Every seller needs to setup a trading account to begin listing and selling their products. Amazon offers two selling plans: Individual & Professional.
99% of private label sellers will need a Professional account but for those looking to start slow or sell intermittently, there is also an Individual account option.
Selling as an Individual
These accounts are geared towards low volume and intermittent sellers. They are quick and easy to setup with $0 monthly fees.
Individual accounts are best suited to sellers:
- Selling less than 40 items per month consistently
- Just starting on Amazon or selling intermittently
- Who don’t require the additional features offered in a professional account
- Who are willing to create listings manually
- Who are willing to manage their own inventory
- Not wishing to offer gift wrapping to customers
Important to note:
- Some products require approval to sell and can only be sold through Professional accounts.
- A seller can always begin with a Individual account and upgrade to a Professional account once the volume of sales justifies it. This can be done quickly and easily under the seller account settings.
Selling as a Professional
These accounts are geared towards high volume businesses. They have a greater feature range with a flat $39.99 monthly fee.
Professional accounts are best suited to sellers:
- Selling over 40 items per month
- Who want unlimited product listings
- Wanting to collect sales tax on their items
- Who want Inventory management
- Who want to be displayed in the buy box
- Who want to use 3rd party eCommerce apps and tools
- Who want to upload products in bulk
- Who want to sell in certain restricted categories
- Who are established eCommerce sellers and moving onto the Amazon platform
Important to note:
- A professional account will still attract the monthly fee of $39.99, even when no products are listed or sold.
How to Decide
There isn’t really a great amount of thought that needs to go into this decision. Any successful Amazon business should be using a Professional account. With the relatively small fee of $39.99 p/m and a whole host of features, it represents great value.
Obviously every seller has a different set of circumstances as they build their business. So use the information above to make a considered decision about which account best meets your needs. And remember, you can always create an Individual account and upgrade to Professional later!
Completing Account Setup
After choosing the type of seller account, Amazon will request the following information to complete the account setup:
- Business Name
- Personal Contact Information
- Product Shipping Information
- Bank Account Information
Finally, after the seller account becomes active, the seller profile page can be updated. This page includes information about the business, its policies, its background and any other pertinent information the seller wishes to share with its customers.