How to Protect Your Amazon Product Listings & Brand Name
Protect Your Amazon Product Listings & Brand
As a brand selling on Amazon, you may find yourself fighting off unauthorized sellers while Amazon turns the other way. While there is no ‘silver bullet’ for brand protection on Amazon, there are many strategic approaches you can take to police MAP, trademark & copyright infringements, and maintain a healthy brand name.
Last week, CPC Strategy brought you a LIVE 60 minute Amazon Advertising course on how sellers can protect their product listings and brand name on the platform.
The presentation included information on:
- Amazon’s Role in Brand Protection
- How to Use the Amazon Brand Registry to Your Advantage
- How to Handle Trademark & Copyright Infringements
- How to Effectively Enforce Amazon MAP pricing
- How Brand Owners Can Protect Themselves
There were a lot of questions we didn’t get a chance to answer – so here they are now with answers from Pat Petriello, Head of Marketplace at CPC Strategy.
Q. How do I set a restriction to block unauthorized sellers from listing our products?
A. There is no setting or functionality to block other Sellers from listing against an ASIN. Best practices for protecting your brand were covered in the webinar by Kathleen and Carina and include serialization, trading agreement restrictions, product controls, and vigilantly monitoring your products
Q. I have reported countless violations to Amazon but they have still not responded to my requests, what action items would you suggest we take next?
A. Make sure that what you are defining as a violation is actually a violation of Amazon’s policy. For example, an unauthorized Seller listing against your ASIN or selling below MAP does not constitute a violation of Amazon policy and therefore will not solicit a response from Amazon.
Q. How are some brands able to get their listings locked down? There are a few brands that sellers can’t list against without the brand owner’s permission.
A. There are a number of larger brands selling to Amazon as Vendors which have been able to get additional brand protection as part of their selling agreement with Amazon. These agreements are negotiated with Amazon for Vendors only.
Q. Can I contact the infringing seller through Amazon messages and ask them to remove their counterfeit listings?
A. Yes. By going to the Seller’s Information page (which you can reach by clicking on the Seller name from a detail page) you can reach out to the Seller directly. These messages are most effective if they are perceived to be coming from a lawyer and are intended to communicate that the infringing Seller is at risk if they don’t discontinue selling.
Q. Does Amazon assume any liability for hosting and effectively selling counterfeit products?
A. No. The responsibility of policing counterfeit products falls on brand manufacturers and Sellers.
Q. How can an unauthorized seller be identified when the listing states “sold by Amazon”?
A. “Sold by Amazon” indicates that the brand manufacturer is a Vendor selling directly to Amazon and, as such, will normally have full distribution rights.
Q. Does registering my brand on Amazon protect me from unauthorized resellers?
A. No. Enrolling a brand in the Brand Registry and registering as the brand owner does not prevent other sellers from selling the branded products.
Q. Is Amazon willing to divulge any information regarding 3rd party sellers undercutting MAP pricing? Or are manufacturers/vendors left to sort out the issue through their own channels?
A. The responsibility of brand policing falls on brand manufacturers and Sellers.
Q. Does the Amazon Exclusives program provide any protection and can you touch on that program in a little more detail? How can brands apply for it?
A. Yes, the Amazon Exclusives program does offer additional barriers for protecting your brand on Amazon. You can request approval for the Exclusives program here (login required).
Q. When a 3P seller starts selling a product 1P. Who has the rights to Brand Registry? Amazon or ourselves?
A. Vendors selling directly to Amazon have the most heavily weighted content. As such, content contributions from Vendors will appear on the detail page.
Q. As a brand manufacturer, can I use brand registry but NOT sell on Amazon? In other words, let our retailers sell, but we control the brand and product descriptions?
A. No, you must be a Seller on Amazon to register for the Brand Registry program.
Q. What does this mean: Require all resellers to sign an authorized reseller agreement that prohibits resellers from selling on Amazon and other online marketplaces. Just want to confirm that does not eliminate 3P from the mix, just people you sell to.
A. That’s correct. This restriction is intended to limit the number of resellers that sell on Amazon.
Q. Amazon Retail violating MAP. Any comments on how to prevent Amazon (through Vendor Central) from violating MAP? We’ve cut them off several times but they don’t like that.
A. Amazon does not adhere to MAP as part of their Vendor agreements.
Q. Resellers creating discreet listings & not listings against your ASIN. Anything a brand can do there to merge those listings together?
A. Vendors are able to use the Merge ASIN form to merge identical product listings under one product detail page. 3P Sellers can submit this request through a Seller Support case under the “product page issue” tab.
For additional information on Brand Policing, be sure to check out “45 Amazon Brand Policing & Protection Questions – Answered“
Policing Your Brand on Amazon Sources
- Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) Violations & Policing Your Brand on Amazon
- Policing Your Brand on Amazon: Copyright & Trademark Infringement
- Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging: Improve Buy Box & Protect Against Unauthorized Sellers
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