Starting a private-label brand in Canada: the order to do things in

1. Private label, white label, OEM and ODM

The terms get used loosely. What matters is who owns the design and the tooling:

Most first brands start on a public mould or light ODM changes. That is sensible — but assume the same product will appear under other brands, and compete on packaging, listing quality, certification and service rather than on exclusivity you do not have. If you do pay for tooling, get a written agreement that the moulds belong to you and cannot be used for anyone else.

2. Pick a product you can actually certify

The fastest way to kill a brand launch is to choose a product that cannot be sold in Canada without months of testing. Before you fall in love with a product, check:

• Does it transmit? Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and other radio products need ISED certification. A supplier's FCC grant does not transfer.
• Does it plug into the wall? Mains-powered products need a Canadian safety mark such as CSA or cUL.
• Does it have a lithium battery? That affects shipping as well as safety.
• Is it a cosmetic? It needs Health Canada notification and cosmetic labelling.

Our electronics compliance guide covers the first three in depth, and the labelling guide covers cosmetics. A first product with no radio, no mains power and no battery — kitchen tools, organisers, cables, cases — is a much easier launch.

3. Clear the name before you love it

Before a designer touches a logo, search the name in three places: the Canadian Trademarks Database, Amazon.ca and Amazon.com (including brand names in listings, not just registered marks), and domain and social handles. You are looking for anyone using the same or a confusingly similar name for related goods. A brand name that is a common English word, or that describes the product, will be hard to register and hard to protect — invented or arbitrary names register far more easily.

A professional clearance search is worth paying for once you have a shortlist. Through Amazon's IP Accelerator, participating firms quote pre-negotiated prices of up to $305 for a brand search and up to $1,425 for a comprehensive review.3

4. Filing with CIPO: fees, classes and timelines

Online filing, 2026

$491.06 for the first class, $149.04 for each additional class1

From January 1, 2027

$499.41 and $151.57 — a 1.7% increase under the Service Fees Act2

Registration fee

None for applications filed after June 17, 20191

Classification

Nice Classification, 13th edition, from January 1, 20261

Typical timeline

12 to 24 months from filing to registration1

Choose classes by what you sell, not what you might sell one day: electronics and chargers generally sit in class 9, cosmetics in class 3, kitchenware and household containers in class 21. Each extra class adds about $150, and every class you claim is one you must eventually be able to show use in.

File as early as you can. The date you file is what counts against a competitor who files later, and — as the next two sections explain — both Amazon and Quebec treat a filed or registered mark very differently from an unfiled one.

5. Amazon Brand Registry with a pending mark

Amazon Brand Registry gives you control of your listings, access to A+ content and tools to report copycats. To enrol, your brand needs an active registered trademark or a pending application, as a word mark or a design mark containing words, letters or numbers.4

Amazon also requires the brand name to be permanently affixed to the product or its packaging, and says plainly that stickers, labels, stamps and tags are not considered permanent.4 Print it on the box, mould it into the product, or both.

Amazon's IP Accelerator connects sellers with vetted law firms at pre-negotiated rates — Canadian trademark filing at $605 plus government fees — and gives access to brand-protection tools while the application is pending.3 It is a reasonable route if you have no trademark lawyer; it is not required.

6. Register in China before the factory sees your artwork

China grants trademark rights to whoever files first. If a factory, an agent or a stranger registers your brand there before you do, they can use that registration to disrupt your manufacturing and exports — for example by having customs hold goods bearing “their” mark as they leave the country.6

The defensive approach is narrow and cheap relative to the risk: file the marks that will physically appear on products and packaging leaving Chinese factories, with goods descriptions written for the Chinese system, and consider a Chinese-character version.6 Do it before sending artwork files. A trademark filing is also leverage in any later dispute with the factory about the moulds or the design.

7. Barcodes: buy them from GS1 Canada

Every retail unit needs a GTIN (the number behind a UPC barcode). GS1 Canada licenses them directly, with plans aimed at small businesses:5

Each colour and each size is its own GTIN, so a product in three colours needs three. Resellers offer cheaper numbers that were licensed to someone else; marketplaces and retailers can check who a barcode is registered to, and a mismatch is a common reason listings are suppressed. Buy from GS1.

8. Packaging that works in every province

Design one bilingual package for all of Canada. The federal minimum is product identity and net quantity in English and French plus your name and address as the dealer, but Quebec requires French on every inscription, and since June 2025 your English brand name only stands alone if the trademark is registered — a pending application is not enough. The labelling guide covers all of it.

Custom printed packaging has its own minimums, separate from the product's. A factory that will make 300 units may still want 1,000 or more printed boxes; as an estimate rather than a published figure, budget for custom packaging to add noticeably to unit cost on a first run. Ask for the packaging MOQ and price as a separate line in every quote.

9. A realistic first-run budget

The table below is an illustrative budget for a simple, non-electrical product — for example a kitchen organiser — sold on Amazon.ca and to a few retailers. The government fees are published figures; every other line is an estimate that varies widely by product and supplier.

Add certification testing if the product is electrical or wireless, and Chinese trademark filing if you are using a factory in China. The point of the table is the shape, not the totals: the fixed brand costs are small next to inventory, and the expensive mistakes are the ones that force you to re-order it.

10. The order, on one page

1. Choose a product you can certify and label without months of testing.
2. Clear the name; file the Canadian trademark; file in China.
3. Order paid samples; approve a golden sample.
4. License GS1 barcodes; write the bilingual packaging text; design the artwork.
5. Enrol in Amazon Brand Registry on the pending application.
6. Place the production order; inspect before paying the balance.
7. Set up as an importer and land the goods — see our importer setup guide.

If you would rather hand the middle of that list to someone else, that is what our sourcing and brand development service does.

The checklist

Common questions

Sources

Every figure and rule above comes from one of these. Where this article draws a conclusion the source does not state literally, or gives an estimate rather than a published number, it says so in the text.

1. SiLaw — Canadian trademark registration: CIPO process, 2026 fees and timeline
2. Canadian Intellectual Property Office — fees for trademarks (increase from January 1, 2027)
3. Amazon.ca — IP Accelerator: trademark support for your brand
4. Amazon — Brand Registry requirements
5. GS1 Canada — small business barcode plans
6. Harris Sliwoski — Manufacturing in China? Register your trademark before someone else does

Last reviewed September 27, 2026. Rules and rates change. If you find something here that has gone out of date, tell us and we will fix it. This guide is general information, not legal or customs advice.