As Amazon experts, we get asked questions all the time about Amazon’s Brand Registry: Is it worth getting a trademark? How long will it take to get approved? How much will it cost?
Consider this your formal introduction to Amazon Brand Registry 2.0! 🎉
Since we’ve guided hundreds of Amazon sellers through this process, why not share more about it? Especially since the protections Amazon Brand Registry offers is 100% worth the time you put into it.
So, read on! We’ll answer all the questions you have about Amazon Brand Registry, how to enroll, and what the benefits are.
1. What is Amazon’s Brand Registry program?
The Amazon brand registry program provides tools that help sellers like you build a reputation, control your brand presence through product listings, and protect your brand on Amazon.
These marketing-success tools include Enhanced Brand Content, Sponsored Brands ads, Amazon Stores, and Brand Analytics. Each tool contains features that are designed to give you a competitive edge and can greatly increase sales, if used wisely.
Amazon brand registry also includes a variety of internal brand protection perks, which we’ll go over below.
2. How much does Amazon brand registry cost?
It’s free to get started with Amazon brand registry.
That said, you will have to cover the costs of registering a trademark. You may have to consider the cost of legal fees, as well as factor in the US Government filing and renewal fees that range from $275-$425 per class.
3. What does being brand registered on Amazon mean?
In general, being brand registered on Amazon means that sellers and brand owners are in charge of their brand representation on one of the world’s most popular shopping platforms.
From a customer’s perspective, being Amazon brand registered means that a seller has gone through the necessary hoops to be recognized as a legitimate and trustworthy brand or company.
From a business perspective, having brand registry Amazon means you have access to brand registry support and protections. This includes priority for the buy box, authority to update a product listing with accurate product images, and more.
Additionally, being brand registered also helps prevent unauthorized hijackers from re-selling your products. With Amazon Brand Registry, if someone buys a trademarked product that you manufacture overseas and imports it without your consent, you can file a lawsuit for trademark infringement.
4. What does being brand registered on Amazon not mean?
Although being brand registered provides a lot of luxuries, its protections are not exhaustive.
Here is a list of things that Brand Registry does not do:
- Gate your brand or limit other sellers from selling it
- Allow you to whitelist/blacklist other sellers from selling your brand
- Allow someone other than the brand owner to submit infringement claims against other sellers
5. What brand benefits do I get with Brand Registry?
Now that we’ve explained what brand registry is, we can answer the most important question: What’s in it for you?
Well, Amazon has created something called the Brand Dashboard that perfectly encapsulates what benefits you have access to when you’re brand registered.
- Brand Health Tools
- Competitive Price Tool
- Prime Eligibility tool
- In-stock rate
- Search Terms Optimizer
- Customer Reviews
- Brand Benefits
- Brand Analytics
- Stores
- A+ Content
- Sponsored Brands
- Sponsored Display
- Amazon Live
- Amazon Attribution
- Manage Your Experiments
- Vine
- Upload and Manage Videos
- Subscribe and Save
- Product Bundles
For an in-depth explanation of what these tools are and how to use them, read our blog about Brand Dashboard here.
6. Do you need a registered trademark to sell on Amazon?
No, you do not need to have an active registered trademark to sell on Amazon. Many third-party sellers do not have one because they exclusively re-sell items made by a brand name distributor.
However, if you are selling your own private label, brand name items on Amazon, or plan to, our experts highly recommend taking the necessary steps to protect your intellectual property and profits.
Both large corporations and small businesses can benefit greatly from enrolling in brand registry. That’s because a brand registered seller has complete control over the title, description, and images that appear on a product listing.
This ensures that even if another seller sells your product, you still have complete control over how your product and brand is represented.
7. Do you need a registered trademark for Amazon Brand Registry?
Yes, you must have an active registered trademark to enroll a brand in Amazon Brand Registry.
Before you can register your brand for Amazon Brand Registry, a brand owner must file for a trademark with the US Patent and Trademark Offices, and the trademark must be approved. Pending trademarks are not permitted unless it’s been filed through the Amazon IP Accelerator program.
8. How do you get a trademark on Amazon?
If you’re a brand owner and you don’t have a registered trademark, you can apply through Amazon IP Accelerator to get started with filing.
The benefit of obtaining intellectual property rights through this program is that, once filed, brand owners have access to brand registry benefits and protections while waiting on their official trademark registration approval, which normally takes at least a year.
9. Do I need to register my brand on Amazon?
Technically, no. But if you’re a brand owner and you have a trademark, why wouldn’t you?
Selling on Amazon is a complex platform to master. At Lab 916, we’re experts, and we still continue to learn every single day. Make it easier for yourself by staying ahead of the competition.
