Anne Taintor is a company known for its witty, and often sarcastic, products featuring vintage images with clever sayings. We’ve carried Anne Taintor’s magnets and notepads in our shop for many years, and know that there is a loyal following for their products.

We recently got a letter from Anne Taintor, Inc. stating that they were unhappy to see their items “being sold on Amazon for bargain-basement prices.” —  which you can confirm by looking at their products listed on Amazon right now, with “new” products under More Buying Choices at well below retail. They mention the negative impact this has on brick-and-mortar stores like us, and independent e-commerce sites.

In order to combat this trend Anne Taintor plans to “preserve its brand integrity and reputation” by assuming control of their products in the Amazon sales channel.  In other words, they have registered their brand in the Amazon Brand Registry and will be the only ones allowed to sell their products through amazon.com — and they promise the prices will be at least the manufacturer’s suggested retail prices.

Retailers who stock the brand are required to sign an agreement stating that they will not sell Anne Taintor products as an Amazon FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) seller, or through the Amazon Fulfilled by Merchant program. Shopkeepers are of course welcome to sell the products in their independent stores and on their own website.

The Amazon Brand Registry was created as a program for sellers like Anne Taintor who manufacture their own branded products. The program’s goal is to make it easier for sellers to manage their own brands and how their products are sold on Amazon.

This does mean that only the company is able to sell its products through Amazon, which represents a huge percentage of all online sales. But the price protection afforded by having Anne Taintor controlling its product distribution through Amazon may indeed “preserve its brand integrity and reputation, which should further help boost [our] Anne Taintor sales.” Only time will tell.

Happy Retailing,

Carol “Orange” Schroeder