LOA (Letter of Authorization)

Amazon & D2C glossary · Harpy Media

An LOA (Letter of Authorization) is a formal document from the trademark owner granting a specific seller permission to retail their branded products on Amazon. Signed, on company letterhead, naming the seller and the authorised range — it is the paper that separates an authorised retailer from an unauthorised one in Amazon’s eyes.

What is LOA?

An LOA (Letter of Authorization) is a formal document from the trademark owner granting a specific seller permission to retail their branded products on Amazon. Signed, on company letterhead, naming the seller and the authorised range — it is the paper that separates an authorised retailer from an unauthorised one in Amazon’s eyes.

It matters because Amazon enforces trademark rights automatically and on the basis of documentation. When a brand files a complaint, the platform does not convene a court — it acts, and then asks the accused party to prove authorisation. A seller holding an LOA answers that question in hours. One holding a folder of retail receipts usually cannot answer it at all.

Why an LOA is working-capital protection

IP complaints can suppress a listing within days, and suppressed listings do not sell. For an FBA seller, a suppression also strands inventory inside warehouses where it keeps accruing storage fees — capital frozen in a product that cannot trade. The LOA is what converts that scenario from a slow, expensive appeal into a quick document upload.

Putting the risk in numbers is what turns it from paperwork into policy: expected daily revenue on the listing, multiplied by likely suppression days, plus the value of FBA inventory that would be stranded. That is the exposure an LOA mitigates, and it is typically far larger than any friction involved in requesting one.

Best practice: secure the letter before you buy the inventory, verify that it names your exact legal entity, specifies the products or ranges, and states the date and the owner’s signature. A vague letter is a liability disguised as reassurance.

How to use it when a complaint lands

The moment a listing is deactivated or suppressed over an IP complaint, the LOA plus your supply-chain documentation — wholesale invoices, purchase orders, distributor agreements — go into the appeal. The authorisation answers the ownership question: that the trademark owner, in writing, authorised you to sell these goods.

Where the letter is missing, appeals rely on proving genuine product through receipts and invoices — viable in some cases, slow in nearly all, and not guaranteed. The seller with the letter spends hours; the seller without one spends weeks, often with a permanently worse outcome. That asymmetry is the entire argument for asking before buying.

In practice

A seller negotiates a bulk purchase of a water bottle range from an authorised distributor and, before transferring funds, obtains a signed LOA on official company letterhead. Two months later a competitor files a counterfeit claim and the listing goes dark. The seller uploads the LOA through the account-health portal; Amazon reviews the authorisation, rejects the claim, and reinstates the listing within hours — while a normal appeal would still have been queuing.

How Harpy Media helps

Brand-authorisation hygiene is part of how we protect client accounts: verifying documentation before branded stock is bought, keeping the paper trail organised, and responding fast when an automated complaint lands. The cheapest IP dispute is the one that gets resolved with an upload.

LOA FAQ

What should an LOA include to be accepted?

The trademark owner’s letterhead and signature, your exact legal entity name, the specific branded products or ranges authorised, and a date. Vague or generic letters invite rejection — specificity is the point.

Does an LOA stop IP complaints from being filed?

Not always — automated complaints can still land. What the LOA does is make the resolution fast and successful: it shows the complainant’s claim of unauthorised selling is factually wrong, usually restoring the listing within hours.

What if I cannot get an LOA?

Then every complaint depends on proving genuine product through invoices, purchase orders, and supply-chain evidence — slower, uncertain, and frequently unsuccessful. For branded inventory, factor that risk into the price you pay — or do not buy.