Amazon just made it harder to sell licensed products. A week ago, Amazon laun...
By Vanessa Hung · February 4, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
Amazon just made it harder to sell licensed products.
A week ago, Amazon launched the Co-Brand Relationships portal inside Brand Registry, designed for products that display multiple brand identities. Think LEGO Star Wars. Or Nike x Off-White.
Amazon says this protects legitimate co-branded products from suppression.
❌ The assumption people have:
This is just documentation. A formality. Something you can handle reactively if an ASIN gets flagged.
✅ What is happening in the system:
Amazon is building a permission layer between brands.
Before this tool, co-branded ASINs lived in a grey zone. Amazon's bots would sometimes flag them, sometimes not. Enforcement was inconsistent.
Now Amazon has the infrastructure to validate relationships before products go live. Or after they're flagged.
That means two things:
First, if you're selling licensed products and the licensor isn't in Brand Registry, you now have a compliance gap. Amazon can suppress your ASIN and require formal validation before reinstatement.
Second, if your partner brand is a large corporation, expect delays. Getting them enrolled in Brand Registry, assigning the right Administrator, and processing your relationship request takes time. Corporate legal moves slowly.
I think Amazon is doing this to reduce IP complaints at scale, since co-branded products generate confusion, customers report listings, and brands file complaints. With this, instead of reacting to violations after they happen, Amazon documents relationships before ASINs activate.
So if your licensing agreement exists but isn't recorded in the portal, Amazon treats it as unauthorized use.
Same logic applies to renewals. Track expiration dates closely. If your licensing agreement renews annually, set reminders 60 days before expiration to update the portal. An expired relationship in the system means Amazon can suppress your ASIN even if your legal contract is still valid.
But this is not just about compliance. Validated co-branding raises barriers to entry.
Before this tool, anyone could appear authorized. List a product with Nike branding. Add a Disney character. Claim a vague partnership. The system had no way to verify.
Now, only brands with a documented relationship in the portal stay active. That reduces imitators. It reduces opportunistic listings. It reduces products with ambiguous claims that copy what's selling without actual authorization.
For large licensors, this matters. Without validation infrastructure, every unauthorized listing creates reputational risk, loss of control, and potential legal precedent that erodes brand value.
Validated co-branding protects revenue and reputation. If you have legitimate licensing agreements, this tool works in your favor once you set it up correctly.
👍 Like if you've already tested the portal.
♻️ Repost this if you're dealing with licensed products.
#AmazonSellers #BrandRegistry #Ecommerce #AmazonFBA