Selling rights

We believe in an open platform that allows everyone to sell their product range. Unfortunately, this open platform policy is misused at times. Examples include customers receiving an unbranded item whilst they ordered a branded item, receiving items not intended for the Dutch market or even receiving counterfeit items.

To avoid this, we may decide to introduce selling rights for specific brands or articles. In these cases, we consider whether the improvement to the customer proposition outweighs the restriction to the open platform.

You can apply for selling rights of each category on this page. We will process these applications within 5 working days.

When do we use this?

As selling rights are a curtailment of the open platform principle, bol.com will only make this mandatory for categories or brands if it’s necessary. We may decide to implement selling rights for an assortment group or brand when we receive signals that the customer proposition is structurally compromised. Based on these signals, we will also determine the frequency of the periodic reassessment (the more signals, the higher the frequency of the reassessment).

This is how selling rights work

For selected brands or product ranges you have to prove that the items were purchased through an authorised seller. To verify if you meet the quality requirements, we request several documents during an application and periodically. The requested documents may differ per product group. These include documents to verify the quality, safety and authenticity of a product. In this way, we ensure that articles with selling rights continuously meet the standards.

The review process of a trademark application

To determine whether a trademark meets our guidelines and safety and quality requirements, a review follows after you submit your trademark application.

In the review process, we determine:

• whether your brand’s articles comply with bol.com’s brand and property rights guidelines
• whether you have product liability insurance
• whether you have a complaints and call-back process
• whether you can provide relevant test reports and seals of approval. See our assortment policy for more information. Here you can find more information on CE marking and on the necessary Technical Documentation and EU Declaration of Conformity

If you comply with everything, we will add your brand to the list of approved brands. When bol.com detects quality problems at a later stage, your brand may be removed from the list. We will notify you about this.

Selective distribution

Branded products are essential for a good customer proposition. To ensure this good customer proposition, brands sometimes use selective distribution. They use objective criteria to set requirements for how distributors sell their items. Brand or licence holders opt for a closed network of suppliers selected and controlled by them. This ensures they can guarantee the quality of the articles they offer.

Brand or license owners are inclined to collaborate with bol.com but do however impose conditions for selective distribution. For example, a brand may require that only partners who are selective distributors can sell on bol.com. In that case, we set up selective distribution, meaning we only allow partners who are selective distributors according to the trademark owner to sell the product. Are you not a selective distributor yet, but would you like to sell a specific brand? Then report to the brand or licence holder or manufacturer to gain access to their network.

How selective distribution works

In selective distribution, a brand owner decides which partners can sell its articles (so-called selective distributors). Bol.com has no say in this. The brand owner 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 give you any rights to sell these items on our platform.

When selective distribution is used

We are very committed to working with our partners and believe in the open platform strategy. Therefore, we will not simply set selective distribution on our assortment or certain categories. The decisive factor is our customer’s interest: we only consider setting selective distribution if it contributes to our quality promise and the improved customer proposition of important assortment.

Additional terms and conditions

Selling rights are subject to additional terms and conditions. When applying for selling rights, you are required to agree to the additional terms and conditions. You can read these here (in Dutch).