Setting up an Amazon seller account is a straightforward process. However, there are a few critical decisions you have to make as you go along the way – one of them is choosing the right selling plan. This post will help you decide on this crucial first step as you set up your own Amazon store.
Professional Seller Account vs. Individual Seller Account
Each Amazon seller account comes with its own set of pros and cons, and deciding the right plan depends on your specific needs and goals. Without getting too off track, you have to think about some factors when starting a business in Amazon. One of them includes opening a separate account for selling to ensure your business finances do not get tangled with your personal affairs. Answering these basic questions is also important:
- How many products do you plan to sell?
- How much sales do you expect to generate?
- What features and services are you looking to have?
Once you have your answers, it’s time to look at what each Amazon seller account offers.
Amazon Seller Account: Professional vs. Individual
Professional: Best for sellers who are planning to sell more than 40 items per month. It has a monthly subscription fee of $39.99 on top of Amazon’s referral fees and variable closing fees.
Individual: Best for sellers who are planning to sell fewer than 40 items per month. It doesn’t have a monthly subscription fee but sellers are charged $0.99 per item on top of Amazon’s referral fees and variable closing fees.
Professional Amazon Seller Account
If you want to sell more than 40 products on a monthly basis, the professional seller account is your perfect choice. Although there is a monthly flat subscription rate of $39.99, the professional plan comes with amazing features which the individual plan doesn’t have. These include:
- Buy Box Eligibility
- Use of 3rd party services like SellerMobile
- Ability to create new product listing pages
- Opportunity to sell in restricted categories on Amazon
The professional plan offers a few more benefits such as access to Sponsored Products, access to Inventory Loader and Order Reports and Marketplace Web Services (MWS).
In our next blog post, we’ll delve deeper into the benefits of using a professional seller account on Amazon.
Individual Amazon Seller Account
If you are looking to sell less than 40 products in a single month or just want to try the market, the individual seller account might work for you. However, you have to remember that there is a $0.99 per-item fee on every item sold. The individual plan is best for sellers who:
- Don’t need access to third party tools
- Want to keep costs as low as possible
- Don’t need the additional features of the professional plan
- Are satisfied selling just a handful of products and don’t plan to grow an actual business
The wonderful thing about selling on Amazon is that you can upgrade and downgrade your account whenever you want to. In the event you go above your 40 item per month threshold, you can just easily upgrade your account, or vice versa.
In Conclusion
As you see, there are key differences between a professional seller account and an individual seller account on Amazon. While each Amazon seller account offers its own unique advantages, it’s obvious that the professional seller account is the best option if you are serious about making money and growing your business on Amazon. But then again, the final decision depends on where you want to take your business.
