTIN exemption."

Steps are as follows:

    1. Add a product and indicate that you don't have a product ID. If
    you do have a product ID, you have to pick a specific type of ID
    from a list, such as ISBN. OCLC is not an option, and seller SKU is
    not an option.

    2. Apply for a GTIN exemption, in this case for BOOK for your seller
    name.

    3. After receiving the exemption, go back and edit your draft.
    Again, apply for a GTIN exemption, this time for the subcategory
    ABIS_BOOK.

    4. After receiving that exemption, go back and edit your draft
    again. This time it should fly. But, NO, it again says you need an
    ABIS_BOOK exemption. If you try to create a new listing instead of
    editing your draft, it starts over with the primary category, BOOK.

    5. Ask Amazon for help by submitting a help request.

    6. Get an answer back from a random Seller Support person (never the
    same) outlining the process for you and offering a video explaining
    the process. Sometimes, you will get someone who says they fixed it.
    In any case it is always back to step 1, repeat.

An important aside to the above steps is that you are supposed to wait 
24 hours after a GTIN exemption is approved before submitting a listing 
request, and it may take 12-24 hours to get the exemption, so we're 
talking several days to complete the sequence of steps.

While it seems like BOOK is an odd choice for my product category, there 
doesn't seem to be any other major category that fits, and this is what 
Amazon automatically selects. And, when filling out the details, one of 
the options for "Binding" is "DVD-ROM". So that's the route I've been 
going. The subcategory "Book > Biographies & Memoirs > Historical > 
General" is what prompts the ABIS_BOOK GTIN exemption requirement.

I have successfully listed a book that does have an ISBN, and I have 
successfully listed some bookmarks that I had printed at Collective 
Copies. The bookmarks required a GTIN exemption that was approved on the 
fly by the Amazon system and gave me no trouble at all.

You can find out more about my grandfather by looking at 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Crockett_Graham. There is much more 
that could be added to that page, but the requirements for secondary 
source information (not primary source) makes for a significant amount 
of work to do it correctly.

I would gladly accept any magic advice on how to get this listing to work.


-- 
Chris Hoogendyk
胡可思

Amherst, MA
<chris.hoogendyk at gmail.com>
<choogendyk at earthlink.net>

Erdös 4
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