Marketplace listings in Australia are rejected or suppressed for a short list of reasons. The usual causes are missing or invalid identifiers, the wrong category, missing required attributes, images that break the rules and missing Australian compliance information. Each marketplace has its own template, so fixes made by hand in one channel rarely carry over to the next.
That last point is the one that costs money. A rejection is a product data problem, not a marketplace problem. If you fix it in the marketplace portal, you fix it once, for one channel, until the next feed overwrites it.
Which marketplaces matter in Australia?
For most Australian retailers, distributors and brands, the shortlist in 2026 is four: Amazon Australia, eBay Australia, Kogan and Bunnings Marketplace. Each one publishes its own listing rules, and each one checks your data in a different way.
The list has got shorter. Wesfarmers closed Catch in 2025, and Woolworths closed MyDeal the same year. The MyDeal address now redirects to Big W’s marketplace. If your feed mappings still mention either one, retire them before fixing data for a channel that no longer exists.
Which marketplaces you should list on depends on your range, margins and fulfilment model. Electrical goods and consumer tech suit different channels to trade tools or garden products. Our marketplace product data work starts with that question, because every extra channel adds another template to keep in step.
What are the most common reasons listings get rejected?
We see the same five causes across almost every catalogue we audit. They are rarely exotic. They are gaps and format errors in the product record that a marketplace’s validation catches before a customer does.
Missing or invalid identifiers (GTIN, brand, MPN)
Identifiers are how a marketplace decides whether your product is new or already in its catalogue. Amazon Australia says each product you sell must have its own unique product ID. If a product has no barcode, you apply for a GTIN exemption.
The failures we see are mundane. A barcode stored as a number loses its leading zero. A supplier sends the inner carton barcode instead of the unit barcode. The brand field holds the distributor’s name rather than the manufacturer’s. Each of these produces a mismatch, a rejection or a listing attached to the wrong product.
Wrong category, so the wrong attribute template applies
Category drives everything that follows. On every major marketplace, the category you choose decides which attributes are required, which values are valid and which filters your product appears under.
Pick the wrong one and you fail validation on fields that do not suit the product. Or you pass with the wrong fields and vanish from the filters shoppers use. A cordless drill mapped to a generic “tools” node is a typical example. It lists, but it never shows up when a buyer filters by voltage or battery platform. Kogan publishes a category list, and your internal taxonomy has to map to it.
Required attributes missing or in the wrong format
In our audits, this is the biggest single cause. Amazon’s Listings Error Code Guide lists error 8058 for attributes that are missing or invalid for a SKU. Error 8560 covers invalid values, such as a UPC that is not 12 digits or an EAN that is not 13. It also covers missing required fields and the wrong template.
eBay Australia works the same way. Where a category has required item specifics, you cannot create or revise a listing until they are filled in. Format matters as much as presence. “240V”, “240 V” and “240 volts” are three different values to a validation rule that expects a number and a unit from a fixed list.
Images that break the marketplace’s rules
Image rules differ by marketplace, which is why a single image set rarely works everywhere. eBay Australia’s picture policy requires at least one photo of 500 pixels or more on the longest side. It bans added borders, added text or marketing material, and watermarks of any type.
Amazon and Kogan publish their own image guidance. The fix is to store clean master images with the metadata to say which is the main shot, then generate each channel’s version from them.
Australian compliance information missing: RCM, mandatory standards, country of origin
This is the gap UK and US guidance tends to miss. Australian law puts obligations on suppliers, and marketplaces can ask you for the evidence.
Electrical goods are the clearest case. The Regulatory Compliance Mark (RCM) shows compliance with two schemes: the Electrical Equipment Safety System and ACMA labelling requirements. In-scope equipment must not be sold unless it carries the RCM. Level 3 equipment also needs a current certificate of conformity and registration by the responsible supplier on the EESS Platform. Kogan has a seller help article on electrical safety compliance requirements for marketplace sellers.
Mandatory standards reach well beyond electrical goods. The ACCC’s Product Safety Australia states that it is an offence to supply goods that do not comply with mandatory standards. Its guidance for selling online tells marketplaces to audit listings for non-compliance. It tells online shops to include warnings, labels and age-grading on children’s products in the listing.
