PROTECTING YOUR BRAND IN AMAZON’S JUNGLE

If your product is something counterfeiters can figure out how to copy, they will. You can’t stop them all—but, if you’re prepared to spend the time and money it will take, you can keep them from cannibalizing your business on Amazon.

Enroll in Brand Registry 2.0.

If your brand is trademarked, you can upload all your product information into this database, which Amazon uses for automated enforcement of intellectual property rights. You’ll get pinged if a seller is doing something fishy, like using your logo or shipping from a country where you don’t have distribution. With Brand Registry, straightforward cases of trademark or copyright infringement “can be addressed by Amazon’s system very quickly,” says Andy Burger, vice president of business development at Ideoclick, a Seattle firm that helps brands manage their e-commerce channels.

Still, the sheer volume can be daunting, notes June Lai, whose company, Catalyst, issues hundreds of takedown requests every month over copies of its waterproof phone accessories. It’s “like playing Whac-a-Mole,” she says.

Sign up (and pay up) for Transparency.

For the first time, Amazon is enabling item-level tracing of goods via scannable QR codes. Items entering a fulfillment center without the required code will be flagged and impounded. “I have high hopes for it,” says Brush Hero’s Williams—but it can cost a few cents per item.

If all else fails, hire a fixer.

While Amazon tries to automate brand enforcement, humans still have the final call. The trick is getting one on the phone. A growing number of consultants, like Chris McCabe, specialize in helping victimized brands and resellers get their cases heard. Just be prepared to keep trying them if you don’t hear back at first. In his line of work, McCabe says, “it’s always busy.”