The paths

  • Brand owner. You hold the trademark.
  • Authorized distributor. The brand owner authorized you directly.
  • Reseller. You buy from a distributor, so the paper trail has two links: owner to distributor, distributor to you.

The documents

  • Business license.
  • Trademark certificate, if you are the owner.
  • Authorization letter, signed and in date.
  • Distributor or supplier agreement.
  • Invoices whose company details match the rest.

Think of it as one package. Every link of the supply chain is on paper, start to end.

Why requests get rejected

  • Blurry or cropped files.
  • A missing signature.
  • A company name that differs between documents.
  • An authorization period that has expired.
  • Invoices that do not prove the chain.
  • Trademark details that do not match the applicant.
  • A missing link between the owner and the reseller.

The checklist we run

  1. The brand name reads the same on the trademark, the packaging and the shop.
  2. The authorized party's name matches the Seller Center company name, letter for letter.
  3. The letter is on the owner's letterhead and signed.
  4. Dates are entered as they appear on the letter.
  5. The expiry date is in the calendar, with a reminder a month ahead.

Approval is not the end

Review can happen again later. An authorization that expires takes its products down with it. A change of legal entity voids every brand qualification on the shop. Compliance is a job with a name on it, not a task done once.

What we ask for in an authorization letter

This is the list we prepare before any submission.

  • The brand owner's contact email, on the brand's own domain.
  • Your company's legal name and address, exactly as in Seller Center.
  • The product categories covered.
  • The regions covered. A US shop needs the US named.
  • A start date and an end date.
  • A signature and the owner's letterhead.

Ask your supplier for all six up front. A letter missing one of them comes back, and each round costs days.

Co-branded and licensed products

Collaboration merchandise, licensed characters and dual-branded items need a licensing agreement instead. Prepare one that names the licensor, the licensee, the intellectual property covered and the product categories.

Keep a compliance calendar

  • One line per brand and per letter.
  • The expiry date, and a reminder a month before it.
  • The person who owns the renewal, by name.
  • A note of which listings depend on that letter.

When a letter lapses, those listings come down and every creator link to them breaks. Nobody notices until revenue dips. A calendar with a name on it costs nothing. In our pods the shop operations manager owns it. See how the pod is staffed.

Before you list the first product

Submit the authorization first and wait for approval. Listing a branded product without it is the fastest route to a violation on a new shop. Violations lower your order limit and slow your payouts, so one skipped document costs you in three places.

Running this for a brand is what we do. Book a discovery call.