Private label: made by one company, sold under your brand

The legal test

The Consumer Product Safety Act gives the clearest definition. A product bears a private label when it is labeled with another person's brand, with that person's authorization, and without the manufacturer's brand^[1]. All three parts count: a product that carries your logo and the factory's brand side by side is not private label under this test, and neither is one the factory labeled with your name without your say.

Drug rules use a similar idea. The FDA defines a private label distributor as a company that did not make the drug but sells it under its own label or trade name^[2].

What the name on the label commits you to

Consumer products

Products covered by a CPSC rule need a certificate that they comply, and the statute extends the duty to issue it to the private labeler of a product that bears a private label^[3]. The CPSC's rule on who certifies settles which party signs:

If you import your own private label goods from an overseas factory, the certificate is yours, so the testing behind it has to be planned before the goods ship. Children's products carry one more duty. The manufacturer, which the Act defines as any person who manufactures or imports a consumer product^[1], must put permanent tracking marks on the product and its packaging, to the extent practicable, that let the buyer identify the manufacturer or private labeler^[3] and see the location and date of production and the batch or run^[3]. A brand that imports its own goods is that manufacturer.

Packaged food

A packaged food label must state the name and place of business of the manufacturer, packer, or distributor^[5]. When the business named on the label is your company and you did not make the food, the name has to be qualified by a phrase such as "Manufactured for" or "Distributed by"^[5], so a shopper can see your connection to it.

Example: a children's backpack made overseas

A brand orders backpacks for children from a factory abroad. The factory prints the brand's logo on each bag and leaves its own brand off, and the brand approved the artwork. That meets all three parts of the test, so the backpack is private label. Because the brand imports it, the brand is the party that issues the certificate for it under the CPSC's rule. The bags and their packaging also need tracking marks, to the extent practicable, that identify the brand (or the manufacturer), where and when they were made, and the batch or run. The date and batch change with every production run, so the brand should specify the marking format in its label artwork and confirm the details for each run.

Where white label fits

Sellers use white label for a finished design the factory sells to many brands, and private label for a product made for one brand. Under the legal test above the difference disappears: once your brand is the only one on the label and you authorized it, the product is private label either way, and the duties follow. What each route costs a new brand, and what the brand owns at the end, is compared in private label vs white label.

Private label on Amazon

For an Amazon seller, private label means listing a product a factory made under a brand you own, instead of reselling another company's brand. To protect that brand in Amazon's store you can enroll it in Amazon Brand Registry, and the program's requirements reach back to the factory order. Amazon asks for a pending or registered trademark for your brand name or logo, issued by the designated government trademark office of a country with a corresponding Amazon store^[6], says you must be the trademark owner^[6] to enroll, and requires a logo that includes your brand name permanently affixed to your products or packaging^[6]. So file the trademark application in your own company's name, with the trademark office of a country where you will sell on Amazon, before the first order, and have the logo printed, embossed or sewn onto the product or its packaging, not a removable sticker.

Before you place a private label order

• Agree in writing who tests the product, and to what standard, before production starts.
• Send label and packaging artwork that carries your brand name, the name and address details your product category requires, and any tracking marks.
• Specify that the factory's own brand stays off the product and packaging.
• Keep the specification, artwork and any molds or printing plates in your name.

When you are ready to source, compare private label manufacturers by product category, and put your testing and labeling requirements in your request for quotes.