Amazon is adding 274 product attributes for 200 product types that will be required for new listings as of August 16.
According to the August 4 announcement:
“Providing attribute information can help increase sales by making it easier for customers to search for product information that improves their purchase decisions.
“We periodically review listing requirements for the most popular product types to ensure listings contain relevant attribute information that will help customers make a buying decision.
“All new listings for the affected product types will require valid attribute values or the product won’t be added to the catalog. This attribute information isn’t required for active listings.”
One seller commenting on the announcement post wrote, “When ever this happens you can be sure a lot of items will become Search Suppressed. They say it’s for NEW items – but once you edit/update an old listing the validation of fields will occur.”
A couple of sellers said Amazon should supply them with a list of the changes. “Waiting until a listing is suppressed is absolutely ridiculous,” wrote one seller.