Amazon Brand Gating: The Secret to Protecting Your Products and Brand Reputation

Your brand is more than just a logo or a catchy tagline – it’s the very essence of your business.

Your brand represents everything that sets you apart from your competitors, from the quality of your products to the customer service you provide. 

But what happens when your brand is under attack from counterfeiters and unauthorized resellers? 

Not only can it hurt your bottom line, but it can also damage your brand’s reputation in the eyes of customers.

That’s where Amazon Brand gating comes in. 

By implementing strict criteria for third-party sellers, Amazon Brand gating can help you protect your brand and prevent hijackers from selling fake or copied versions of your products. 

With Amazon Brand gating, third-party resellers need to apply and fulfill certain criteria to sell on Amazon. 

This blog will explore the ins and outs of Amazon brand gating, what it is, how it works, and how it can benefit your business.

Whether you’re a small or established seller, understanding brand gating can help you safeguard your business and achieve long-term success.

A quick peek at the article:

1. What is Brand Gating On Amazon?
2. Why is brand gating so important? 
3. How does Amazon Brand Gating work?
4. How to set up Amazon Brand Gating?
5. How to verify if your ASIN is Brand Gated or not?
6. How to get Brand Gated ASINs approved for reselling?
7. Additional tools for Brand Gating
8. Final Thoughts

What is Brand Gating On Amazon?

Amazon brand gating is a way for businesses to protect their products and brand from counterfeiters and unauthorized resellers. By enrolling in brand gating, you can block counterfeit sellers from listing certain ASINs on Amazon.

It means, only authorized sellers with permission from your brands can sell those products on Amazon.

Why is brand gating so important? 

Counterfeits have been a problem since the inception of Amazon. And even with Amazon’s measures to block counterfeit listings, it’s still a prevalent issue. 

This is why many large brands have been hesitant to sell directly to consumers in the marketplace. Not only that, big brands like Birkenstock and Nike have also stopped selling on Amazon because of these counterfeiting issues.

In 2021, Amazon’s Brand Protection Report revealed the company blocked more than 2.5 million counterfeit listings.

Despite these precautions, consumers can still fall prey to counterfeit scams.

Sometimes, shoppers buy poor-quality counterfeit products just because it’s cheaper than the original brand. 

And that’s where the problem begins. Counterfeit products not only take away from your hard-earned sales, but when consumers unknowingly purchase counterfeit products, they may associate the poor quality and performance with your brand, causing long-term damage to your brand reputation.

Amazon brand gating allows authorized sellers to take action against these counterfeiters and prevent them from listing their products on Amazon. 

By requiring third-party resellers to apply and fulfill specific criteria, brand gating ensures that only authorized sellers can list and sell your products, helping to prevent counterfeit activity.

Amazon brand gating also helps to regulate pricing for your products. Unauthorized resellers often engage in price undercutting, damaging your brand’s bottom line and affecting your relationship with authorized sellers. 

By gating your brand, you can prevent these resellers from listing your products and maintain consistent pricing for your products.

How does Amazon Brand Gating work?

If your products are brand gated on Amazon, resellers need to provide proof that you’ve allowed the brand to sell products on Amazon.

Once an ASIN is gated, if a third-party seller wants to list your ASIN, they must provide written permission from your brand and three purchase invoices from the manufacturer or distributor within the last 90 days. 

Additionally, sellers must pay a non-refundable fee of $1,500, making it less attractive for unauthorized sellers looking for an easy payout to counterfeit your products.

How to set up Amazon Brand Gating?

Now that you know why brand gating is essential, here’s a step-by-step guide to setting up brand gating on Amazon. 

Enroll on Amazon Brand Registry

Amazon brand gating is exclusively available to brands enrolled in the Amazon Brand Registry. Amazon has certain prerequisites that your brand must fulfill to become enrolled in Amazon Brand Registry. Such as:

• Own a registered trademark in USPTO, either in text-based marks (Typeset letter(s)/word(s)/number(s) or Standard Character Mark) or image-based marks (including letter(s)/word(s)/number(s)).
• Provide verification documents as the lawful trademark owner.
• Upload product images featuring the trademark name.
• Submit the categories in which your brand holds product listings.
• List the countries where items are manufactured and distributed.
• Set up an Amazon Professional Seller account.

