The answer is yes, you can definitely sell products without being part of the brand registry. However, it’s important to note that there are challenges and consequences associated with selling on Amazon without brand registry. Before we proceed further, let’s first understand what the brand registry actually is.
What is the Brand Registry?
The Amazon Brand Registry is a program that identifies brand owners to Amazon. While anyone can sell products from any brand on Amazon, the brand registry serves as a defense against others copying your brand and selling it without your authorization, depriving you of potential revenue. Its primary purpose is to help you establish and protect your brand. By enrolling in the brand registry, you gain the ability to report any instances of intellectual property infringement. For example, if you’re a well-known brand like Adidas and someone else on Amazon is claiming to sell Adidas products at a significantly lower price, you can contact the brand registry to help you remove these fraudulent sellers. On a smaller scale, if you’re a small business that has created a unique cartoon character for your brand, joining the brand registry ensures that only authorized sellers can sell merchandise featuring that character.
The brand registry was implemented by Amazon to address the issue of counterfeit goods being sold on their platform, which led to numerous lawsuits from affected companies. However, this shift in responsibility means that brand owners now have to be proactive in identifying scammers and counterfeit sellers.
Joining the brand registry designates you as an official brand, and only the sellers you register as official resellers will be recognized as such. This makes it easier for Amazon to take action against infringing sellers, potentially restricting them to selling products as a vendor in Amazon Retail instead of the more visible Amazon Marketplace.
Advantages of the Brand Registry Program
There are two main advantages of the Brand Registry program. First, it helps prevent your listings from being hijacked by competitors selling knock-off or counterfeit products. Second, it helps stop manufacturers offering similar products at a lower price. Both of these issues can lead to category saturation, making it difficult to compete unless you significantly reduce your prices.
Qualifications for Joining the Brand Registry Program on Amazon
To join the brand registry program, there are three main requirements:
- You must own an active and registered trademark for the products you want to sell, and it must be active in the relevant country.
- You must confirm your ownership rights through the public contact listed on the trademark registration.
- You must have a Seller Central or Vendor Central Amazon account.
While it is possible to sell on Amazon without joining the brand registry, there is no reason not to join if you own the brand. However, for sellers who don’t have a patent or trademark for their product and are unable to become brand registered, they can still sell on Amazon successfully without the registry.
The Downside of Amazon Brand Registry
The main drawback of the Amazon Brand Registry is that it is irrelevant and cannot be utilized without a trademark for the products you wish to sell. Therefore, many smaller-scale sellers have to sell their products on Amazon without the brand registry. However, this doesn’t mean they can’t be highly efficient Amazon sellers.
Selling on Amazon Without Brand Registry
On Amazon, the term ‘unbranded products’ refers to sellers who promote products without being part of the Amazon Brand Registry program. Although it can be more challenging to add products with your brand name when you’re not part of the program, it is not impossible. In this section, we will explain how to list unbranded items on Amazon, in other words, how to sell on Amazon without the brand registry.
Understanding the 5665 Error Code on Amazon
The 5665 Error Code is an important code to know when trying to list a product under a brand name that has not yet gone through the Amazon Brand Registry process. When you encounter this error, you will see a message similar to the following:
“Amazon must approve your brand before you can use it to list products. Brands should be registered through Brand Registry, but if your brand is not eligible for Brand Registry, follow the link and complete the form.”
If you are facing this error as a new seller on Amazon, follow these steps to resolve the 5665 error code:
- Contact Seller Support and provide them with the error code 5665.
- Explain that you manufacture a specific product that requires an exemption from the brand registry program.
- Attach images of the product and its packaging, clearly showing the brand name. Also, mention the brand name used when creating the listing. If you’re using inventory file templates, provide the Batch ID of the inventory file process report.
- If the product and packaging have no brand name or specific branding, list the product as “Generic” when creating a new listing.
Final Thoughts
The purpose of the Amazon Brand Registry is to identify brand owners and help them build and protect their brands. While it’s a fantastic resource in theory, you can’t joi
n the program if you don’t meet all the requirements, such as having an active and registered trademark. Nonetheless, it is still possible to sell on Amazon without the brand registry and be successful, as numerous sellers demonstrate every day. Just make sure to follow the correct steps when selling unbranded products.
Running an Amazon business can be stressful and confusing, and scaling your brand can be a real challenge. This is where eBrandX can assist you. Our team of Amazon growth experts offers a free discovery call to help evaluate your brand’s potential for growth. Whether you’re looking to sell your brand or expand it further, book a call with us today.
