Hi all,

I want to raise a serious concern regarding the misuse of the Transparency Programme, particularly in the vitamin and food supplement category.

We’ve come across cases where a seller, who also acts as a wholesaler and is an authorised distributor (but not an exclusive seller), is:

Removing the original barcodes from supplement bottles, rendering them unrecognisable in Amazon’s system. Applying their own barcodes, effectively giving the product a new identity. Enrolling this re-labelled product into Amazon’s Transparency Programme, which generates a new set of unique serialised codes.

The result?

This version of the product is now treated by Amazon as a separate, protected product, with Transparency codes required for every unit. Since the seller controls the codes, no other seller can list against it, not even the actual brand owner, if they ever decide to sell directly on Amazon.

This appears to be a deliberate strategy to gain total control of listings, blocking other authorised sellers and resellers from participating — all under the guise of Transparency protection.

While Transparency is meant to protect consumers from counterfeit products, it's currently being exploited to monopolise listings and prevent fair competition, even when other sellers have genuine, unaltered stock.

Has anyone else experienced this tactic?

Is there a formal process for reporting unauthorised or abusive Transparency enrolments?

What steps can brands or other sellers take when they find themselves locked out of listings due to barcode tampering and re-enrolment?

Would appreciate input from anyone who's dealt with this or taken it up with Amazon successfully.

Thanks,