So, you are contemplating selling on the Amazon marketplace, or maybe you already are. You’re a little apprehensive, because you’ve worked hard to build your company’s brand and products, and you don’t want to lose control over those things. You know that once a brand is damaged, it’s difficult to recover. So, how can you protect your brand when selling on the Amazon marketplace? The twelve recommendations which I outline below will help you do just that.
First, read and understand all relevant Amazon policies. They change often, and they’re not necessarily in one neat-and-tidy document, so you have to look thoroughly. Amazon sends out frequent announcements about policy and functionality changes to sellers. Read them.
Second, be vigilant. Understand that Amazon is not the brand police, so policing your brand is your own responsibility. You need to watch the Amazon marketplace every day, looking for new competitors, and paying attention to what they do. This is not a part-time job.
Are they joining your listings? If so, are they trying to change the content, and if so, is it accurate?
Are they creating separate but similar listings? Make note of and track these.
Are they an authorized distributor? If so, are they undercutting your pricing and/or violating your MAP or MRP policies?
If they’re not an authorized distributor, are they portraying themselves as the manufacturer of your product – are they selling counterfeit products? Buy it (called a "test buy") and see if it's counterfeit. If it is, consult both an attorney and the Amazon Brand Registry support team. Remember, Amazon does not view unauthorized sellers (i.e. anyone but you and your authorized distributors) as policy violators. Only counterfeit items violate Amazon's policies. If you think there is a violation of your intellectual property, you should complete a form on the Amazon Infringement Report page.
If you have distributors, ensure that your legally-vetted distribution agreements address unilateral MRP / MAP pricing. The agreement should also address where they can sell, and if they can resell your product to other sellers. Amazon will not police sellers if sellers obtained product legally. You, on the other hand, can revoke their distribution agreement and stop selling to them.
Third, read your product reviews every day.
Read your own reviews carefully. Do any look like sabotage from a competitor? If so, report them to Amazon.
Read other sellers’ reviews carefully. Do any of them look like fake or paid-for reviews? If so, report them to Amazon.
Product reviews can also give you counterfeiting clues. If a legitimate customer mentions something about your product that’s impossible, it may be that they purchased a counterfeit item.
Finally, it should be common sense, but it’s not: you should read and respond to legitimate product reviews when appropriate. These are a wealth of feedback about your product or your service. Legitimate feedback can also enhance or damage your brand, so ignore them at your own peril.
Fourth, research and retain an Intellectual Property attorney now, so when something does happen, you are ready to act. Don’t wait until something happens. Sometimes, just getting a letter to Amazon or to the other seller is enough to get a resolution moving. Procrastinate, and you might lose sales.
Fifth, get the appropriate patents and / or trademarks before you start selling, if you have a unique product. If you have a brand, get a registered trademark®. Nothing is more beautiful to a counterfeiter than a great product with no legal protections. At least get the applications into the USPTO several months before you start selling and make your product or company into a target. The USPTO process can take many months, so you could also consider going through the UK’s Intellectual Property Office (ipo.gov.uk), which may be a little faster, and the resulting patent or trademark may still be recognized by Amazon.com, not just Amazon UK.
Sixth, enroll in the Amazon Brand Registry. This is incredibly important! You can and should enroll in the Amazon Brand Registry ASAP (brandregistry.amazon.com) if you’re the manufacturer or brand owner. Of course, this means you need to have your products and brands legally registered with the USPTO. There are multiple benefits of being brand registered:
Other sellers can’t (easily) make changes to your product detail pages, because you’re “certified” as the brand owner. So, the product content that you submit trumps content submitted by other sellers. But that doesn’t mean you should get sloppy; your product pages must be complete, useful, and totally accurate, in both the text content and the images.
You can use Amazon’s Sponsored Brands Ads (formerly called Headline Ads). These ads not only drive traffic to your products and your Amazon store, but they also help protect your brand by diverting traffic away from “fraudulent” listings and sellers.
Gives you EBC (Enhanced Brand Content) access. EBC is a way to created enhanced product detail pages that you alone control. These special pages help enhance your brand image and messaging; they provide a better user experience as compared to Amazon’s standard product detail pages. See this example from GoPro.
Allows you to create your own storefront on Amazon. Storefronts are growing in popularity and improving in design aesthetics. You control the content of these stores, and visitors only see your product. Check out GoPro’s store.
Seventh, enroll in Amazon’s Project Zero and the Transparency Program. Project Zero is a combination of AI automation that identifies and removes problematic listings (counterfeits), as well as giving trusted brands the capability to remove counterfeit sellers from listings. You will need to serialize your products as part of the transparency program.
Eighth, review and evaluate your product packaging. Branded packaging is a requirement for Brand Registry enrollment. If you’re a branding guy like me, then you think of your product packaging as a very important part of your total brand experience. I call the process of opening the package the “OOBE”, or “Out Of Box Experience”. This is where your customers’ hearts start racing with excitement…or not. If you've ever opened a new iPhone or iPad box from Apple, you know what I mean. That OOBE needs to portray your brand in a positive light, and it needs to be oozing with authenticity. But this isn’t just about brand-building; it’s also about brand protection. Having your logo on your product and packaging gives you copyright protection under US law. By having a great OOBE, you make it harder to create counterfeit products. You create an aura of legitimacy and credibility that a judge, or an Amazon representative may see some day, and cause him or her to rule in your favor.
Ninth, don’t rely only on the Amazon marketplace to promote and sell your products. Maintain a documented sales history outside of Amazon. Operate your own website (also required for Brand Registry enrollment). Ensure it is professionally designed and keep it up-to-date. Make sure it has a functioning checkout and a user-friendly customer experience. If you’re not actively promoting your business and your products with your own website, Facebook Instagram, and YouTube, you’re making a big mistake. These other channels give your product and company legitimacy, and just as important, they can show a decision-maker a historical timeline that proves when you launched your company, your brand, and your products. Use your website and Facebook pages to post NPAs (New Product Announcements).
Tenth, pay attention to other marketplaces. Walmart, eBay, Newegg, Rakuten, and many others. A counterfeiter or rogue distributor may start their life of crime on one of these, so as to demonstrate a long sales history before selling the product on Amazon.
Eleventh, don’t use the stickerless, commingled inventory option if you’re using the Amazon FBA program (Fulfillment By Amazon). This gives you the option to not apply Amazon barcode stickers when you ship it to their facilities. Don’t use this option, because you don’t want to mix your product with potentially counterfeit items.
Twelfth, use Amazon listing alerts. If someone changes your content or pictures, you can get a notification so that you can investigate. Helium 10 is one company that offers this service.
Good luck selling on Amazon!
Rick Wingender
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