Brand Registry, MAP & resellers
Brand gating is the informal name for Amazon restricting which sellers may list a brand's products, so that a would-be seller has to apply and provide documentation before an offer can go live. There is no self-service switch that turns it on. What brands call gating is the visible result of several different mechanisms, some of which you can influence and one of which Amazon applies at its own discretion.
Sellers arrive at this topic after their first taste of unwanted offers, usually two or three months after their first wholesale order. The honest answer is that gating exists, that it is not a product you can buy, and that the mechanisms which reliably restrict a listing are different from the one brands ask for.
The mechanisms that actually restrict a listing
Four things create the effect brands describe as gating, and they are worth separating because they behave differently.
Category-level restrictions. Some categories require approval to sell in at all, independent of brand. A new seller has to be approved for the category before any offer in it goes live. This is not brand gating, though it has the same practical effect on some products.
Serialization. When an ASIN is enrolled in unit-level serialization, every unit shipped through Amazon's network has to carry a valid code you issued. A seller who obtained units without codes cannot fulfil them through the network. This is the closest thing to a control you can switch on yourself, and the Transparency program describes how it works.
Amazon-applied restrictions. Amazon does sometimes restrict listing on a brand's ASINs, requiring documentation such as invoices or a letter of authorization from the brand. This is the thing people mean by gating in the strict sense. It is applied at Amazon's discretion, typically where there is a documented counterfeit or safety problem, not as a commercial favour to a brand that dislikes competition.
Listing-level enforcement. Removing infringing offers one at a time through the Registry tools. Not gating, but it is what most brands end up doing.
Why there is no button
The structural reason is worth understanding, because it explains why the usual advice does not work.
Amazon runs a single catalogue. One product, one detail page, many competing offers, and that competition is central to how the marketplace is built. A brand that could unilaterally exclude every seller but itself would be turning a marketplace listing into an exclusive storefront. Amazon does not hand that out on request.
There is also a legal dimension. A company that buys genuine units lawfully can generally resell them. The fact that you did not authorize the seller does not make the sale unlawful, and it is not an intellectual property violation. That is why complaints framed as counterfeit against a genuine reseller fail, and why they can rebound on the brand that files them. Unauthorized sellers on Amazon covers what does work.
So the realistic goal is not exclusion. It is friction: making it difficult, unprofitable or traceable for units to reach the marketplace through channels you did not intend.
What actually creates friction
Ranked roughly by how much they help a brand selling into wholesale.
Serialize every unit. This is first for a reason. It blocks uncoded units in the fulfillment network and, more importantly, tells you which shipment any coded unit came from. Without it you are guessing.
Control the supply. Most diverted product comes from a small number of sources: a distributor clearing overstock, a retail account that over-ordered, a liquidation lot after a discontinued line, or a customer who was never a good fit. Fewer, better-matched accounts with clear terms produces fewer problems than a large list of anyone who emailed.
Write terms worth enforcing. A channel clause, an advertised price policy, an obligation to identify the source of units found online, and a stated consequence. A policy you never enforce is worse than none, because the market learns.
Keep the listing authoritative. Registry, A+ content, a Store, an accurate brand presence. A seller who wants a quick flip prefers a listing where they can slot in unnoticed.
Report genuine infringement accurately. A record of accurate reporting is what earns access to the stronger programs, including Project Zero, and accuracy is the criterion Amazon watches.
What gating looks like from the other side
It is useful to see the mechanism from the position of the seller trying to get through it, because that tells you what the gate is really checking.
A seller who wants to list a restricted brand is asked for documentation: invoices from a supplier, often covering a minimum quantity, within a recent window, from a source Amazon considers legitimate, sometimes along with a letter of authorization from the brand. The invoices have to be real and verifiable.
Notice what that means for you as a brand. If your product reaches distributors who sell to anyone, those distributors issue exactly the invoices the approval process asks for. The gate is checking provenance, not permission. A seller with a genuine distributor invoice passes. That is why brands who tighten distribution see results and brands who chase Amazon for restrictions do not.
The operational side of handling approval requests, building an authorized list and deciding who to say yes to is covered in gated brands on Amazon.
What to do instead of chasing gating
A practical sequence for a brand in the first year of wholesale.
Enroll in Registry and serialize the ASINs that matter before the first case ships. Write the distribution policy and the advertised price policy into the terms rather than mentioning them in an email. Keep a record mapping code ranges to purchase orders, which takes minutes per order and is the only way to trace a unit later.
Then be selective about accounts. A distributor whose model is moving volume through any channel available will move your volume through any channel available, and no amount of contract language changes a business model. Ask, before the first order, what they do with overstock and whether they sell to online accounts. The answer is usually honest, because it is a normal commercial question.
If you are still assembling that target list, paste your listing into WholesalePilot and the preview shows the distributors and retailers that plausibly stock products like yours, so you are starting from a fit list rather than an inbound pile. How to handle the inbound pile is in answering wholesale inquiries.
The honest expectation to set
A brand that does all of the above will still see occasional offers it did not plan for. Products get returned, accounts close, lots get liquidated, and a certain amount of leakage is the cost of having a distribution channel at all.
What changes is scale and speed. Instead of a permanent second offer under your price, you get an occasional one that you can trace, address at the source, and watch disappear. That is the realistic outcome, and it is a good one.
The brands that end up in a worse position are usually the ones that either did nothing until the problem arrived, or spent months trying to get Amazon to solve a supply chain problem for them. Neither is a strategy.
Questions brand owners ask about gating
Can I pay Amazon to gate my brand? No. There is no purchasable gating service, and any service offering to arrange one should be treated with suspicion.
Does Brand Registry gate my brand? No. Registry gives you listing authority and enforcement tools. It does not restrict who may list an offer on your ASIN.
Will serialization remove existing sellers? It blocks units without valid codes from moving through Amazon's fulfillment network. A seller holding genuine coded units is unaffected, which is why serialization is a tracing tool as much as a blocking one.
Can I refuse to supply someone who is already selling my product? You can decide who you sell to, subject to the law where you operate. What you cannot do is control what a lawful owner of your goods does with them after the sale.
Does a letter of authorization mean anything? It matters in the approval process a seller goes through. It is not a mechanism you control directly, and issuing one is a decision about who you want representing the brand.