Amazon Brand Registry in 2019 – How and Why
Amazon UK Brand Registry 2.0 both saves me money through brand protection and makes me money through increased conversion rates. This is a short guide explaining how and why you should apply in 2019.
I never spared a thought for Amazon’s Brand Registry service until one fateful day. Sales were down, so I checked one of my Private Label listings and was hit by that horrible gut sinking feeling – I had my first ‘highjacker’.
And then the floodgates opened, I was hit by a wave of sellers leaching off all my successful listings. I emailed them in a rather threatening manner which sometimes had them scuttling off into the distance. Unfortunately, this didn’t always work and thus pushed me to look for a real, long-term solution to the problem.
Applying for brand registry has a whole host of benefits however, the main purpose and the reason for my signing up was to protect my listings. If Amazon recognise your brand, they will almost immediately throw off any highjacker, no questions asked. This saves my business lots of money. If you’re reading this, I’d wager it could save you some money too.
Why you should apply right now
I’ll leave you to read all the ins and outs but in my book, there are two main features that will improve your business:
- Listing protection.
- Enhanced Brand Content.
Aside from being the best way of protecting your listings from infringement, Brand Registry also allows you to add the Enhanced Brand Content area to your listings. This really allows you to stand out from the competition, here’s a couple of examples of the extra pictures and descriptive elements that you can include.
These guys have decided to add some background about their brand itself, this is a good way to show transparency and build trust with potential customers.
In short, Brand Registry allows us to beef out the product description allowing a more aesthetic and informative listing (that always converts better in my experience).
Okay Dom we get it, Brand Registry is a good idea. What do I need to apply?
This is what Amazon UK requires:
They require a text or image-based trademark, proof that you are the owner of it and an Amazon (Seller Central) account.
I may do a post on exactly how to register for a trademark from the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) – let me know if it would be helpful. However, here are some key details.
You will need to:
- Visit this website for the entire process https://www.gov.uk/how-to-register-a-trade-mark
- Check the trademark is available.
- Apply.
- Pay £170 online (£200 by paper) + £50 for every additional class.
- Respond to any objections.
- The process takes around 3-4 months and the trademark will last for 10 years.
You’ll also need a Limited Company or equivalent for the application. If you don’t have one, I recently made a handy (I hope) guide here
It’s worth mentioning that Amazon check that the trademark class is suitable for each product that you try to brand register. For example, your trademark must include the ‘Bicycle’ class if you wish to sell bicycles on Amazon. Also think into the future and ask yourself what you might want to sell in the brand later down the road – I’ve heard it can be a pain trying to add classes later (if at all).
How to apply for Brand Registry
Head over to https://brandservices.amazon.co.uk/, here you can read about all the glorious benefits and make your application.
The application is a one-page form if I remember correctly. Required is simple information including product categories (so they can check these categories are covered under the trademark), trademark number etc.
Most importantly on this form is an optional box for a brand website. Although this is optional, I would consider this a mandator requirement to get approved. If you don’t have a website currently retailing your products. A simple one-page website showing your brand name, your products and a business address in the footer at the bottom should suffice.
If you don’t have a website, I would thoroughly recommend Shopify for this kind of thing, you can get a free trial here.
This lets Amazon know that you are a serious seller and they won’t look into every little detail trying to reject your application – food for thought!
Approval can take 2 weeks to many months if they are not completely happy with something. Something else worth mentioning is during the process, the registered brand owner (me in my case) will receive a verification code via email. The instructions are painfully unclear of what to do with the code…
I simply open up the Case Log inside the brand registry dashboard and reply to the open case stating the verification code – this gets the brand approved within 24hours in my experience.
Once you’re approved the portal is similar to Seller Central but called Amazon Brand Registry (confused me at first as they looked the same).
From this dashboard you use features like ‘Report a violation’, which enables you to search for product infringements using keywords or images. If you find anything you can then easily report it for removal – simples!
Parting Thoughts
Future success using Amazon FBA will come in the form of building brands. Brand Registry allows us to do this by providing protection and additional rights over other non-registered sellers. In my opinion, this is essential for anyone considering the longevity of their business.
Related: If you’re struggling to get product reviews on Amazon, consider using a tool like FeedbackGenius, I wrote an article about it here , alternatively get a free trial here.
Yes, it may cost money to apply for a trademark, but in my case the initial cost has repaid itself many times over. I now also own various trademarks much earlier than I thought I would, not a bad thing.
I honestly can’t see a draw back from joining the program, I highly recommend it, do it.
If you aren’t persuaded, here’s a few extra reasons which I likely glossed over or missed in my babble.
Amazon’s Brand Registry:
- Affords greater control over listing content.
- Provides a dedicated internal team for fixing incorrect listing contributions and variations.
- Provides a dedicated internal team for dealing with IP infringement claims.
- Offers tools for monitoring your brand more effectively.
- Gives access to Enhanced Brand Content on listings!!!
- Allows agents to be added to the account who can access the aforementioned tools.
I hope this has been useful and has given you the information you needed to apply for Brand Registry, good luck!
Take care,
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