Country of origin depends on the product. The ACCC says most food sold in Australia must be labelled with its country of origin. Non-food products do not need it under the Australian Consumer Law, but any claim you make must be true and accurate.
If your product record has no field for RCM details, the applicable mandatory standard or country of origin, that data cannot reach a marketplace. It ends up in a PDF on a shared drive.
What should you check, marketplace by marketplace?
Use this as a starting point, not a rulebook. Marketplaces change their rules often, so check each linked page before a large upload.
| Marketplace | Identifier rule | Image rule | Attribute check |
| Amazon Australia | Each product needs a unique product ID. No barcode means applying for a GTIN exemption. | Check main and secondary images against Amazon’s Listings Image Requirements Guide. | Error 8058 flags missing or invalid attributes. Error 8560 flags wrong-length IDs, missing required fields or the wrong template (error code guide). |
| eBay Australia | Brand and similar details sit in item specifics. Requirements vary by category. | At least one photo, 500 pixels or more on the longest side. No added borders, text or watermarks (picture policy). | Required item specifics must be filled before you can create or revise a listing (Seller Centre). |
| Kogan | Kogan publishes a seller help article on product GTINs and UPCs. Check it for current rules. | Covered in Kogan’s marketplace listing requirements. | Kogan explains what happens if a submitted field is invalid. |
| Bunnings Marketplace | Not set out on the public Bunnings Marketplace page. Confirm with Bunnings when you register interest. | Not set out publicly. Confirm current image specifications with Bunnings during onboarding. | Expect compliance fields. Bunnings’ master data requirements for its suppliers include ACCC mandatory standard compliance and country of origin. |
Two patterns stand out. First, identifiers and required attributes are checked by machine, so they fail fast and visibly. Second, in our experience compliance data is checked less consistently, so a listing can pass today and be pulled later.
How do you fix it at source rather than channel by channel?
Most teams fix rejections in the marketplace portal. It feels quick, and it is why the same error returns after the next feed run. The fix belongs in the product record, in four steps.
- One master record per product. Hold every attribute any channel needs, including GTIN, brand, MPN, category, compliance fields and image roles. Store values in structured form: a number and a unit, not free text. This is the job a PIM does, and it is why PIM remains the governed foundation for multichannel selling.
- A mapping for each marketplace. Map your taxonomy to each marketplace’s category tree, and your attributes to each template. When Amazon wants one format and Kogan another, the mapping does the conversion. Nobody retypes it.
- Checks before submission. Run the marketplace’s rules against your data before you send it. Is the GTIN the right length? Is every required field for that category filled? Does the main image meet the rule for that channel? Is the RCM field filled for in-scope electrical goods? Our guide to product data quality assurance covers how to build these checks.
- Then send. Push from the master record to every channel. When a rejection does come back, trace it to the field, fix the field at source, and resend everywhere.
Where the master record is thin, fill it before you build mappings. That usually means sourcing attributes and compliance data from suppliers, then filling the gaps through product content enrichment. The same record then feeds your own site, your Google Shopping feed and your marketplaces.
Once listings are live, the next job is performance rather than acceptance. Our piece on Amazon listing optimisation picks up from there. Our centre of excellence in Hyderabad has delivered over 50 PIM projects across numerous PIM platforms. The lesson holds on every one: fix the record once, map it many times. See how we approach product data for marketplace sellers.
Frequently asked questions
Usually for missing required attributes, invalid identifiers, images that break the rules or a breach of Kogan’s product and listing policies. Kogan’s seller help centre lists the current rules, including its guidance on GTINs and UPCs.
Most do for branded products, with exemption routes for some products. Amazon Australia, for example, asks you to apply for a GTIN exemption if a product has no barcode. Check each marketplace’s current policy.
Suppression usually means a required attribute is missing or a value breaks a rule, often in the title, images or category-specific fields. Fix the source record and resend.
Yes, if the master record holds every attribute the channels need and each channel has a mapping. That is the job a PIM does.
It depends on the category. Electrical products may need RCM details and some products fall under mandatory safety standards. Country of origin rules apply to most food and to any origin claim you make.
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