Here is an example. Say you sell steel water bottles on Amazon. You film a 40-second video: the bottle being filled, the lid clicking shut, ice still there after a long day. It looks good. On the last frame you add “Diwali offer: 20% off, order today”, and you upload it.
A few days later, the video is rejected. Nothing was wrong with the bottle. The last five seconds broke Amazon’s rules.
This happens all the time, and it is easy to avoid. Here is what Amazon accepts, what it rejects, and how to get a video onto your listing the first time.
Who can add a video to an Amazon listing
You don’t need Brand Registry to upload a video. Amazon says all selling partners who have been selling for three months or more can upload videos, whether their brand is registered or not.
You can add up to five videos to one listing. Each video can be linked to several products, so one demo can sit on every colour or size of the same product.
The file rules
| What | What Amazon asks for |
|---|---|
| File type | MP4 or MOV |
| Quality | The highest you have, up to 1080p (full HD) |
| File size | Up to 5 GB |
| Thumbnail | Made for you automatically, or upload your own JPG or PNG |
| Videos per listing | Up to five |
| Review | Every video is checked first. Allow about three days, and longer during big sales |
How to upload a video, step by step
- In Seller Central, open Catalog and choose Upload and Manage Videos.
- Click Upload video and choose your file.
- Give the video a title. Shoppers see it next to the video, so make it plain, like “How to clean the bottle”.
- Choose the products the video belongs to.
- Choose the type of video, so Amazon knows where to show it.
- Keep the automatic thumbnail, or upload a better one.
- Click Submit, and check back on the same page to see whether it was approved.
What Amazon won’t accept
Amazon checks every seller video against its video content guidelines. These are the rules sellers break most often:
- Prices and offers. No prices, discounts, “sale” words or anything with a date on it, like “offer ends Sunday”.
- Contact details and links. No phone numbers, addresses, websites or social media handles, and nothing that sends shoppers away from Amazon.
- Reviews. Don’t ask viewers to leave a good review.
- Your own warranty promises. You can mention the manufacturer’s warranty. You can’t add or extend one, like “buy from us and get an extra year”.
- Only the box. A video that shows only the packaging, the gift wrap or the delivery is not allowed. An unboxing is fine, as long as it shows the product.
- Claims you can’t prove. Every claim must be true. Health products can’t claim to cure anything, and weight-loss claims have strict limits.
- Children. A child can appear only if they are part of showing the product, and an adult must be in the video too. The video itself can’t be aimed at children.
- Music and clips you don’t own. Use licensed music, and don’t use Amazon’s logos.
What about comparisons? Amazon allows a comparison that names another brand only if it is strictly factual, like “8 GB of RAM, 2 GB more than Brand Y”. It can never run the other product down. Showing another brand’s product or logo on screen is where videos get into trouble, so the safest comparison is within your own range: this year’s model against last year’s, or the small size against the large.
Why videos get rejected, and how to fix them
| Why it was rejected | The fix |
|---|---|
| A price, an offer or “Diwali sale” on screen | Remove it. Put offers in your coupons and deals instead |
| Your phone number or website on the last frame | End on the product and your brand name only |
| “Please leave us a 5-star review” | Cut the line. Let the product earn the review |
| A competitor’s product or logo in view | Compare against your own products |
| Music you don’t have the rights to | Use licensed music, or none |
| A claim you can’t prove, like “best in India” | Say what the product does, not what it beats |
What makes a listing video work
Getting approved is the first step. Getting watched is the second.
- Show the product in the first three seconds. Many shoppers leave before the logo animation ends.
- Add subtitles. Most people watch with the sound off.
- Answer the questions shoppers ask. How big is it? How does it work? What’s in the box? Look at the questions on your listing, and answer them on camera.
- Show real size. Put the product in a hand, on a table, or next to something everyone knows.
- Keep it short. For most products, 30 to 90 seconds is enough.
Where we come in
We make listing videos for brands every week: demos, unboxings, ePromoter videos with a presenter, model videos for fashion and videos made from product photos. Our videos have won Best Agency for Videos at the Amazon SPN Awards twice.
So we know where first-time videos get stuck: the price on the last frame, the festive banner, the phone number on the box, the music nobody licensed. We plan every video around Amazon’s rules from the script stage, so it goes up the first time.
If you would rather not learn this the hard way, see our product video service. And if you do one thing this week, open your rejected videos and check the last five seconds.
