Over the past decade of selling on Amazon, businesses small and large have been showcasing their brands and selling their products on Amazon.com with great success. As goes for anything in life, with every positive there comes a negative - similar to "yin and yang." The normalcy of growth.

One issue sellers have faced over the past few years is counterfeit products being sold to a customer without the brand owner's permission, acknowledgment, or awareness. Many times these sellers are overseas with seller names such as "Zhōngguó màijiā". The seller can attach to a product identifier such as an ASIN, and sell counterfeit products under the Buy Box price to gain Buy Box of the sale. Ultimately, ripping the order away from a genuine business and product.

The effects of this can be devastating to the brand, seller, and product detail page. The results from a customer receiving a counterfeit product can affect the brand's product reviews, revenue and profit, product reputation, customer confusion, and intellectual property to name a few.

Amazon is aware of this issue and acted swiftly to protect the intellectual property of honest businesses and sellers across its platform.

March 2017 - Amazon rolled out a key pivotal program called "Transparency"

Directly from Amazon.com Brand Services website, "Transparency is a product serialization service that helps identify individual units and proactively prevent counterfeits from reaching customers." 

In simple terms, Amazon rolled out a program for sellers to sign up for that gives them access to individual, unique barcode labels that are additionally placed on the product packaging - from the brand owner. Each label is sterilized, so it can never be duplicated as a UPC/ASIN barcode label can. The only sellers allowed to "attach" and sell the enrolled products on Amazon.com are the brand owners enrolled directly, and anyone they supply inventory to that can complete the verification process. If you do not own the codes and labels, you can never receive them without the brand owners permissions.

The program has helped tremendously in cutting out counterfeit products to be sold to Amazon customers. While this program has improved and improvised on the seller level, I would like to see awareness spread to the customer level.

As of today, sellers have made hefty investments to enroll in the program and protect their brand's IP. While the investment is worth it, there could be a higher level of awareness of the protection on the customer's side before they make an Amazon purchase. The only level of customer awareness right now is a white and blue barcode (similar to a UPC with a QR code) placed directly on the product's packaging. There is no awareness or verification of authenticity to the customer before their purchasing consideration - only after the purchase has been made and in the customer's hands. Furthermore, as most consumers do when they get a product, they take it out of the packaging and throw it in the trash or coat closet. Several verified codes are seamlessly overlooked and tossed away.

So how can we do better Amazon? How can sellers show their trustworthiness to a customer BEFORE they purchase a product with their money?

To bring a higher level of awareness to verify genuine products, safe transactions, and the highest level of customer loyalty - we need more support!

It's simple... Amazon sellers are requesting a "Verified Transparency Badge" on the enrolled ASINs product detail page before pushing the "Add to Cart" button.

Not only would this bring a stronger trust to the customer and Amazon purchase, but a "Verified Transparency Badge" on the ASIN would also bring light to Transparency Program to educate consumers on the actions Amazon is taking to "Proactively Prevent Counterfeits" and support seller reputations, IP, and customer loyalty.

Work with us, Amazon! Let's stand together to bring awareness to this worthy anti-counterfeiting program and spread education in the actions Amazon is taking to protect it's sellers today. 

Amazon sellers and Transparency enrolled sellers, please share and sign!

- Madeline Beck, WildCarts - madeline@wildcarts.co