Marketplace dealers are to pay between USD $1,000 and $1,500 for selling products from certain brands on Amazon’s American site. The costs may vary and apply per registered brand. The dealers must also prove that they have purchased at least 30 products from the manufacturer or distributors in the past 90 days.
The additional requirements, referred to as “brand gating” by Amazon, are intended to protect customers from illegal counterfeits. It is not yet known exactly which brands will be covered by the new fee system. According to the first experience reports, American Marketplace dealers had to pay USD $1,500 to sell Adidas or Asics shoes, for example, or USD $1,000 to sell articles bearing the Samsung, Hasbro, Lego, or Pokémon brand names.
“For certain products and categories, Amazon requires additional performance checks, other qualification requirements, and fees,” said a company press speaker, explaining the new security measures. „We want customers to be able to shop with confidence on Amazon.“
Many dealers, however, perceive such measures as frustrating, and fear that they will lose their sales platform. One commented, for example, that dealers seem to have to foot the bill for Amazon’s counterfeiting problem now.
The changes, however, only affect new sellers so far: “If a seller is already selling brands on Amazon that are now subject to a fee, they are not required to pay the fee to continue selling those brands.”
The shoe manufacturer Birkenstock recently aroused attention with its refusal to sell its products on Amazon due to the trade in counterfeit products on the Amazon.com site (we reported).
