Overview

Amazon maintains strict restrictions on the sale of human remains, body parts, and burial-related artifacts through its marketplace. This policy is part of Amazon's broader restricted products program and applies to all sellers listing items on the platform. Understanding these rules is essential for sellers in categories like medical supplies, hair products, antiques, and historical collectibles, where the boundaries of what is permissible can be nuanced.

Key Points / What Sellers Need to Know

• Legal compliance is mandatory — Sellers must comply with all applicable federal, state, and local laws in addition to Amazon's own policies when listing any product on the platform.
• Most human body parts are prohibited — Amazon does not allow the sale of human organs, tissue, blood, bodily fluids, or waste products under any circumstances.
• Medical-use exceptions exist — Human skulls, bones, and skeletons intended for legitimate medical or educational purposes may be permitted, provided the sale is legal in the buyer's jurisdiction.
• Human hair products are generally allowed — Items such as wigs and hair extensions made from human hair are not subject to this restriction and can be sold normally.
• Burial artifacts face strict rules — Grave markers, tombstones, and Native American or other culturally significant burial items are either restricted or outright prohibited.
• Protected land artifacts are banned — Any burial items or artifacts removed from Native American land, federal or state land, or battlefield sites cannot be sold on the platform.

What Is Prohibited

Amazon's policy draws a clear line around several categories of items. Human organs and remains of any kind are strictly banned from the marketplace, consistent with federal laws such as the National Organ Transplant Act, which prohibits the commercial sale of human organs. This extends to human waste and bodily fluids, which are also not permitted under any listing. Sellers who attempt to list these items risk immediate removal of their listings and potential account suspension.

Burial artifacts represent another heavily restricted category. Tombstones, grave markers, and items associated with burial sites cannot be listed. This restriction becomes even more stringent when the artifacts in question have been removed from protected lands, including Native American territories, federally or state-managed properties, and historical battlefield locations. These rules align with federal protections under laws like the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and the Archaeological Resources Protection Act.