How to Protect Your Amazon Brand's Catalog, with Flat Files

1. Understand Flat Files
Flat files are Excel spreadsheets provided by Amazon designed to help sellers manage their entire product catalog efficiently. Instead of manually updating each listing one-by-one through Seller Central’s web interface, you can use flat files to edit, add, or delete multiple products and attributes in bulk. This not only saves time but also gives you more granular control over your product data. By mastering flat files, you can troubleshoot and solve listing issues faster without having to rely on Seller Support, which can be slow or unresponsive.

2. Download Category Listing Reports (CLR) Frequently
The Category Listing Report is essentially a full backup of your entire product catalog as it exists on Amazon. It contains all the details Amazon has stored about your products — including descriptions, keywords, attributes, and more. Regularly downloading this report (monthly or quarterly) is critical for a few reasons:

  • Security: If your Amazon account gets compromised or your catalog is lost due to some system error or malicious activity, having a recent CLR means you have a snapshot of your product data that can be restored quickly.

  • Audit & Optimization: You can review the data, spot inconsistencies or gaps, and prepare updates offline.
    To download, navigate in Seller Central to Reports > Inventory Reports, and select Categorization Report from the dropdown. If you don’t see this option, you can open a support case to request access.

3. Unprotect and Customize Your CLR
Once you download the CLR, it typically arrives as a protected Excel sheet to prevent accidental changes. To effectively use it:

  • Go to the Review tab in Excel and click Unprotect Sheet.

  • This unlocks the sheet so you can delete unnecessary columns and add any custom columns that are important for your brand management or specific product needs.
    Customizing the CLR helps you streamline your work and focus on fields critical to your brand protection and listing optimization.

4. Fill in All Attributes
Leaving fields empty in your product data is risky. Every blank field is an opportunity for Amazon’s automated systems — or worse, hijackers and unauthorized sellers — to insert incorrect or misleading information about your products. Since Amazon strives to provide the best customer experience, their system may update listings with missing info to improve them, but this can sometimes hurt your brand’s accuracy and integrity.
By filling in all possible attributes, you:

  • Protect Your Brand: You maintain control over your product information, preventing hijackers from changing your brand name, product titles, descriptions, images, or other important details. This is key in avoiding counterfeit listings or misleading product info.

  • Improve SEO & Ranking: Flat files expose more fields than the Seller Central UI, allowing you to include additional keywords, search terms, and product details that improve your product’s discoverability and ranking within Amazon’s search algorithms.

5. Add Recommended Columns
Vanessa highlights some critical columns that sellers often overlook but which have a big impact on product compliance and visibility:

  • Is it an adult product?: Setting this to false if your product is not adult content prevents Amazon from misclassifying it, which can cause suppression in search results and prevent you from running ads.

  • Is it expirable?: Indicates if your product has an expiration date, helping Amazon manage inventory better.

  • Is it discontinued?: Marks products no longer sold, preventing confusion and errors in listings.

  • Is it heat sensitive?: Extremely important for compliance with Amazon’s meltable products policy. Heat sensitive items risk being stranded or disposed of during hot weather seasons. Correctly labeling these helps avoid inventory loss and shipping issues.

6. Upload Your Optimized Flat File Frequently
It’s not enough to just optimize your flat file once. Regularly uploading your optimized flat file (even daily for highly competitive or fast-moving products) signals to Amazon that you are the most recent and authoritative source of your product information. This frequent update:

  • Keeps your product details accurate and up-to-date.

  • Protects your listings from unauthorized changes by other sellers or hijackers, because Amazon gives priority to the last submitter of product data.

  • Helps you respond quickly to market changes, such as price updates, new keywords, or compliance needs.

Why This Matters

Protecting your Amazon catalog is a foundational step in maintaining your brand’s reputation, customer trust, and sales performance. Hijackers or careless listing changes can lead to lost revenue, negative reviews, and potential account suspensions. By proactively managing your catalog through flat files, backed-up reports, complete attributes, and regular updates, you create a strong defense against these risks while maximizing your organic search potential.

AmazonFrancesca Tabor