The A-Z of Amazon Brand Registry

If you’ve ever tried to sell your products on Amazon, the one thing that may have stopped you is the difficulty of standing out among competitors. Amazon is a marketplace with great potential, but it also has fierce competition. 

The best solution to this problem is the Amazon Brand Registry Program. 

What is the Amazon Brand Registry Program? 

Amazon Brand Registry is a feature that helps brand owners safeguard their intellectual property. It gives Amazon the ability to identify your brand and the advertising data associated with it. 

In cases where another company uses your insignia or data, you can quickly take action against the other company’s account and have them removed. That’s not all, though. You’ll also have access to tools that can help you optimize your account and effectively manage your brand. 

By enrolling in Amazon Brand  Registry, brands can do more than monitor fakes, counterfeits, and imitation reviews. This program was launched in 2017 to give brands a safe and secure space to establish their own identity.  It is designed to give your product more visibility and help you build a recognizable brand. 

Enrolling your Amazon brand gives you  the following benefits: 

• Amazon Associate domain. Create interest for your products at amazon.com and other sites by creating a custom, branded Amazon Associate web address. 
• Logo customization. Upload your logo for use on the Amazon marketplace and elsewhere. 
• Brand management and protection. Keep unauthorized sellers from taking advantage of your hard work and prevent customer disputes, for example where you are hesitant about delivering to an international destination. 

 Of the 7 million brands operating on Amazon, approximately 4 million are enrolled  in the program. The benefits and complete package for operational efficiency have compelled many brands to enroll in the Amazon Brand Registry program. Further benefits of enrollment include: 

• Improved Brand Experience. This includes everything from awareness to  sales of your product. Your target market will be impressed with the variety of ways you stand out. From enhanced advertising to sponsored content, we’ll show you how to promote your brand successfully. 
• Better Store Analytics. You’ll be able to understand where your business’s strengths and weaknesses lie, and these insights  will help you make data-driven decisions to maximize your success. 
• Intellectual Property Protection. We know that you work hard on your brand, and we understand what is at stake if it is stolen. That is where the IP protection tool comes in. It helps protect your advertising data, product specs, and branding material. With this incredible tool, you’ll have access to accurate listings of product pages and the ability to report suspected IP violations or infringements. 

Amazon 2.0 provides even more tools to help your business thrive, including:  

• Amazon Storefront Builder. Looking for a way to build and maintain your digital storefront? Try Amazon Store Builder. This tool will help you create and customize a digital page similar to a traditional homepage. The process is relatively straightforward—all you need to do is upload your product details, arrange them, and start promoting. 
• Amazon Vine Program. We all want good reviews for our products. With Vine, you’ll have Amazon’s most trusted purchasers leave positive feedback on your products to attract new customers. These reviews will be genuine, so you’re only getting a chance to show off the quality of your goods. 
• Amazon Live. This tool will allow you to contact your prospects and  customers directly via chat. There you can answer their questions and provide advice to convince them of the quality of both your products and your services
• Virtual bundles. Who doesn’t love a good deal? This tool will let you put together deals for your customers, to encourage them to buy more than one product and to keep coming back. 
• Transparency. This feature is designed to give your brand control over who is allowed to sell your products. 
• The Amazon Attribution Tool. This tool provides the analytical insights you need from your digital marketing campaigns. View data on social media, PPC, email marketing, and more for insight into the performance of your promotions. 
• Project Zero Program. After identifying infringing users, you can bar them from the platform. We can help you verify if someone has infringed on your  rights. Sellers can also report any violations to Amazon by following the Amazon Sales and Customer Service Page guidelines. 

Amazon Brand Registry Requirements 

• To register with ABR, you’ll need:A clear PNG or JPEG file of your brand’s  trademark, consisting either of words only or of a combination of words and images 
• Government-authorized official trademark registration or  pending application number  
• Product categories under which you will list your product(s) 
•  Your official trademark registration or application number 
• The images of your trademark that are to be used on your product, and its packaging 

Are you looking to  register your trademark? 

The first step in running an e-commerce website is registering your trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office or the Trademark Office of the country marketplace in which you want to sell. Once  registered, you can then enroll your trademark also on Amazon’s seller brand registry. This process may be challenging for you if you’re a startup company. To make it easier, we’ve broken down these steps for you: 

• Step 1. The first thing you should do is come up with a name and logo for your business. It would help if you chose a name that  has not already been registered by anybody else. You can check this out at the USPTO website or contact a professional search specialist to scan the USPTO data. 
• Step 2. Now that you have a name, it’s time to select  the goods categories you want to sell under your brand on Amazon. The cost of the trademark application depends on the number of categories – or “classes” – you choose. 
• Step 3. The last step is to protect your trademark by filing your application to register it before someone else does. To do this, it’s best to hire a  specialist trademark attorney so that  your application is managed properly and succeeds in getting your trademark registered. 

Once your trademark is registered, you’ll have the legal right to protect your  brand. It doesn’t matter if it’s a physical brand or an online business—no other seller will be able to use your name and branding to register similar products onto their platforms. 

The trademark will be registered, and you will receive the official documents that you can use to verify your account on Amazon and participate in the A+ program. 

How to enroll in Amazon Brand Registry? 

Amazon is one of the few online marketplaces with a true global market. To keep things running smoothly, it has created some of the easiest ways to help all kinds of businesses, big and small. At first, Amazon may have just been famous for drop-shipping services, but now it’s an entire solution for enhancing brand identity. With Amazon Brand Registration, you can protect your products from all sorts of malicious activity and maintain complete control and authority to run your business exactly how you want it to be run. Here are all the steps to register your brand on Amazon. 

