Every other tool in brand protection works after a counterfeit exists on a listing. Transparency works before: each unit of an enrolled product carries a unique serialized code, and Amazon checks codes when FBA inventory arrives at the fulfillment center. A unit with a missing or invalid code does not pass the check and does not ship. Merchant fulfilled sellers provide codes at order confirmation in Seller Central, so the gate covers both fulfillment routes.
Customers close the loop. With Amazon issued codes, a buyer can scan the code in the Amazon Shopping app or the Transparency app and verify authenticity on the spot. That scan data is also supply chain intelligence: codes appearing in regions or channels they were never sold into are a map of diversion, drawn by the diverters themselves.
Enrollment requires the rights owner role in Amazon Brand Registry for the brand's registered trademark, and a GTIN, a UPC or EAN, for each product enrolled. Neither is negotiable, which makes Transparency a second phase tool: brands still fighting to get a trademark registered are not candidates yet, and should spend the quarter on Registry and test buys instead.
Protection is not active the day you enroll. Amazon requires an operational performance review when you begin labeling and shipping coded product, and protections start after the product passes it. That means the print and apply workflow, codes on every unit, legible, in the right place, has to survive contact with a real production run before the gate exists. Brands that treat labeling as an afterthought fail the review with genuine product, which is the most avoidable own goal in the program.
Amazon's published code pricing runs in three tiers: $0.05 per code up to 1,000,000 codes, $0.03 per code from 1,000,001 to 10,000,000, and $0.01 per code beyond that, with no enrollment fee or subscription. At five cents, protecting a hero ASIN moving 200,000 units a year costs about $10,000 annually, which prices the decision cleanly against the counterfeit losses and buy box theft it replaces.
So enroll like an operator, not a completionist. Start with the ASINs that are actually counterfeited and the highest velocity listings, where five cents per unit is trivial against the margin at risk. The long tail can wait for the tier discount your own volume creates. Serialization is the strongest gate in the stack, but a gate only needs to stand where the traffic is.
If this topic is useful, these earlier guides go deeper on connected questions: MAP Violations: Amazon Will Not Enforce Your Policy, So Your Evidence Has to, Brand Registry Starts With a Trademark, Not a Complaint, and Test Buys That Hold Up: Documenting a Counterfeit Before the Takedown Notice.
It assigns a unique serialized code to every unit of an enrolled product. Amazon checks the code when inventory arrives or when a merchant fulfilled order is confirmed, and units without a valid code do not ship. Customers can scan Amazon issued codes to verify authenticity.
The rights owner role in Amazon Brand Registry tied to a registered trademark, and a GTIN such as a UPC or EAN for each product. You also need a working print and apply process, because protection starts only after an operational performance review of your labeled shipments.
Published pricing is per code in three tiers: $0.05 each for the first 1,000,000 codes, $0.03 each up to 10,000,000, and $0.01 each beyond that. There is no enrollment fee or subscription; you pay for the codes you order.
No. It gates physical units for enrolled products, but hijackers, MAP violations, and counterfeit listings for unenrolled ASINs still need monitoring and enforcement. Transparency shrinks the problem to the catalog you have not enrolled yet; it does not abolish it.