If you are selling on Amazon, you know about the fierce competition within its marketplaces all too well. In order to give you a competitive edge, Amazon offers a free program for registered brands that alleviates their struggles against trademark infringement.   

In this post, we will discuss the opportunities that the Amazon Brand Registry program offers to its members and why brands should consider enrolling in it.

The Rundown on Amazon Brand Registry

First launched as a program helping to protect your brand from counterfeit products, Amazon Brand Registry has evolved a couple of times and now includes a whole suite of services capable of giving a competitive edge to your online business.

Who Can Enroll in the Brand Registry?

• Manufacturers or private label brand owners
• Distributors with licensed trademarks
• Resellers and people with written permission from a brand owner or manufacturer to manage a product’s detail page on Amazon

Benefits of Amazon Brand Registry

• Increased control over product detail pages (such as titles, product descriptions, and images)
• The ability to list products with different product identifications outside of UPC and EAN codes
• The ability to provide advanced seller support
• Access to predictive automation based on machine learning algorithms

Additionally, the registered Amazon Sellers can access some other prominent tools and programs:

• A+ Content, also known as Enhanced Brand Content, allows Amazon Sellers to customize their listings.
• Amazon Stores Builder helps to create and maintain a dedicated page that’s customized and structured to show off all your products together on one storefront.
• Sponsored Brands Ads open access to advanced marketing and advertising tools for brand owners.
• Amazon Live Creator is used to live chat with potential customers to answer any questions.
• Amazon Vine Program invites the most trusted customers on Amazon to leave reviews on the products and therefore attract new shoppers by presenting honest and unbiased feedback.  
• Virtual Bundles Tool allows brand owners to create special “bundles” out of several complementary products purchased from a single detail page.   
• Amazon Attribution tool provides analytics insight into social media, display ads, PPC, and email marketing data.
• Transparency program allows you to control who is selling your product.  
• Project Zero program allows you to blacklist users that have infringed on terms of service, after the infringement is verified.

Jessica Wright, Seller Labs Senior Brand Strategist and an authoritative speaker at our Resonate Conference 2021, gives you a complete picture of the tools and programs that the Brand Registry umbrella includes and explains why they are essential for your Amazon business.

Eligibility Requirements

To enroll in the Amazon Brand Registry, a brand owner should first obtain an active registered trademark from the US Patent and Trademark Office. Generally, an application takes up to 12-18 months to be processed before your brand is registered.

Amazon is pretty clear about what is needed before an application can be submitted.

Here are the things you must include:

• An active registered or a pending trademark, which can be text or image-based
• A clearly visible image of the brand’s logo 
• ​​A Government Registered Principal Trademark Registration or Serial Number (visit uspto.gov for more resources)
• Images to be used on your products and packaging
• The product category (or a list of them) in which your brand should be listed
• A country-specific trademark registration number depending on the location of the marketplace you are going to sell on

Will the Brand Registry Program Add Value to My Never-Ending Struggles Against Hijackers?

Besides being able to influence your detail page content to a greater extent, the best pro argument for a brand owner to enroll in the program is to expedite the process of removing counterfeit listings. 

There is, however, one thing to keep in mind. The program doesn’t make brand owners and manufacturers impervious to counterfeiters. While there’s no magic lamp that can yield instant results,  Amazon Brand Registry can become your most powerful tool in the war against counterfeits if used correctly.

How Can You Leverage Brand Registry to Your Advantage?

Brand owners and manufacturers can expedite the process of removing a counterfeit or inauthentic product from a listing because they can easily prove to Amazon that they own the brand. 

Counterfeit listings represent an extremely widespread problem for popular brands or sellers with higher sales velocity.
Removing fraudulent sellers from a listing isn’t a hassle for a brand if the seller uses FBA. By being on the Brand Registry, a seller can prove if someone has counterfeited a product quicker because the previous work of registering a brand on Amazon is done. Best of all, Amazon will dispose of any counterfeit inventory if the seller is using FBA. Unfortunately, non-FBA sellers can hop back on a listing after they’ve been removed by opening up another seller account with a different name.

One Amazon Seller’s Experience with Amazon Brand Registry

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Patrick from Seller Labs’s $25k Challenge spoke with us about applying for and enrolling his #1 selling barbell collars in the Brand Registry program.

The hardest part about getting enrolled in the program was adding a logo to the product and packaging since I hadn’t done this from the beginning. And the best way for me to prove the others were fake was by using the Brand Registry program, he said, as he was sharing his experience of removing six counterfeit listings from his detail page.

So, what did he do?

He made some additions to his offering to then differentiate it from would-be copycats by adding a carrying case with his brand on it. This makes it weigh more for shipping, which is more expensive for non-FBA counterfeits, making it easier to spot a fake as well as deterring fakers from trying to copy that product.

With the colossal online sales increase during the pandemic, Amazon has opened itself up to an influx of counterfeit products, which could keep potential shoppers away if too many claims are made about product quality and legitimacy. 
Although Amazon has already destroyed more than 2 million suspected counterfeit products last year, there is still much that remains to be seen regarding how Amazon will smother counterfeit items.

Key Takeaways and Advice for Sellers Looking to Enroll in the Amazon Brand Registry Program:

• Adding a logo to your product and packaging: Yes, it costs money and takes time, but it’s worth it if you have a top-selling item.
• Expect your cost per unit to increase by about 10% for branding and special packaging.
• Brand Registry won’t keep counterfeiters away, but it will make it easier to remove them.

How Seller Labs Can Help you Protect your Products

At first sight, the Amazon Brand Registry looks like a feasible solution granting a bunch of opportunities for preserving brand reputation. 

The thing is, it’s not all black and white when it comes to having any new brand registered. 

One should have a thoroughly mapped business strategy to know precisely whether the money and effort invested in acquiring an ® symbol for their product are worth it.  

While you are considering the pros & cons of having a registered patent or trademark, you still have some options to contribute to your Amazon trademark and brand protection. By optimizing your Amazon listings, nailing profitable keywords for your product titles, and keeping a sharp eye on your competitors you can hinder the risks of your products being hijacked. 

Therefore, an affordable solution, like Seller Labs PRO spanning a robust Keyword Research Tool and extended Analytics Dashboard can make your life less complicated without draining your wallet.