Enroll your Brand 

If you are about to sell your product on Amazon, you should first search for “Amazon Brand Services” and choose the website from the list that appears. Once you’re on the landing page, click “enroll now,” then follow the instructions on the screen.  

Select your marketplace – an important step, which will determine the legal requirements that apply to your brand – and keep going. Next, you’ll need to fill out the details for your brand on the following page. And remember, filling out more information will help Amazon rank your products higher in their search engine. 

Eligibility  

To determine if your brand is eligible for the Amazon Brand Registry, you’ll be asked three questions: 

Question #1: Do you have a product, and a logo  that you want to use to sell that product under your brand?  

Question #2: How many brands would you like to enroll in your Brand Registry? The limit is 10. 

Question #3: Did you already apply to register your trademark at the Trademark Office of your selected marketplace? 

Provide information about intellectual property 

There are a couple of options for trademarking images and text. Numerals are treated as text. 

Branding is all about expressing your personality and taste. It’s also a way of connecting with customers who like what you do. 

Make your brand unique through personalization 

Personalize your brand by putting in the details of the specifications. Then, if these characteristics apply to your product, you can mention them or select “No.” 

• EANs or European Article Numbers are beneficial in cross-shop tracking products since they’re relatively easy to track. 
• ISBNs or International Standard Book Numbers. 
• EPNs or UPCs or Unique Product Codes provide the necessary information regarding your product. 

Next, you’ll be asked to enter information about your brand and the merchant. This will depend on the complexity of your business. If you have an affiliate program, this is where you will mention it and provide verification; it’s also important to note whether your company manufactures the product. You can select “No” if you only distribute products – in this case, Amazon needs to know where they will be distributed. If you manufacture products and are looking for qualified distributors to carry your product, then mention that here. You’ll also be asked where your product is sold, whether you have any prior experience with Amazon, what other eCommerce sites distribute your products, and who holds the master trademark registration for them. 

Can you change your brand on Amazon after it is already  enrolled? 

If you’re dissatisfied with how your brand is performing on Amazon, there are ways to change it. 

Sometimes, changing the Amazon seller name can be a real hassle. But we’re here to tell you that it’s possible and much more straightforward than you might think. Here’s an overview of the entire process for anyone interested: 

1. To change a brand name on Amazon, go to the Help page. You’ll find a link for Help at the top right of your listings page, which will lead you to a new page. For example, if you click ‘Request a Product Detail Page Change,’ you won’t have to wait around. Instead, click and follow the instructions on that page! 
2. You’ll be able to make changes to your product detail page with the listing you created, and within the ‘Product name’ bar, enter a new name for your product for your new listing. 
3. To change the brand name, select the ‘Brand Name’ button and enter the  new name you want to use. If the name already exists on Brand Registry, you will see an error – even if  the existing listing is yours! 
4. If you still need to find the answer you were looking for, select ‘Need more Help’ from the Help page. You’ll see a list of helpful topics to navigate or type in a keyword. Find your topic, then find ‘Selling on Amazon.’ Again, type in a keyword, like ‘investigate other product listings,’ and you should be directed to where you need to go. 

You’ll request a call or email from here if you need to change your brand name. Once you receive it, they will explain what to do and when. The process will take a few weeks, but most of the time, you’ll need to send in a high-resolution JPEG document of your product’s original packaging. You can get this using the UPC of products. 

Enrolling your brand with Amazon helps protect intellectual property and maintain quality standards. It’s essential to read the following information carefully before  enrolling. 

Frequently Asked Questions regarding Amazon Brand Registry 

How much does enrolling your brand on Amazon cost? 

There are two steps you will need to take to claim  your brand on Amazon: Registering it with your Trademark Office and enrolling your registered mark in the Amazon Brand Registry. The process to register a trademark for a single category of goods is US$ 375 in official fees plus attorney charges. Once enrolled, you’ll be able to use Amazon’s Trademark Reporting tool to monitor other sellers of your branded products, such as counterfeit labels or product knock-offs.  

Is the brand I’m looking at enrolled on Amazon? 

As a buyer, you can’t tell whether a brand you’re looking at is enrolled by looking at the product listing pages. There is, however, a big difference between brands that have not have not been enrolled  and those that are already. This gap in quality is reinforced in the enhanced content on the product listing pages. 

Can you sell on Amazon without enrolling your brand in Amazon Brand Registry? 

You can still sell on the Amazon Marketplace without participating in Brand Registry. Many businesses are operating on Amazon without enrolling their brands, but there’s no reason why you shouldn’t sign up. With enrollment , you gain numerous benefits which will help build your Amazon brand. 

When does the Amazon Brand Registry approve your  enrollment application? 

Provided you submitted everything required when applying for trademark  enrollment, the  decision process should take less than two weeks.  

How exactly do you list a product on Amazon without using Amazon Brand Registry? 

To list your product without the Amazon Brand Registry, you must take a more complex route and contact Selling Partner Support. After quoting the code ‘5665,’ you’ll be asked to attach pictures of the product and its packaging. This process might take up to 3 days. 

All in all, 

The online market for businesses is becoming more and more critical. When it comes to the best place to register your business, Amazon offers several advantages. For example, like any brick-and-mortar business on your street, Amazon operates as a pioneer brand, allowing you to establish your brand and expand your equity. If you’re serious about establishing your online presence and building a national or international brand, Amazon Brand Registry is more than just a tool—it could be your ticket to a successful business.  

 

 By Suman Naresh
Suman is a graduate of Cambridge University and a member of the English Bar, and a former law professor at Cambridge, the University of Chicago, and Tulane University Law School in New Orleans. He has practiced, lectured, and published in the field of intellectual property for more than forty years. He is the CEO of Trademark ISG, LLC, which provides assistance and intellectual property support services to Joseph Root and Verena Benker.
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