Vendor Central/Seller Central

The main difference between Vendor Central and Seller Central is who will sell your products on Amazon. Vendor Central fulfillment is done by Amazon meaning Amazon will buy and resell your products. Seller Central allows you to sell directly to Amazon’s customer base. In this post, we will break down some of the main differences between the two.

Vendor Central (1P)

• Vendor Central is a web interface that is used by manufacturers and distributors. Vendor Central users are considered first-party sellers. This means that you are acting as the supplier, selling in bulk to Amazon. This can be a potential boost to shopper confidence.
  • To become a Vendor Central Seller, you must be invited.
  • Brands selling through Vendor Central will say “ships from and sold by Amazon”.
• Vendor Central offers fixed logistical options, traditional payment terms and Amazon has control over retail pricing.
  • Multiple advertising options
    • Sponsored Products – these ads display on the top or bottom of an Amazon results page and feature one key product.
    • Headline Search – Headline search ads display above all Sponsored Product Ads and the organic search results.
    • Product Display – Product display ads are shown on product listing pages and contribute to brand awareness.
  • A+ content – With A+ content brand owners can create pages with additional multimedia modules
    • Example: comparison charts, videos, testimonials, formatted text, etc.

Seller Central (3P)

• Seller Central option allows brands and merchants to market directly to Amazon’s massive customer base. Seller Central users are considered third-party sellers. This gives you two options for fulfilling orders.
• Sellers have the option to handle the shipping, customer service, and returns for each order themselves or have Amazon take care of all this stuff for you. Sellers can do this by enrolling their products in the Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) program.
  • Sellers can also use this to control the messaging of products not being sold via Vendor Central.
  • Sellers that do not have control of their production chain may face their products being listed and sold on Amazon by unknown sellers.

• Seller Central is open to anyone and offers flexible logistical options, quick payment terms, brand control over retail pricing as well as
  • Limited advertising options
  • Complex sales process
  • Enhanced Brand Content

Conclusion

In conclusion, Vendor Central and Seller Central both come with unique advantages. If your brand is considering selling its products on Amazon or if you have been invited as a Seller to join Vendor Central, it’s important to take into consideration all of these factors when making the decision.

At Channel Key, we can provide your brand with a detailed Amazon marketplace Analysis. With this, we can provide insights and a strategy to help your business boost sales, conversion rates, and highlight opportunities for future sales and growth. We’ll give you what you need to increase your revenue year-over-year.

We hope that this post was insightful. If you have any additional questions leave a comment below, we’ll be there, we’ll respond, and we will help you through the process. If you found this post to be helpful, please like, share, comment, and tell other people about it.

If you need immediate advice or assistance with Amazon strategies? Talk to our Channel Key team. Thank you for reading.