Seller Central or Seller Vendor: Which Should You Choose?

When selling on Amazon, the first step is to set up an account. But there are several types of accounts, and choosing the right one can be critical. Currently, there are two main types of accounts: Seller Central and Vendor Central. Within Seller Central, there are also different versions—Basic (Individual) and Professional.

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In this post, I'll walk you through the different account types and then compare their pros and cons. Finally, I'll provide a recommendation based on your business needs. Let’s start with Seller Central.

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What is Seller Central?

Having a Seller Central account is the most common setup. It's an account for third-party sellers who want to use Amazon to sell their products on the platform. With Seller Central, you own the entire transaction and can set your own prices, create product listings, and establish shipping terms. It’s an account type that’s open to everyone, and you can register immediately here.

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As mentioned, there are two types of accounts within Seller Central. One type is for individual sellers who don’t see Amazon as a major sales channel but rather want to sell a few products per month. The other is for professional sellers (businesses) who want to sell in larger volumes, access better terms, and use more advanced features.

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Seller Central - Basic (Individual)

The Basic Seller Central account, or Individual Account as it's known outside of Sweden, is the simplest account type you can have when selling on Amazon. It’s ideal for individuals or newly started businesses with a low budget. There’s no fixed fee, but you pay for each product sold.

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The cost per sale is 10 SEK (in Sweden) plus what Amazon calls a "Referral Fee." The referral fee is a commission that Amazon takes on each sale. This commission is about 15% but can vary depending on the product category (see more here: Amazon Seller Fees and Costs).

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Unfortunately, with this basic account, many of the valuable features available to professional sellers are not accessible. For example, advertising and Amazon’s logistics handling (FBA).

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In short, this account is not for businesses looking to profit on Amazon, but rather for individuals who want to sell a few items or businesses that want to test the Amazon platform.

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Seller Central - Professional

The Professional Seller Central account is far more lucrative for businesses than the basic account. It offers many more features, and there are no fixed costs per order. However, the referral fee, which is a percentage commission on the sales price, still applies, along with a monthly fee of 410 SEK (in Sweden and similar amounts in other regions).

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With a Professional Seller Central account, you can set your prices, decide which products to sell, and you also get access to Amazon’s logistics solution, FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon). With FBA, you can store products in Amazon’s warehouses, and they handle shipping, returns, and more. This makes managing Amazon sales and potential growth easier. When you sell with a Seller Central account and use FBA, you have the flexibility to decide when and if you want to ship products to Amazon’s warehouse. You can also create bundles and multi-buy options for customers.

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You can also choose to ship products to the end customer and handle returns yourself, which is known as FBM (Fulfillment by Merchant). This option has its advantages, especially for companies new to Amazon, but generally, I recommend FBA. Read why here: FBA vs FBM.

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What is Vendor Central?

Vendor Central and Seller Central are similar in many ways, but there is a fundamental difference. With Vendor Central, your company doesn’t own the entire transaction. Instead, you sell your products to Amazon, which acts as the retailer on its platform. This means you lose much of the control, as Amazon sets the prices. Despite this, you’re still responsible for advertising, creating product listings, and more.

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Vendor Central is not open to just any company—you need an invitation, and Amazon doesn’t extend invitations to just anyone. Therefore, there aren’t standardized fees and costs; these are negotiated with Amazon.

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Like Seller Central’s FBA, Amazon handles shipping, returns, etc., with Vendor Central. However, you do not have the option to manage shipping to the end customer yourself when using Vendor Central. Since Amazon owns the products, they also handle storage and shipping.

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A significant advantage of Vendor Central is that instead of monitoring each individual sale, you can sell products in bulk to Amazon, which then handles the rest. However, as mentioned, it’s still up to you to advertise, optimize product listings, and more to boost sales on the platform, which in turn leads to Amazon buying more products from you.

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Seller Central vs. Vendor Central

Now, I will compare Seller Central - Professional and Vendor Central. The Basic account for Seller Central may be relevant for many, but not for the same companies that are deciding between Seller Central and Vendor Central. Therefore, I will exclude the basic account from this comparison. These are the main advantages and disadvantages of each option.

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Seller Central - Pros and Cons

• Full control over inventory and pricing.
• Choose between FBA and FBM logistics solutions.
• Own the entire transaction = Better profit per sold product.
• You cannot sell in bulk.

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Vendor Central - Pros and Cons

• Sell products in bulk to Amazon.
• Let Amazon handle the rest (shipping, sales, etc.).
• Often better support from Amazon.
• Lose control over pricing and products.
• Lower margins as Amazon takes a larger cut.

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Vendor Central or Seller Central?

There is no clear-cut answer here. It all depends on your company’s capabilities and structure. However, I strongly recommend Seller Central. Being able to set your own sales prices is important. Otherwise, you risk Amazon lowering prices and competing with your own business or your resellers.

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Many choose Vendor Central hoping it will require less work and that Amazon will handle most of it. But you still need to manage product listings and advertising. What actually becomes easier is accounting and finance, as sales occur in bulk instead of individual orders from customers.

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Several larger clients that SellWave assists initially chose to use Vendor Central but now regret it. Some have even switched from Vendor Central to Seller Central. This is primarily because it was too expensive and they lost control.

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Summary - Amazon Seller Account Types

In summary, there are two main types of accounts, and within Seller Central, you can choose between a Professional or Basic account. Vendor Central requires an invitation, and with it, you sell your products in bulk to Amazon, which then acts as the retailer and sells the products. This means you lose control over pricing and processes. With Seller Central, you own the entire transaction, set prices, and can choose to manage shipping to the end customer yourself or let Amazon handle it.

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I strongly recommend using Seller Central to maintain control. However, there are always more factors to consider, and for your business, Vendor Central might be the better solution. In the end, the choice between Seller Central and Vendor Central comes down to weighing the pros and cons and making the decision you believe will be most profitable for you and your company.

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If someone else you know could benefit from this post, I would be extremely grateful if you would be generous enough to share it. It would help me and SellWave tremendously. Thank you!