Amazon Transparency has been brought to light by the e-commerce giant Amazon for the safety of the brands and sellers using the platform. Furthermore, sellers have been informed to improve transparency for their brands and/or goods. But what is this transparency?

Thousands of Amazon sellers have recently suffered from counterfeiting or forging. This counterfeiting is the weight of the actions of dishonest sellers that distribute knockoff products to buyers in the name of the sellers with trademarked items. Moreover, several vendors have linked their cheap quality look-alike products to another seller’s ASIN (Amazon Standard Identification Number), a common way to fraud the authentic seller and buyers. Consequently, the businesses suffer leaks as a result, and the unscrupulous seller consumes the potential sales.

The worst part is that when customers receive phony goods, they frequently lose faith in online purchasing sites and switch to offline alternatives. This further hampers the reputation of the brand in the public eye and the reliability of the platform. Therefore, Amazon launched its global Amazon Transparency Program in 2019 to combat counterfeiting.

But Amazon Transparency is a broader concept that must be put across in simple comprehension for every seller. This will assist them in learning how they can retain the trust of their brand and customers. More importantly, this program will ensure the real seller and its products are reaching the buyers who are paying the full price. The most significant advantage of Amazon Transparency is the ability to formally take action against other sellers who are trying their goods to your brand by sending them notifications.

 

What is the Amazon Transparency Program?

Here is the complete explanation of what the Amazon Transparency program is all about.

A product serialization program called Amazon Transparency Program is used to check products before they are distributed. Amazon launched the initiative in 2017, and it is designed to find and stop the delivery of fake goods to clients.

Furthermore, to ensure the success of the program, Amazon used its product line as a test market. It gradually made it available for third-party retailers after experiencing some success there. Now, several nations, including the United States, Germany, Canada, France, India, Australia, Spain, Italy, and the United Kingdom, currently offer the Amazon Transparency program.

The program is curated for brand owners and third-party retailers. For instance, a third-party seller’s products will be blacklisted and won’t be delivered to the buyer if they attempt to “take over” a product and sell counterfeit goods.

 

How does the Amazon Transparency Program work?

The whole procedure is designed sophisticatedly for product labelling and to systematically eliminate the risk of fake goods reaching consumers. The below factors will take you through it all.

 

According to Amazon seller consulting Any brand that joins the Amazon Transparency program receives a set of distinctive T-shaped 2D barcodes. All the orders shipped within the scheme will include these codes in the packaging. Furthermore, the Transparency code is particular to each item, unlike UPCs or GTINs, which are brand-specific and typically thought to be ineffective. Then, Amazon will scan the barcode on each item to confirm its legitimacy before sending it to a customer. Any item without a barcode or one that fails an authenticity check will be examined and marked as possibly fake.

 

In case the order is placed and delivered, then customers can cross-reference, and check products covered by the Transparency program using the Transparency mobile app that Amazon offers. By scanning the QR using the app, it will display a green checkmark if the product code is legitimate and a red cross if it is not.

 

Additionally, the application can fetch you access to more information, including brands sharing critical unit-level data with customers, manufacturing dates, manufacturing locations, and other specific product information. On this program, Amazon answered a few common queries in their FAQ section. That information also states that Transparency provides total centralization and creates distinctive barcodes that clients can scan to confirm the product’s validity. Moreover, dishonest third-party sellers will be restricted from manipulating codes.

 

Amazon Transparency Program for FBA Sellers

Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) is one of the options that Amazon offers to sellers; another option for selling is self-order fulfilment through Fulfilment by Merchant (FBM). Under the FBA, the merchants are able to stockpile their goods at Amazon’s warehouse. Therefore, when a buyer orders a product that is FBA-fulfilled, Amazon will pack and ship the item on their behalf.

For FBM sellers, for each item you sell that has transparency enabled, Amazon will request a special code from you using the Amazon Transparency program. This is to ensure that only genuine products are sent to buyers in this way.

Some might say that it’s too much of a hassle as they have to give the codes to the same place from where they are generated from. But this is mandatory for FBM items.

 

What is the price of the Amazon Transparency Program?

