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Protecting your brand can be one of the most stressful things about selling private label on Amazon.
It’s too easy for competitors or bad actors to sell cheap counterfeits, and cause damage to your brand.
As Amazon has evolved, they’ve taken steps to protect brand owners in their marketplace. Most notably, their Brand Registry program.
Brand Registry gives Amazon sellers a way to protect their intellectual property, as well as providing access to a number of tools to better showcase your brand.
If you’re serious about building a brand, enrolling in the program is a must.
In this post, we’ll break down everything you need to know about Amazon Brand Registry.
What is Amazon Brand Registry?
Brand Registry is a system to give brands and manufacturers greater control of their intellectual property, and protection against bad actors and counterfeiters.
As the official page for Brand Registry says:
“Amazon Brand Registry helps you protect your intellectual property and create an accurate and trusted experience for customers on Amazon.”
Brands enrolled in the program have better pull when they believe someone has stepped on their trademark, while benefiting from preventative measures to stop infringements in the first place. Amazon has a 24/7 team that investigates and takes action on alleged infractions.
Not only does Brand Registry work for sellers, it helps Amazon customers too. The system makes it easier for people to shop by a particular brand, and gives them the confidence that when they buy branded products, they are getting the real thing.
According to Amazon, more than 130,000 brands are registered with the program, and more than 95% of notices raised by Brand Registry participants are actioned within 24 hours.
Benefits
The benefits to the Brand Registry program as laid out by Amazon are:
- Accurate brand representation – giving brand owners control over the use of their brand name on Amazon product pages
- Search and report tools, such as global search, image search and bulk ASIN search, to find potential infringements easier and faster.
- Proactive brand protections – Amazon proactively blocks listings that appear to be an infringement on brands’ IP.
- Brand building benefits – access to tools like Enhanced Brand Content, Stores, Sponsored Brand Ads and the Brand Dashboard. These tools help brands promote themselves more effectively on Amazon.
- 24/7 Brand Registry support
The additional tools Brand Registry participants are given access to, like Enhanced Brand Content and Storefront Pages, are especially powerful at helping you grow your sales on Amazon.
On the other hand, preventative measures against counterfeiters give a layer of protection against a lot of bad actors you may come across in the third-party marketplace.
Brand Registry doesn’t gate your brand and your listings, however. People can still sell on your listing, though they can’t change anything on the listing.
If you want to get your brand gated, you’ll need to apply for this separately.
Brand Registry Eligibility & Requirements
To enroll in Brand Registry, you need to have an active and registered text or image-based trademark in the country you are selling in. You’ll also need an Amazon Seller Central or Vendor Central account.
Trademarks have to be officially issued by government trademark offices, in the United States, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Australia, India, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, the European Union, or the United Arab Emirates.
You’ll also need to be able to verify that you are the owner or authorized agent of the trademark.
Note that Amazon launched Brand Registry 2.0 in May 2017. This came with stronger protections and features, but tougher requirements (notably, a government-issued trademark). Anyone who had signed up for the original program prior to this date needs to re-apply for Brand Registry 2.0.
Amazon Brand Registry Cost
It’s free to enroll in the program. The only costs are those incurred getting your trademark.
Amazon Transparency Program
A newer initiative from Amazon, Transparency is another level of protection against counterfeit products.
It provides item-level authentication, ensuring Amazon only ever ships authentic products to their customers.
After enrolling in the Transparency program, you’ll get “Transparency” codes to put on your products. These verify the product is legitimate and not counterfeit. Codes are scanned at Amazon’s fulfillment cent
How to Sign Up
You can enroll in Brand Registry here https://brandservices.amazon.com
From here, you’ll need to provide some information to Amazon.
- Your brand name (which must have an active, registered trademark)
- The government-registered trademark number
- Product categories that apply to your brand
- Countries your products are made and distributed in
Amazon will need to verify your information with a contact associated with the given trademark. The time it takes for verification to complete can vary, from within 24 hours, to several weeks.
If you’re selling Private Label on Amazon, it’s strongly recommended that you register your brand with the program. As long as you have a trademark for your brand, the process is easy, and the benefits significant.
The longest part of the process is getting your trademark – this process can take a number of months. So if you don’t have a trademark yet, start this process ASAP. The sooner you have a trademark, the sooner you can enjoy the benefits of Brand Registry.