Overview

When you no longer want to sell a product on Amazon, you have two options: closing the listing temporarily or deleting it permanently. Understanding the difference between these two actions is essential for managing your catalog effectively and avoiding unintended consequences to your sales history or account data.

Key Points / What Sellers Need to Know

• Two distinct options exist - Amazon provides both a temporary close option and a permanent delete option, each with different implications for your account and catalog.
• Closing a listing is reversible - When you close a listing, your product becomes inactive and is no longer available for purchase, but all of your sales history is preserved and you can relist at any time.
• Deleting a listing is permanent - Removing a product and its listing from your account cannot be undone instantly. If you change your mind, you must wait at least 24 hours before you can re-add the product.
• Bulk actions are supported - You can close or delete multiple listings simultaneously, which is helpful when discontinuing several products at once or performing seasonal catalog cleanups.

How to Close a Listing

To temporarily deactivate a product, navigate to the Manage Inventory page in Seller Central and locate the listing you want to close. Click the drop-down menu on the right side of the listing row and select the option to close the listing. The status will change to inactive, meaning the product will no longer appear in Amazon search results or be available for customers to purchase. If you need to close several listings at once, you can check the boxes to the left of each product and then use the bulk action drop-down menu at the top of the page to close them all simultaneously. This approach is ideal for seasonal products, items temporarily out of stock, or products you may want to offer again in the future.

How to Permanently Delete a Listing

If you want to fully remove a product from your Seller Central account rather than simply making it inactive, you can delete both the product and its listing. From the Manage Inventory page, find the relevant listing, click the drop-down menu on the right, and select the option to delete the product and listing. As with closing, you can perform this action in bulk by selecting multiple listings and choosing the delete option from the top-of-page drop-down menu. However, sellers should exercise caution with this option because deletion is permanent. Unlike closing a listing, deleting removes the product data from your account entirely. If you later decide you want to sell the product again, you will need to wait a minimum of 24 hours before re-adding it to your catalog, and you will need to create the listing from scratch.