Amazon hasn’t revealed its pricing publicly, but from common information, brands, sellers, and merchants would have to pay somewhere between $0.01 and $0.05 per barcode. It also depends on the quantity of transparency-enabled goods. The highest cost for having your products authenticated is approximately $50 if you have 1,000 units of your product.

Therefore, if you sell expensive or luxury goods, it is advised that you enroll in this program. This would ensure that you don’t face any forgery and damages brought on by those fakes. Furthermore, based on your budget and requirements, you can gradually extend the transparency program to other items in your inventory.

 

Additionally, you’ll have to pay for labelling; it’s another expense you need to take into account when using the Amazon Transparency program. You’ll get sticker labels that you can use to apply transparency codes to units or things. Alternatively, you can ask the supplier to apply the labels while the product is being manufactured; this usually results in a higher cost. Hence, we suggest manually attaching Transparency barcodes using printers that do so while packing is being done.

 

How to sign up for Amazon Transparency?

To avail of the benefits of this service, you have to fulfil certain requirements laid forth by Amazon to sign up for the Transparency program. The verification variables ensure that more real sellers are using the platform to sell their authentic products. The prerequisites include the following:

• A certificate proving that you are the brand’s legal owner.
• A Global Trade Item Number (GTIN), such as a UPC or EAN barcode, must be visible on your products.
• Every item you produce for sale must be able to accept special Transparency codes.

If you can fulfil all the aforementioned requirements, go to Amazon’s Transparency page and select “Get Started” to initiate the secure selling of your products. On this website, you’ll be prompted to fill out a brief form. Once you have submitted the form, you’ll get an option suggesting “Request more information.” You may tap it to learn more about your enrolment from Amazon.

If your application is approved, you can move forward by selecting the products you want to use Transparency codes to authenticate. Furthermore, start with your expensive products first to secure them from counterfeiting.

 

Benefits of Amazon Transparency 

For brands and customers alike, the initiative is advantageous. Here are some advantages that justify your thinking about it:

Get more Profits

Forged or fake goods are products that are often of lower quality, manufactured under the brands of other businesses and sold to unsuspecting customers. This is a concerning issue for businesses that deal in branded goods. The false seller will steal business from legitimate businesses; counterfeiters are those businesses’ direct rivals.

These hijackers lack the unique codes produced by Amazon for units with transparency enabled; thus, they won’t be able to sell their products in your name. Furthermore, a competitor’s attempt to sell your product will be flagged as a fake and won’t be shipped to customers if they are unable to supply the special transparency code. This way, you would have the opportunity to locate and dismantle these fake vendors, and you can boost sales because customers will come to the real source.

 

Safety from the Harm of Counterfeiters

One of the major motives of scammers that produce counterfeit goods is to harm online businesses. They fabricate listings for goods they don’t produce and try to sell them to clients to make money. Furthermore, they make revenue money by offering those knockoffs at low prices. Additionally, they offer the imitations to retailers, who then sell the products to final customers.

With lower prices for the same product, consumer psychology will go for the more reasonable deal. Thus, your business is in danger because these imitators undercut your prices and drive away all of your potential clients. Additionally, they harm the reputation of your brand because consumers believe you are the one selling knockoffs.

 

Avoids Negative Reviews

No customer in today’s era is going to accept something that is sent to them in the name of online shopping. They will undoubtedly be dissatisfied if they receive bogus goods. Furthermore, they’ll leave a bad review on your product page or social media account. Reviews are something that everyone considers while shopping online or doing anything in general. Anything bad can wreck the brand’s reputation. For an efficient Amazon business, the Transparency program can shield you from all such hurdles and maintain the personality of your brand.

 

Final Words

Counterfeiters are the biggest boulder or cancer of the online retail sector. They can altogether diminish the company’s charm and hamper the trust in using the online shopping platform as well. The undercut competitors’ prices can cause lost sales revenue. Hence, recommendation of amazon consulting enrolling your products in the Amazon Transparency program is one of the best strategies to avoid falling victim to counterfeit traps. In this method, you can guarantee that they get the genuine goods they anticipate while also keeping your consumers satisfied