Once you’ve met the eligibility requirements, the next step is simple. You just need to complete the following steps to confirm your Amazon Brand Registry account:

• Submit your corporate/legal data
• Confirm your identity via SMS/text
• Accept the program’s policies, terms, and conditions
• Click on “Save”

Within 1-2 weeks, Amazon will confirm your registration status. 

Compile your product ASINs

Once registered, curate a list of ASINs you want to protect. If you have a big catalog, start with the best-selling product and then go from there. 

Note: Ensure your product does not fall under Amazon’s restricted product categories. Such as:

• Firearms
• Tobacco
• Alcoholic Beverages
• Adult Products
• Gambling & Lottery
• Jewelry & Precious Gems
• Cosmetics & Skincare Products
• Electronics
• Food & Beverage
• Medical Devices
• Medical Devices & Accessories
• Offensive & Controversial Materials
• Lock Picking & Theft Devices
• Postage Meters & Stamps
• Surveillance Equipment
• Plant & Seed Products
• Explosives, Weapons, and Related Items

Provide documentation for your brand’s counterfeit prevention strategies

Amazon believes in fighting counterfeits together. So, you must prove to Amazon that you take an active role in stopping counterfeits. 

For example:

• Is your business registered in Amazon Brand Registry?
• Do your use brand logo in the product and packaging?
• Do you have product bundle offerings?
• In your products enrolled in Amazon transparency?
• Have you ever submitted your counterfeit issues via the Report Infringement form?
• Have you ever sent counterfeit sellers cease-and-desist letters?

All this information tells Amazon that you actively work on protecting your brand. 

Once you compile your product ASINs and Documentation, submit it on Amazon, and track your application to see the approval status. 

How to verify if your ASINs are Brand Gated on Amazon?

After enrolling in Amazon brand gating, checking if your ASIN is gated on Amazon is easy. Here’s the process:

• Log in from a different seller account. Don’t create a new seller account for the same brand. It may lead to getting banned. 
• Click on the “Catalog” menu from the Seller Central Home page and select “Add a Product.”
• Search for the item you want to sell.
• After logging in, search for your ASIN, and click on the “Sell on Amazon” button. 
• If the product is brand-gated, Amazon will show a popup saying, “You need the approval to list in this brand.”

How 3rd can party sellers sell brand-gated ASINs?

Resellers have to go through an approval process to sell gated products on Amazon. For that, resellers must

• Be a professional seller.
• Pass the seller performance checkup.
• Provide Amazon with three purchase invoices from manufacturers within the last 90 days
• Provide payment info of the $1500 non-refundable fee to the parent brand
• Provide proof of authorization to sell from the parent brand.

If the reseller can’t provide any of these, Amazon will remove the listings from the marketplace. 

Additional Tools for Brand Gating

Amazon also comes with different other tools to protect brands from counterfeits. Here are some of them:

Counterfeit Crimes Unit

Amazon created the Counterfeit Crimes Unit in 2020 to detect counterfeiters globally. The goal of this unit is to identify sellers who are selling counterfeit and fake items. And then, it helps law enforcement agencies to prosecute these sellers.

The Counterfeit Crimes Unit encourages brands to take an active part in filing lawsuits against counterfeiters. 

Transparency by Amazon

Transparency is only available in the US marketplace and gives sellers unique barcodes to label their products. Amazon then scans the labels to ensure product authenticity before shipping to the customers.

It helps sellers ensure that customers receive genuine items from authorized sellers.

You can learn more about it from the Amazon Transparency program detailed guide

Amazon Project Zero

Project Zero uses three tools to detect and remove counterfeit products: 

• Automated protections: A artificial intelligence algorithm that automatically detects and removes counterfeit products
• Self-Service counterfeit removal- Amazon grants sellers the permission to flag and delist counterfeit products
• Product serialization – It allows sellers to add a unique serial number to each product, which verifies the product’s authenticity.

You can learn more about it from the Amazon Project Zero detailed guide

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, as a seller on Amazon, protecting your brand and products from counterfeiters is crucial. Amazon has implemented various measures like Brand Gating, Counterfeit Crimes Unit, and Project Zero to help safeguard your brand’s reputation and customers’ trust. 

By taking advantage of Amazon brand gating, you can significantly reduce the risk of counterfeit products being sold under your brand name.

But if you’re unable to go through the process, let SellerApp help you out.

Our experts have previously helped big brands like Phillips and Samsung create their Amazon business strategies, and we can do the same for you. 

Schedule a call with us today, and let us help you protect your brand on Amazon. Click now to get started.

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