Amazon announced an exclusive 10-year deal with the NFL, an expansion of its current relationship with the football league, but it spells bad news for sellers. Note: See update below.
Amazon sent the following notification to sellers of NFL-licensed merchandise informing them they must become NLF-authorized sellers by May 24, 2021 in order to continue selling the products on its marketplace.
Hello,
Amazon is always working to enhance the customer experience, and one of the ways we do this is by increasing selection of the products we know customers want. As part of a new agreement with the NFL, we will be working with a group of NFL-authorized sellers to offer an expanded selection of NFL products on Amazon.com.
You are receiving this message because you are currently selling, or have previously sold, NFL-licensed apparel, headwear, fan gear, or hardgoods on Amazon.com. Unless you become an authorized seller, your offers for those products will soon be removed from Amazon.com. This does not impact the following NFL product categories: video games, trading cards, books, media, and sports collectibles.
To prepare for this change, you may continue selling apparel, headwear, fan gear, and hardgoods products on Amazon.com until May 23, 2021. If you would like to sell these products after this date, you must become an NFL-authorized seller. The NFL is interested in approving qualified sellers with a history of top tier customer service, experience selling on Amazon, and demonstrated support of the NFL business. If you are interested and believe you may qualify, you can connect with the NFL.
If you are not an NFL-authorized seller, you will need to create a Removal Order for any remaining inventory of these products in Amazon fulfillment centers on May 24, 2021. Amazon will reimburse you for the return or disposal fees through June 24, 2021.
Important: You will not be able to send shipments of these products to Amazon fulfillment centers effective April 24, 2021.
Amazon Services
Amazon is also requiring sellers to authenticate sports trading card collectibles, see the AuctionBytes Blog for details.
Update 3/26/2021: While Amazon cited a new agreement with the NFL in its letter to sellers, the company clarified that the 10-year Thursday Night Football deal with the NFL was unrelated to the new policy referenced in the notice.