Other than the priceless benefits we listed above, like the ability to run Sponsored Brands ads, enrolling in brand registry isn’t just an asset limited to Amazon.
That’s because to qualify for brand registry protections, you have to have an active approved trademark, which means your intellectual property, copyrights, and registered trademarks are protected.
10. Can I still complete an Amazon Brand Registry application if my government registered trademark is not issued from the USPTO?
Yes, though country-specific requirements may differ.
Currently, Amazon only accepts trademarks issued by a government trademark office in:
- The United States
- Brazil
- Canada
- Mexico
- Australia
- India
- Japan
- France
- Germany
- Italy
- Turkey
- Singapore
- Spain
- Netherlands
- Saudi Arabia
- The United Kingdom
- Sweden
- The European Union
- The United Arab Emirates
If your trademark is registered with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), you’ll need to submit the trademark number assigned by the national patent and trademark office as it may differ from the trademark number assigned by WIPO.
If your trademark is registered by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), just select EUIPO as your trademark registrar in your application.
11. How do I register for the Amazon Brand Registry program?
To enroll in Amazon brand registry, brands must meet specific eligibility requirements:
- An active and registered text-based or image-based trademark in the country you wish to enroll
- OR a pending trademark application filed through the Amazon IP Accelerator program
Only the trademark owner can apply to enroll their brand in Amazon brand registry.
They’ll need to provide the following information:
- The brand name that has an active registered trademark; the active registered trademark for your brand must appear on your products or packaging.
- The trademark registration number provided by the Intellectual Property office. Application number provided by the Intellectual Property office can only be provided if you are enrolling with a trademark pending registration.
- A list of product categories (e.g., apparel, sporting goods, electronics) in which your brand should be listed.
After you submit this information, Amazon will verify that you are the Rights Owner of the trademark and reach out to a contact that meets their requirements. The brand owner will receive a verification code that they’ll need to send back to Amazon to complete the brand registry account enrollment process.
Once Amazon has verified the provided information and they determine you’ve met all eligibility requirements, you will receive access to the full suite of Amazon Brand Registry’s benefits and features that help you protect your brand.
12. How long does it take to register a brand on Amazon?
It depends on whether or not you have a registered trademark.
If you’re still going through the process of getting a trademark for your private label brand the timeline can become a bit cryptic. It usually takes at least a year to get through the approval process with the USPTO. A new brand will have to wait to apply for brand registry until their trademark is no longer pending unless they have applied through Amazon IP Accelerator or are a member of Amazon Launchpad.
If you meet all of the eligibility requirements, in our experience, most brand name owners get approval for brand registry within 1 or 2 weeks.
Trademark information has to match EXACTLY to what is registered on the U.S. Patent and Trade Office database. Any differences, including capitalization and spaces, can be grounds for rejection of your brand registry application and can delay your access.
If you have already submitted an application for brand registry Amazon and you haven’t heard back from the brand registry team, you can check the status of your application in Amazon Seller Central. Just log into your Amazon Brand Registry account and visit your Case log.
13. How do I know if a brand is registered on Amazon?
As a buyer, the easiest way to know if a brand is registered on Amazon is to check if they have an Amazon store or Enhanced Brand Content (also called A+ Content) on the product listings page.
These premium features provide an Amazon seller more opportunities to convey what’s special about their product to their customers. This is a useful tool in the fight against counterfeit products or copycats, as buyers will be able to distinguish these product details from other listings.
Brand owners can create an Amazon Store or Enhanced Brand Content through Amazon Seller Central. Read these blogs for more tips on how to best utilize A+ Content and Amazon Storefront.
14. How do I know if my brand is registered on Amazon?
If you work for a distributor of a brand name, you can conduct a quick query for your item on Amazon.
If your item shows up in search results and they have A+ Content or an Amazon Store, the brand is already registered on Amazon as an approved agent via the brand owner.
A brand can have multiple brand representatives and users through Amazon Brand Registry. Additional users will need their own seller central account.
The rights owner can request to add additional users by logging into their Brand Registry account and contacting Brand Registry Support.
15. I enrolled a brand in Amazon Brand Registry prior to April 30, 2017. Do I need to re-enroll??
Yes. If you enrolled a brand in Brand Registry prior to April 30, 2017 and your brand meets eligibility requirements, you need to re-enroll your brand in the Brand Registry 2.0.
16. How can I contact Brand Registry Support?
To contact the Amazon Brand Registry team, visit the contact page here.
For other support options, read our blog about methods to contact Amazon seller support here.
