If you read or watched any content on running an Amazon business online, you will see the same advice everywhere: Get Brand Registered!
And it’s good advice. Getting registered on Amazon as a brand confers a lot of benefits:
Why You Should Get Brand Registered on Amazon
- Enable Enhanced Brand Content and A+ Content
- Ability to set up a storefront
- Access to more advertising options in Campaign Manager
- Better protection for your listings
- Access to Brand Dashboard for better Analytics
- Set up an Amazon store within Amazon
- Set up Subscribe and Save on your listings
- And much more!
With all these benefits, you’d think there wouldn’t be any seller who isn’t brand registered right?
…right?
Well, I have a confession to make. My Amazon account, which is inching closer to 7 figures in revenue, has never been brand registered.
I know, I know, it’s something I should have done months ago, but when it comes to running a business, you have to pick your battles and set your priorities.
Now I’ve decided it is time to register my brand, and I am going to blog about my experience with it, how long it takes, and what the best way to go about doing it is.
I do have a couple of goals, though:
- I don’t want this to cost a lot
- I don’t want this to take months
Doing some online research, I”ve seen it said that getting registered is an expensive process that takes 12-14 months.
I don’t think this is the case.
The Secret Hack to Get Brand Registered Faster & Easier
If you read the brand registry page carefully on Amazon, you’ll see that in addition to requiring a registered trademark number to get brand registered, they also allow pending trademark numbers to let you register as well.
The magic words from Amazon themselves, they accept trademarks pending registration. Source: https://brandservices.amazon.com/brandregistry/eligibility
My Fast-Track Amazon Brand Registry Plan
Knowing that I can get a pending trademark registered on Amazon, here’s my plan:
- I’m going to create a job listing on Upwork to get Trademark Registration done by a Lawyer who specializes in IP and Trademark registration… bonus points if they help Amazon Brands
- I’m going with the USPTO since it’s the standard, I sell in the US, and USPTO can carry over into other countries
- The goal for the job posting is to quickly get a pending trademark registration to submit to Amazon to get approved faster
- I’ll submit the pending trademark to Amazon myself
- I’ll do any requirements from Amazon to get approved
- Wait and see how long the entire process takes
- That’s it!
Timeline of Getting Brand Registered
Day 1
I created the job posting on Upwork for a Lawyer to assist me getting a trademark for my Amazon Brand.
I invited a lawyer I saw on Upwork to send a proposal, and he accepted! His rate is fair compared to other lawyers, he’s done multiple Amazon Brand Registrations before, and responded immediately. Seems like a great fit for what I need.
So, the job listing hadn’t been posted for more than an hour and I already had someone ready to do the registration at the USPTO.
The lawyer I decided to go with had a few prep questions for me that will affect how much I pay and what I need to do.
Here are the initial questions the lawyer sent me that I hired:
- Have you performed a trademark search to know if your brand name is registrable?
This is a great question as you can have troubles getting your trademark registration completed due to being too similar to an existing trademark or potential for your trademark to be confused with another.
My brand name is extremely unique, so I’m going to take a gamble and say that I don’t need any verification to see if my trademark isn’t confusing or too similar to anything else.
- Are you already selling products with your brand name?
Since I’ve been running my Amazon account for a while, the answer is yes.
He asked this question because if you don’t start selling under your brand name within 8-9 months, he has to add on a $140 6-month extension fee when filing the trademark.
- What type of products are you selling?
This question is asked because if your products are varied, he might need to file a “class” for each product type, which is $250 per class. I informed him of my product line, each SKU being very similar to each other, so I’m guessing I’ll have to pay $250 here.
- Are you registering a brand name only or the logo as well?
This question is asked because if I want to do both, it will cost more. For registering on Amazon, only the brand name is required, so that’s all I’m going with!
These questions apply to you as well if you’re registering your brand, so if you have this information gathered beforehand you can get yours done quickly.
I sent off the answers to the question and am awaiting a response.
Day 2
I got a reply from the attorney after answering his questions the previous day.
Based on my responses, this is what the estimated cost will be.
Attorney Fees
Trademark Search: $275 (optional and I will forgo this since my brand name is very unique)
Filing fee: $350
USPTO Fees
Class filing: $250 per class (which I’m guessing is product type)
Total Fees for me: $600
After reviewing the fees I accepted his offer and sent my reply.
I did this on a Friday so I’ll likely have to wait for Monday/Tuesday for a response.
My new attorney’s estimate is that it will take 1 week to be able to register my brand on Amazon (then who knows how long it will take Amazon themselves to approve).
Day 5
Attorney is drafting up a contract / invoice for services he will render and fees he will charge.
Day 6
Attorney sent me a questionnaire to fill out so he can file the trademark with the USPTO.
After filling it out, he predicts I’ll get a response in 3 business days, and in those 3 days he can then officially file at that point.
After about a week after filing, I can then register my brand on Amazon (which is June 3rd, but I’m expecting a bit later, June 6th or 7th.
After that I’ll submit it to Amazon, which should take another 3 business days, so June 9th or 10th I should be done (or if it takes a long time, the 16th or even 23rd).
Day 14
The pending trademark was approved, and my attorney sent me my pending registration number!
Since he is the attorney on file, once I submit it to Amazon, they’ll approve it and email the attorney a verification code, at which point I’ll use that verification code combined with a link Amazon provides me to complete registration.
Day 15
I was approved!
I got an email from Amazon in the middle of the night saying I was approved for Brand Registry, and that they emailed my attorney a verification code.
I retrieved the code from my lawyer, submitted it to Amazon, and I’m officially a registered brand on Amazon!
Conclusion
All in all, it took me 15 days to go from no trademark at all and not registered on Amazon to being a registered brand. Not bad. I regret putting it off for so long because it was actually really easy.
If you want a detailed guide on how to get brand registered yourself, we have a great step-by-step guide that you can use to get yours done in 15 days, maybe faster!
