I think there is no need to discuss the current volume of the e-commerce world, which was once considered as the bogeyman. With the developing technology, the consumption habits of humanity are changing and new methods of new supply routes are developing. With this, new opportunities arise for many people.
Everyone from manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers to housewives are trying to somehow exist in the commercial ecosystem by selling in marketplaces. The most preferred marketplace in the Turkish market is of course Trendyol. According to 2022 data, approximately 100 thousand sellers offer their products to consumers through Trendyol. As such, an aggressive competition emerges. Of course, many sellers are uncomfortable with this situation. The main reason for this is the buybox system in Trendyol.
What is Buybox;
When more than one seller sells the same product on Trendyol, the system that selects the seller that will provide maximum benefit to customers with the algorithm metrics determined and moves the product of this seller up is called buybox. When the product is searched and clicked by the customer, the product of the seller who won the Buybox opens first.
When a seller who shares a product makes a certain number of sales and collects comments on the product, other sellers take a position for the relevant product and settle under the product as another seller. naturally, the first seller who gets dozens of comments that move the product to a certain place is very uncomfortable with this situation. He does not want to share his earnings, spoil the product’s review or break the price. This is where trademark registration comes into play!
Trendyol requests a trademark registration certificate from sellers who want to prevent this situation and the products included in the trademark registration of the sellers who share the document with the relevant unit are closed to buybox.
However, the real problem starts here;
As it is known, there are 45 classes in total according to the nice classification system in trademark registration. Each product/service is placed in these 45 classes. Among these classes, the phrase “services of bringing together various goods for customers to conveniently view and purchase goods (specified services can be provided by retail, wholesale stores, electronic media, catalogs and other similar methods)” in Class 35 confuses. Many patent offices are partially misleading sellers with buybox problems by stating that they need to register in Class 35. In fact, it should be registered in the production class. For example, shoes are included in Class 25. A company that sells shoes with its own brand can close its products to buybox by registering in Class 25. In addition, of course, it would be nice to register 35. However, what is important for the Buybox problem is the 25th class. We have confirmed this situation by meeting with Trendyol officials. On this occasion, we hope that the confusion of sellers and patent offices on this issue will end.
Arif AFKAN
Giz Patent Founder – Trademark, R&D and Innovation Consultant
