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<p>Hoping there is someone with some experience doing this who can
offer some guidance.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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source historical documents related to my grandfather.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." <br>
</p>
<p>Steps are as follows:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>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.</p>
<p>2. Apply for a GTIN exemption, in this case for BOOK for your
seller name.</p>
<p>3. After receiving the exemption, go back and edit your draft.
Again, apply for a GTIN exemption, this time for the subcategory
ABIS_BOOK.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>5. Ask Amazon for help by submitting a help request.</p>
<p>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. <br>
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>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. <br>
</p>
<p>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.<br>
</p>
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.
<p>You can find out more about my grandfather by looking at
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Crockett_Graham">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Crockett_Graham</a>. 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.</p>
<p>I would gladly accept any magic advice on how to get this listing
to work.</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Chris Hoogendyk
胡可思
Amherst, MA
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:chris.hoogendyk@gmail.com"><chris.hoogendyk@gmail.com></a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:choogendyk@earthlink.net"><choogendyk@earthlink.net></a>
Erdös 4</pre>
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