It recently dawned on me after setting up a couple dozen seller central accounts that not every seller really needs their own account. And while there are pros and cons to both options, starting your own account, vs leveraging another seller central account, many first time sellers may want to consider using someone else’s. What I mean by using someone else’s seller account is – sell your products at wholesale to another retailer on Amazon. Or give them a rev share. They handle keeping stuff in stock, all the customer service messages, reviews, marketing etc.
You can open a Seller Central account here.
If you are a manufacturer or wholeseller and have never sold on Amazon before, you should at the very least hire a consultant (such as myself…). Whether you launch your own account, or leverage another seller’s depends on your mission and resolve.
Pros of using your own seller account:
- Visibility into daily sales
- Control
- Everything is tied to single tax id
- You can spend more marketing dollars out of your own pocket
Pros of leveraging another’s account:
- Save $40 per month in Amazon seller account fee
- Less time required and far less setup
- Customer service messages, shipments, and other items are more easily handled for me as a consultant (less $ you have to pay me)
- Faster sales velocity due to prior account history
- Marketer likely knows how to better spend dollars to get sales
How many skus do you have?
- If you have 10 or less skus and sales under 50k a year – you should use someone else’s account.
- If you have 10+ skus and sales over 50k a year – you should be on your own seller central account.
Distribution control and MAP can also impact which direction makes the most sense.
Problems that can come up when you open a Seller Central Account:
- Identity documents Amazon requests don’t match and you can’t finish setup
- Multiple accounts. If your email or phone number are attached to another seller account you may get flagged and unable to sell.
- Bad bank account information
- Tax ID issues
If you run into any of these issues I can help you sort them out projects@myamazonguy.com
