Brand owners selling on Amazon know that keeping a brand safe from black hat sellers is easier said than done. Amazon is the world’s premier e-commerce platform, accounting for more than 39.5% of the online market share in the U.S alone. Regulating such a competitive marketplace requires dynamic policies. Amazon introduced the Brand Registry to keep counterfeit products off the site. So far, Brand Registry has effectively reduced copyright and IP infringement cases on the platform.
However, the Brand Registry program has its limitations. Brand Registry doesn’t prevent third parties from making changes to listing detail pages. Unsurprisingly, this is a source of continual frustration for brand owners who want complete control of their listing detail pages. Does this mean that the Brand Registry isn’t an effective safety measure? That is far from the truth. Brand Registry protects your listing detail pages while providing practical monitoring tools on Amazon.
Keep reading to discover how Amazon decides who can contribute to listing detail pages. You’ll learn how to use the Brand Registry program to monitor and protect your listing detail pages. Let’s get started.
Does Brand Registry lock down an ASIN detail page?
Understanding how the Brand Registry works is essential before enrolling in the program. Unfortunately, brand owners can’t lock down their ASIN detail pages using the Brand Registry. Additionally, Amazon Brand Registry doesn’t provide brand owners with means of restricting who can sell their products. The truth is that Amazon allows different levels of listing detail page control to keep its platform competitive.
Here’s how the contribution hierarchy is organized:
- Amazon retail operations: Amazon retail can make an override on content uploaded by the brand owner. This occurs in rare cases, but the updates and tweaks can make the detail page more informative and evergreen.
- Amazon Brand Registry owner: Brand owners can leverage Brand Registry to exercise more control over their listing detail pages. For instance, as a brand owner, you can take advantage of unique IDs to list your products.
- Amazon seller support: Amazon seller support reserves the right to change product detail pages on its platform. Third parties can contact Amazon seller support to suggest changes that override the brand owner’s content.
- Seller Contribution: Sellers who are trusted contributors can make quality changes to improve a listing. It’s important to note that Amazon uses an algorithm to filter seller contributions, thus ensuring that only optimized edits can override the original content.
In addition, Brand Registry admins can contribute to updates at any time, allowing them to optimize listings by specifying accurate attributes. This feature simplifies editing out incorrect titles, product images, and descriptions. Finally, brand registry admins can access a dedicated support team that works round the clock to fast-track and solve listing issues.
What should Amazon sellers do to protect themselves?
Protecting your detail pages is a full-time job. You are better off partnering with a professional, especially if you have a packed schedule. However, brand owners who prefer a hands-on approach can take the following measures to protect their detail pages:
#1 Monitor your detail pages
It would be best if your listing protection strategy prioritizes monitoring your detail pages. Remember that black hat traders target high-demand products and list detail pages with lax security measures.
For instance, unscrupulous competitors can spam you with negative reviews hoping that Amazon will suspend your account. Monitoring your detail pages and dashboard data helps you track and eliminate such scams in their early stages.
Ultimately, partnering with a consultant is the best move. Apart from providing affordable monitoring services, a consultant will use the data to create a Smart protection strategy for your detail pages.
#2 Apply for brand exclusivity
While Brand exclusivity doesn’t grant you sole control over your listings, the program provides powerful tools to protect your detail pages from unauthorized changes. Surprisingly, Amazon remains tight-lipped about how many brand-exclusivity deals are currently in place.
Brand exclusivity has its perks. For example, a well-trained team will help you fast-track your claims in case of an IP violation. Additionally, your brand’s registered status boosts its protection. Furthermore, Amazon’s Transparency Program provides an additional security layer since black hat traders can’t replicate the unique Transparency serial codes.
A word of advice; it would be best if you consult a professional when applying for Brand Exclusivity. A professional will help you get everything right the first time and escalate your application.
#3 File complaints with Amazon
Don’t forget to file a complaint with Amazon if you are a victim of detail page abuse. Since Amazon only considers thorough appeals, you should consult a professional when drafting your complaint.
A consultant will help you gather concrete evidence of foul play. For example, professional services will record transactions with the detail page hijackers. You can use the data to formulate a concrete appeal.
The brand registry support team reviews your complaint and acts accordingly by reverting your original content if there has been an unauthorized change. However, your complaint will take more time to resolve if the updates were made by an Amazon Retail or a seller using a Vendor account.
#4 Use a flat file
The flat file is a necessary countermeasure against product detail page abuse. Brand owners can reactively use the flat file to deal with detail page abusers. The flat file allows you to reinstate your content whenever unauthorized changes are made to your detail page.
Note: The flat file won’t work if the changes to your detail pages were made by Amazon Retail or any party with a vendor account.
Summary
Managing your brand on Amazon is not a cakewalk. It would help if you had a multi-pronged strategy that keeps your detail pages safe from hijackers and black-hat sellers. While enrolling in the Brand Registry program gives you additional control over your detail pages, it isn’t a foolproof solution against detail page abuse. In addition to this, the Brand Registry can’t lock your ASIN detail page. That said, Amazon has measures that frustrate unauthorized parties from altering detail pages. Remember, Amazon Retail and Vendor Account holders can update the contents of your detail page. While you can contest such changes, only high-level Amazon support staff can reinstate your content.
Are you a victim of detail page abuse? Or do you need help with Amazon Retail overriding your listing detail pages?
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