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Last Updated on October 23, 2022 by Chris Panteli
Amazon Close Listing Vs Delete
It is no secret that Amazon is one of the biggest leading companies in the world.
It runs one of the largest and most successful marketplaces across the globe, all online. The needs of millions of sellers and buyers alike are met every day.
Amazon relies on its pillars of strength to make all of its achievements possible. There are many vendors that sell their products through amazon.
They tend to rely on the Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA) service that is guaranteed to them.
All they need to do is send out their inventory to Amazon and they take care of the rest for them.
However, there are times when a vendor may wish to delete or close their listings and even delete their account altogether.
Today, we’re going to look at what the difference is between these two and how they might be used by a vendor.
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Close Listing Meaning
As a seller on Amazon, you are able to maintain several product listings at a time all on your individual Seller Central account.
If you make the decision to not sell a product anymore for one reason or another, then you will be able to close the listing on the marketplace online.
Closing a listing means that the product isn’t removed from the inventory, instead, it is simply no longer available to purchase.
If you close a listing, this isn’t permanent. You are able to reopen the listing at any time you like.
All of the product’s SKU and inventory details are kept safe as they were so that you don’t need to input them again if you decide to reopen it.
One reason to make this choice may be due to the fact that you have temporarily sold out of stock and therefore need to remove the option for someone to purchase anything else.
Another reason may be that the product isn’t as in demand as you’d like it to be. However, you are always able to bring these listings back online again if need be.
To do this, you’ll need to enter the Amazon Seller Central account that the product is listed under.
Once the account is logged in, you need to head over to the tab that says “inventory” and select the option that says “manage inventory”.
Here, you will see all of your inventory products listed. You need to look for the active listing by either using the search function or the filter function.
Once you have found the inventory item that you are wanting to close, you can click on the drop-down menu and select the option that says “close listing”.
Your listing will then be closed automatically. You will not receive a confirmation of this and it can take up to 24 hours to reflect on the account.
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Delete Listing Meaning
This feature allows a product to be entirely removed from the account.
This means that a buyer will no longer be able to see that the product is available, but also the vendor will not be able to reinstate the listing.
The sales history and SKU as well as all of the product information are deleted and permanently removed.
A seller may choose to delete a listing if they are no longer planning on selling the product and have no intention of selling it again in the future.
A crucial step to deleting a listing is making sure to also delete the product SKUs once the inventory capacity has been updated to zero.
If you don’t update the quantity that is in your inventory to zero then the product may still be displayed as available to purchase.
It is pretty simple to delete a listing from your Amazon Seller Central account.
Once you have logged into the account in which the listing is located, you can head over to the tab that says “inventory” and click on “manage inventory” once you’re here.
Here, you will see all of the listings that are currently available as well as any closed listings in case you need to reopen them.
Once you have found the relevant product, click on the drop-down menu.
In the drop-down menu select “delete product and listing”. Amazon will make sure to ask you for confirmation of deletion before it goes ahead.
Make sure you click “ok” to confirm.
It’s important to note that this is permanent. If you click on this option, you will no longer be able to get the listing back to how it was, you will need to list it from scratch.
If you do delete it and you want to list it again at a later date, you will need to use the product ID to do so. This is similar to how you would have approached adding a brand new listing.
How To Decide Whether To Delete Or Close A Listing
It is a pretty straightforward difference when it comes to deleting and closing a listing.
Closing a listing means you are freezing it, making it unavailable for purchase but not completely removing it. Whereas deleting a listing permanently removes it.
If you delete a product, you will need to list it again similar to how you would list a brand new product on your Amazon Seller Central account.
If you’re looking to be able to access a product at a later date and are potentially wanting to open the listing again in the future, then it is best to close the listing rather than delete it.
It is also best to close a listing if you’re unsure as to whether you are going to want to sell it again or not.
You should only delete a listing if you are entirely certain that you are no longer interested in selling the product.
Alternatively to the method we explained earlier, you can also close a listing by changing the inventory capacity to zero so that it appears as if it were sold out.
Some sellers report that it is easier and more beneficial to delete each listing that goes out of stock.
So, as soon as the inventory capacity reaches zero, they delete the listing. As soon as they get new stock in, they will simply add the item again.
Some glitches have been reported when it comes to the way Amazon’s listing works. Sellers have stated that the inactive closed listings have appeared as available even when their inventory capacity was at zero.
Because of this, buyers have been able to purchase these items even though there were none available.
Amazon does say that this hasn’t occurred, however, it is something that is often discussed within the Amazon seller forums.
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Close Listing Vs Delete Summary
Through Amazon, sellers are able to delete or close their listings as they wish and it is entirely up to them which they choose and how they go about it.
If you are looking to temporarily remove a listing from your seller page then you should simply close the listing.
If you are sure you are no longer going to be selling the product, then you may want to permanently remove the listing by deleting it from the account.
