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Company name VS Brand name for Amazon FBA Sellers!

December 2, 2019 by Andrew Minalto - 10 Comments
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Company Name VS Brand Name

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:

Company name on Amazon

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:

Brand name on Amazon

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

Brand name generator

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.

Andrew Minalto

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10 Comments
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  1. Hi Andrew,

    Have really found your content useful and appreciate you going into such detail. Thank you for sharing.

    I wanted to ask a quick question RE: registering as a Sole Trader on Amazon (UK).

    Is it still the case that Amazon doesn’t accept Business names or T/A names for Sole Traders? So when registering I would just sign up using my full name where they have it as “Business Name”? Please correct me if I’m wrong.

    Kind Regards,
    Jimmy

  2. Hello Andrew! Thanks for the post. Your website is pretty amazing, so much useful content. Congrats!

    I’m thinking about opening a UK sellers account to sell here and in Europe, I’m a sole trader. Does that mean my full name will be displayed under Detailed Seller Information on the Seller Feedback page? I read on the sellers forum (Point 14 – https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/forums/t/detailed-seller-information/189741/13) a seller state the following:

    “I cannot say for other EU sites or .com etc but on .co.uk if you register as a sole proprietor your details will not be displayed. Only Limited Companies are forced to display their address.” Is this correct?

    Thank you once again

    1. Andrew Minalto

      Hi Morganne,

      Thanks for your comment.

      Yes, if you register as a Sole Trader, your full name and address WILL be displayed under the seller information.

      Thanks,
      Andrew

  3. I have company name same as Store name and Brand name. I registered as a brand but due to covid all is on hold at the moment. I recently found new supplied for my product and I gave him my company details to get invoice. Few days later there was a hijacker on my listing located in the area I bought the product from. How to protect my account from behaviours like that?
    Every time when I am giving my company name to someone people can easily google my shop on Amazon.

    1. Andrew Minalto

      Hi Anna,

      You need to register your brand with Amazon’s Brand Registry.

      There’s no way to hide your company details from Amazon seller page.

      Andrew

  4. Hi Andrew,

    I already have a Limited Company for another business, so I’ll leave the company name as is. I don’t have a clear vision as yet for which type of products I’m going to sell long-term, so I intend on using a generic brand name as you suggested.

    If for example I chose XYZ Direct as the brand name for the UK store, would you advise that I you that same name for the other EU marketplaces (as I can see there’s an option for me to have a different name for each) or would you choose a different brand name for the other countries so it makes sense to them. I really don’t want to spend too much time with the branding at this early stage but I’d love to hear your thoughts Andrew.

    1. Andrew Minalto

      Hi Hefin,

      Thanks for your comment.

      The company name will be the same in all marketplaces, but yes – you can have a different DISPLAY name in every marketplace. It really doesn’t matter what you use, I don’t think people pay any attention to it.

      Andrew

      1. Thank you Andrew.

  5. Maris Voicu

    Hello Andrew! First of all I feel like you read my/our minds when you do a new blog post. Lately I was struggling with this idea: what name should I use for my company? Now I know. I’ve decided to use a made up name wich is not going to be related to the brand.

    My question is: what do you recommend to do once I have the company name? Should I go and register the company now to be sure that name is going to be mine(i’ve checked it and it is available at this moment)? Or I should wait till I decide what product I’m going to sell(btw, tonight, after work I’ll buy the JS package and start the reasearch) and after that go for the company registering. Because registering the company I’ve find it out is taking some time(find a company for registered address and for director’s registered address, fill all the forms, pay for them, wait till they send your certificate, etc).

    Thank you in advance for your answer!

    Marius V.

    1. Andrew Minalto

      Hi Marius,

      Thanks for your comment.

      Yes, if you have decided that you will do this, there’s no reason why you would want to delay the company registration process. As you said, it takes time so just do it right now. Without a registered company, you won’t be able to open Amazon account anyways. This way you will also know for sure that you have secured the company name you want to use.

      Even though it’s not necessary, I would also register domain name on the name of your company. Just so you have it. You never know, maybe in the future you will need it.

      Hope this helps & Merry Christmas! 🙂

      Andrew

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