Selling Rights

We believe in an open platform where everyone can sell their product range, but we also see that it is sometimes misused. This includes situations where customers receive an unbranded item when they ordered a branded one, receive items not intended for the Dutch market, or even receive counterfeit items.

To prevent this, we may decide to introduce sales rights for specific brands or items. We always consider whether the improvement to the customer proposition outweighs the restriction on the open platform.

You can apply for sales rights per category on this page. These applications are processed within 5 working days.

Because sales rights restrict the open platform principle, bol will not simply mandate them for categories or brands. If we receive signals for a product range group or certain brands that the customer proposition is being systematically undermined, bol may decide to implement sales rights. Based on these signals, we also determine the frequency of periodic re-evaluation (the more signals, the higher the frequency of re-evaluation).

For selected brands or product ranges, you must demonstrate that the items were purchased via an authorized seller. For this purpose, during an application and periodically for verification, several documents will be requested to check if you meet the set quality requirements. The requested documents may vary per product group. These may include documents to verify the quality, safety, and authenticity of an item. This ensures that items with sales rights continuously meet the standards.

To determine if a brand meets our guidelines and safety and quality requirements, an assessment follows after you have submitted your brand application.

In the assessment process, we determine:

• whether your brand's items comply with the bol guidelines for brand and property rights
• whether you have product liability insurance
• whether you have a complaints and recall process
• whether you can provide relevant test reports and quality marks. See our product range policy for more information. Here you will find more information about CE marking and the necessary Technical documentation and EU Declaration of Conformity.

If you meet all requirements, we will add your brand to the list of approved brands. If bol still identifies quality issues, your brand may be removed from the list at a later date. You will be notified of this.

Branded items are essential for a strong customer proposition. To ensure this strong customer proposition, brands sometimes use selective distribution. They then set requirements, based on objective criteria, for how distributors sell their items. Brand or license holders opt for a closed network of selected and controlled providers to ensure the quality of the items they offer on the market for the customer.

Brand or license holders are keen to collaborate with bol but set conditions for selective distribution. For example, a brand may require that only partners who are selective distributors may sell via bol. In that case, we implement selective distribution. We then only allow partners who are selective distributors according to the brand holder. If you are not yet a selective distributor but want to sell the brand, please contact the brand or license holder or manufacturer to gain access to their network.

How selective distribution works 

With selective distribution, a brand holder determines which partners may sell their items (so-called selective distributors). The brand holder informs us who the selective distributors are. All distributors selected by the brand may sell on our platform. If you are not a selective distributor, we cannot grant you rights to sell these items on our platform.

When selective distribution 

We attach great importance to our collaboration with our partners and believe in the open platform strategy. Therefore, we will not simply implement selective distribution for our product range or certain categories. The decisive factor is the interest of our customer: only if selective distribution contributes to the quality promise and an improved customer proposition for an important product range, will we consider implementing selective distribution.

Additional terms of use apply to sales rights. When applying for sales rights, it is necessary to agree to the additional terms of use. You can read the additional terms of use here.