Requirements of Brand Authorization

Requirements of Brand Authorization

Sellers who list their products for sale on the platform shall have obtained the authorization from the corresponding brands for such listing and sale. If a seller receives any claim or complaint of infringement (including but not limited to any complaint recorded on the Intellectual Property Protection (IPP) Platform, sales prohibition order and letter of claim) from a brand owner or other third party (“Complainant”) in respect of the seller or its product(s), the platform will not accept the brand authorization documents provided by the seller, until and unless the seller has contacted the Complainant to resolve the relevant issue and have the complaint withdrawn.

Brand authorization documents include the following types:

Direct authorization:

Direct authorization means a brand owner (“Owner A”) has directly authorized a seller (“Seller A”) to sell products of Owner A.

Authorization process: Owner A (authorizing) → Seller A

This authorization documents for direct authorization shall at least contain of the following information:

The authorizing party, being Owner A.
The authorized party, being Seller A, whose information shall be consistent with Seller A’s membership records in Alibaba’s system.
Authorization permitting Seller A to sell Owner A’s products.
The authorization is still valid and subsisting.
Signature of the authorizing party. If the authorizing party is a PRC entity, the authorization document must be executed by affixing its official seal. Whereas, if the authorizing party is a non-PRC entity, the authorization document must be executed by its authorized representative).
Indirect authorization:
Indirect authorization means a seller (“Seller B”) is authorized to sell a brand owner (“Owner B”)’s products not by Owner B itself, but by a party (“Party B”) which has been authorized by Owner B to distribute and/or sell Owner B’s products to any third party sellers for resale.

Authorization process: Owner B (authorizing) → Party B (sub-authorizing) → Seller B

For indirect authorization, the following documents must be provided:

The authorization document issued by Owner B to Party B, which shall at least contain of the following information:
The authorizing party, being Owner B.
The authorized party, being Party B.
Authorization permitting Party B to (a) sell Owner B’s products; and (b) authorize any third party sellers to sell Owner B’s products;
The authorization is still valid and subsisting.
Signature of the authorizing party. If the authorizing party is a PRC entity, the authorization document must be executed by affixing its official seal. Whereas, if the authorizing party is a non-PRC entity, the authorization document must be executed by its authorized representative).
The authorization document issued by Party B to Seller B, which shall at least contain the following content:
The authorizing party, being Party B.
The authorized party, being Seller B whose information shall be consistent with Seller B’s membership records in Alibaba’s system.
Authorization permitting Seller B to sell Owner B’s products.
The authorization is still valid and subsisting.
Signature of the authorizing party. If the authorizing party is a legal entity, the authorization document must be executed by affixing its official seal. Whereas, if the authorizing party is an individual, the authorization document must be executed by the individual and shall include the two-sided copy of his/her ID card). If the authorizing party is a foreign legal entity/individual, the authorization document shall be signed by an authorized representative of the foreign legal entity/individual.
Proof of legitimate source of the products：
This means that there must be legitimate evidence to prove the source of the products. This includes the relevant transactional documents, such as agreement, formal sale invoice, shipping invoice, official receipt, authorization certificate issued by the brand owners to distributors, etc.

The evidence shall at least contain of the following information:

the names of the seller and the buyer involved in the transaction. The buyer’s name shall be consistent with its membership record in Alibaba’s system.
the content must include brand’s and product’s information such as product name, product model, etc.
The quantity of the products purchased by the seller, which shall not be less than 20 units.
Issue date of the documents, which shall be within the last three months.
The invoice shall have the signatures/seal of the buyer and the seller. If the seller’s signature/seal is missing, such missing document/information shall be subsequently provided .
Other relevant information, such as invoice number, seals, tax number, etc.
4.The documents provided by the seller shall be non-editable, and the seller shall covenant that all authorization and/or appeal documents provided shall be authentic and legitimate. If any document or information provided by the seller is discovered of being fraudulent, untrue or misleading, whether by the authorizing party, authority or other verifying party, the platform reserves all its rights to take any action against the seller and/or its products.