AF289 - URGENT Amazon Brand Registry & Trademark Help

Do you have questions about Amazon Brand registry, getting a trademark, or creating a brand for your Amazon Store? I’ve pulled the top questions Amazon sellers have about Brand registry on Amazon and answered them all right here in this episode.

WATCH:

LISTEN:

I have 20 years of e-commerce experience. I have been teaching on Amazon since 2014 and have been on Amazon since 2008. I understand the language they used, the policies, and how they roll out, enforce and make those policies. I speak with many people like Riverbend Consulting, who have ex-Amazonians working there. 

I know how and when they start making policy changes, but I have to be very careful because they have non-disclosures and have to keep proprietary information. Amazon is cracking down on what its version of a brand is. This matters because Amazon is trying to enforce more requirements right now, even though they are not written in the policies. 

It generally means that if they are starting to tighten up on their restrictions, it is because they are currently updating their policies for branding. Three out of four clients I have had in the past two weeks encountered issues with brand approval. They have done every single thing that Amazon has asked them to do as far as their images, branding, logo, and documentation are concerned, but still, Amazon denied approval.

They really want you to be brand registered. It is a protection from them. It is a whole new system and process as an extra layer of verification of identity and all kinds of things. Do not let that scare you. Amazon cares way more about their bottom line than they do about you. 

I am here to give you the facts , expenses and process so you do not have to worry. You do not have to go into it with fear. 

You do not need an attorney to file a US trademark. It is not required. You are smart enough to do it on your own. If you have wholesale bundles 3.0, then you have a step-by-step guide on how to do it on your own. I have done this many times for myself and with clients and with case studies and other things. 

You can sign up for mommyincome.com/coaching and I will walk you through the trademark process together with you. You learn not only how to trademark, but then how to file your brand registry.  All you need is a guide and I have got that and got your back.

Here are some of the facts about branding and brand registry and Amazon and trademarks:

• As of now, they allow you to do a brand approval. You do not have to have a USPTO serial number. You do not have to have a registered trademark, but the criteria that they give you for your brand approval is they want real-world images. You cannot have a mock-up box. 

It is a poly bag with my logo made by Sticker Mule. Yes, you can get these in less than seven days, 7 to 10 days maximum. You can get as little as 25 of them made and they are delivered right to your door. I love Sticker Mule. I have had so many things made by them. 

Yes, it's an affiliate link. You get free $10, I get free $10. We both win. So if you want custom packaging, get Sticker Mule and get your custom packaging because that is part of brand approval. 

• As soon as your brand registered and you have that USPTO number, Amazon will likely approve your brand because you went through the government. So, you are approved and you moved on. You do not have to have UPCs. You do not have to have GTIN exemptions.

You do not have to wait the full 9 to 12 months until your trademark's approved. They just want the registration number. And you are allowed to list your items under your brand with a pending USPTO registration, until either you are finally approved by the government or until you are denied. 

It is bad if you get denied or you have to do something different later on. That then changes how you proceed. So if the government turns you down for your brand registry, then Amazon is going to also decline you and then you have to revert back to non-brand registry listings. It does not remove all your listings. It is just that you are not protected under the brand registry anymore. And then it gets complicated after that. But most likely if you are issued a serial number, Amazon accepts that serial. Now your brand registered. Now you can control your listings, your control of your packaging, all these things. But both processes require images of your brand, product package and/or all they want the branding crystal clear. 

• If you continually open these cases and continually prove that you have a legitimate brand and you have legitimate packaging and you are meeting all the criteria and you tell them so they will approve you, maybe not the first time, the second time, or the third time, but they will approve you.

• When are trademarking for Amazon, and you are a wholesale bundler, you only need to register in one product class or service class. So you pay $250 and you register your wordmark, which means your name, not your logo. You can register your logo. It is a lot more complicated to trademark and registers a specific logo with a specific name. It is not necessary or required for Amazon. So you only need one trademark and at least one product or service class. And it is acceptable by Amazon. They just want your serial number. They want to make sure you have a registered trademark and then it matches your name and all the verification. No matter what is inside the package, you are the creator, and designer, and providing the service of putting those things together. So I do not want there to be any confusion about trademarking. 

Regular people can do it if you know what you are doing. If you have all of your criteria, you have your image, you have your brand, you have done the research and realize that no one else is using your trademark name anywhere on the internet. Go on the internet, go on Facebook, go on Pinterest, and go to places. Google that name over and over again and see what comes up and hope it is you because if somebody somewhere out there has another business that is named the same thing and it is in the same kind of area, the government is not going to approve your trademark.  

I am not trying to scare you into it. I am trying to protect you from looming danger to your security. That is all I am doing. If you do not need the warning, that is up to you. But any of you, if you do not have $250, save it up. As soon as you have $250, file your trademark. It will just cost you $250 and an hour of your time. In the meantime, do all the research. Do you 15-minute hustle a day? What is a 15-minute hustle? Go to 15minutehustle.com and find out. It is my book. It is my mini ebook. 

A trademark and a brand regardless, you do not have to be a household name. My brand sells really well and most people have never heard of it. I do not want it to be in Target. I am just on Amazon. I reach global customers every day with my products. That is why I am on Amazon, right? That is fine. It has it sets of problems and headaches, but it is also an asset to my business. Your Amazon store is part of your business. Eventually, that is an asset. You can transfer to a new owner or sell or get stockholders. Get a wholesale bundle system so that you can learn all of these things and turn your business into a legit money-making machine above board having assets.

You are not just an Amazon seller, you are a business owner. You are CEO and janitor at the same time sometimes. And the more legit you are, the more of an asset you are building. It is not just going to dwindle away when you retire, pass it on to one of your kids. Use it as training. Use it as residual income. Sell your business or your brand to someone else. Things you might not have thought of.  

Take yourself seriously. You are worth it. Do the hard work now and it will pay dividends later. It really will. You will be proud of yourself. You will own an asset. Yes, you can be. Remember, all of these trainings are in the Wholesale Bundle System. Reach out to our team if you have any questions. We are here to help you and support you, and we want you to be one of the elite sellers. 

QUOTE:

“If you wanna play on Amazon’s playground, you have to follow their rules and they can update them whenever they want to and give you very little notice. Here’s the deal. You don’t want to be scrambling to try to figure out your brand and your trademark for your Amazon store when they make it mandatory that you have to. I’ve said this before and it’s come to pass.” - Kristin Ostrander

RESOURCES:

•  JOIN MY LIST
• LEARN FROM ME
• Why Wholesale Bundles?
•  Wholesale Bundle System [New for 2023]
• Best Tools for Sellers! 

Share your AHA moments with me on our Facebook group exclusive for my students  - the Amazon Files (use the code word URGENT) and tag me so I can celebrate with you! 

Have questions? Email me directly at [email protected] with all your questions, concerns, or doubts. I would love to answer them all for you.

Keep on bundling…

-KO