How do Amazon Seller and Vendor Central work? | B2MarketPlace

As a someone with products to sell, navigating Amazon can be complicated, especially when trying to determine what makes sense for your business.

In this post we will analyze the differenence between Amazon Seller Central and Amazon Vendor Central, in addition to the advantages and criteria that each of them brings.

Main differences between Amazon Seller Central and Amazon Vendor Central

Here’s the breakdown of Amazon Seller Central and Amazon Vendor Central:

Amazon Seller Central (ASC) is for sellers that want to do direct sales to consumers. Any seller (distributor and manufacturer) can choose to sell their products through this platform as long as they complete a basic registration verification process. The seller is free to set prices, and has the ability to manage stock. 

Amazon Vendor Central (AVC)is for manufacturers or distributors to sell their product catalog to Amazon, and Amazon offers its products individually on the platform. The manufacturer only takes care of selling the merchandise to Amazon and getting it to the logistics center, while Amazon handles the rest. When shopping on Amazon, you may have noticed a “sold and shipped by Amazon” label appearing in the shipping conditions, this is the main indicator for a buyer todifferentiate the Amazon Vendor Central platform. In this case, Amazon is the only manager of the catalog and the one responsible for setting its prices andccess to this program is limited as Amazon selects sellers through a previous invitation.

Benefits of Amazon Seller Central v Amazon Vendor Central

Now we lay out the benefits so you can better select which platform best suits your business.

The advantages of Amazon Seller Central.

• Sellers have total control over stock, catalog prices, and more accessible inventory management.
• Total control over the offer as it is sold directly to the end customer on Amazon.
• There’Wide availability of promotions.
• The use of Amazon logistics which reduces costs and is faster for delivery. Additionally, if the seller wishes, they can send their products through their own logistics.
• Greater visibility of transactions.
• More information on user purchase conditions.

Then advantages of Amazon Vendor Central.

• Througha program called Vine; there’s an option that provides Vendor’s with feedback from Amazon’s best customers in exchange for a cost.
• The only transaction is made directly to Amazon. Sellers do not assume the costs of shipping to the end customer.
• The seller does not have to worry about tracking and inventory control, as Amazon is responsible for generating purchase orders based on needs.
• This platform has the option to download more comprehensive reports than Amazon Seller Central through Ara Basic.
• There’s also another program called Ara Premium, through which the received reports give us information about the brand’s ecosystem within Amazon.

Disadvantages of Amazon Seller Central vs Amazon Vendor Central

Now that you understand the advantages, we break down the disadvantages.

The disadvantages of Amazon Seller Central

• Having their own management, the expenditure and risk they run is greater.
• In the case of using their own logistics, Sellers are responsible for all shipping, preparation, and delivery costs.
• They have to assume management of incidents and customer service.

The disadvantages of Amazon Vendor Central

• Amazon can change product prices, sometimes below the ceded price.
• You do not have information on user purchase conditions. Your sale is limited to one distributor, in this case Amazon.
• Unlike Seller central with completely free reports, to opt for Ara Premium, one must pay an amount of up to 90,000 € per year.
• Despite having the Vine program, which facilitates positioning and provides evaluations to product cards, this option has limitations, such as a maximum of 30 units of the product you want to position and a cost of 500€ per ASIN. Despite this, Amazon does not guarantee comments.

Despite the advantages and conditions to consider, each seller must choose the most suitable model for their preferences. In general, Amazon Vendor Central is preferable for large sellers with limited resources for sales to the end customer. While, Amazon Seller Central is advisable for customer-oriented companies that have B2C-oriented resources and tools.
If you want to keep up to date on these types of topics, come back to our blog for more. If you need a partner to help improve your business on Amazon, you can reach us here.