Company name VS Brand name for Amazon FBA Sellers!

When you start selling on Amazon, one of the first tasks you will face is the formation of your company OR registering as a Sole Trader, depending on which business type you choose. With this task comes the dilemma of choosing your business name.

In the case of registering as a Sole Trader, you don’t have to worry about the business name. Even though, in the UK, you can register a business name (trading name) as a Sole Trader, Amazon does not accept or use it. So, if you’re starting out as a Sole Trader, Amazon will simply use your full name as the business name. That means you don’t have to spend any time trying to figure out a separate business name.

With limited companies (Ltd.), it’s different. You will have to come up with a name for your business, and this is where many people get stuck and confused.

What name should I use? Do I have to match my company name with the brand name of my products? What happens if I expand into other niches and brands in the future? These are all good questions, and I will try to help you out and give advice on the best ways to handle this.

Now, if you already have an existing business, brand name and product portfolio that you want to start selling on Amazon, there’s no need to change anything. Just use the company name you already have. There are no advantages to registering a new company just for selling on Amazon.

Also, if you already have a clear vision for the products you want to sell—maybe you have already come up with a brand name, maybe you have strong long-term plans for working with this brand and products for many years to come, maybe you even have an online shop or sell wholesale, etc.—then I would recommend that you set up the company under your brand name. This means the name of the company is your brand name. If you have no plans to sell other brands in the future, there’s no point in overcomplicating things and looking for a different name for your company.

However, most people who are just starting out with Amazon FBA selling won’t have such long-term plans in place. They won’t even know what products they will sell, what brand names they will use, etc. So, what’s the best solution in such a scenario? What company name should you choose?

To be honest, it doesn’t actually matter. It’s just a company name. The only place it will be visible is in the Detailed Seller Information block on the Seller Feedback page:

Very few people actually check that page, and when they do, they most likely just look for the seller feedback ratings and won’t even notice or look for the company’s name.

On the product page itself, right below the listing title, Amazon actually shows your brand name, not the company’s name:

If you have an Amazon Store set up, the name will be linked to that store. Most customers, if they want to find out more about you, will click on that brand name link. They will never even see or notice your company’s name.

With that being said, to keep things simple, I recommend that you use a generic business name for your company so that it’s not linked to any brands you have or plan on having in the future.

This way, you can keep your options open, and, if you create multiple brands, you can sell them under one account and it will still look good to the small percentage of customers who look into it.

What do I mean by a “generic business name”? It could be anything that relates to online sales, trading, B2C trade in general, etc. For example:

• Trading Mania
• ABC Supplies
• Online Deals for You
• Bargain Basement
• Trading Galore
• Sell Soon
• Etc.

Or it could even be a made-up name, too, like:

• Soldaza
• Specting
• Sellinge
• Sellingo
• Purching
• Etc.

If you want to use a made-up name, here’s a very handy, free name generator that you can use to generate hundreds of name ideas with the click of a button: Namelix.com

But as I said, it really doesn’t matter what company name you use, especially if you stick with selling on Amazon FBA only and don’t have plans to expand into wholesale/offline sales where people will see your company name more often (on invoices, etc.).

Lastly, make sure that you check the name’s availability on the Companies House website.

Also, to ensure there is no risk of IP infringement in the future, don’t use any trademarks in your company name. You can check whether the name or part of the name you are planning to use is trademarked using the IPO website.

That’s all there is! A rather complex question with a very simple solution. If you have any further questions about this topic, feel free to leave them below this post. I will personally get back to you within 24h, Monday to Friday.