Amazon offers two ways to sell on its marketplace: Seller Central or Vendor Central. Their mechanics, margins and accessibility have shifted noticeably over the past two years. Here’s where things stand in 2026.
Amazon Seller Central
A platform open to any brand or merchant, selling as a third-party seller (« 3P »). You manage your own customer service and returns, and set your prices freely. On the logistics side, two options: handle it yourself, or use Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), where Amazon takes care of storage and shipping (for variable fees depending on weight, dimensions, category and stored volume), with the added bonus of the « Fulfilled by Amazon » badge, a real trust signal for buyers.
You pay a monthly fee plus a commission per sale: a manageable model that gives you full control over your margins.
Amazon Vendor Central
An invitation-only platform, reserved for manufacturers/distributors with significant volumes. Here, Amazon buys from you wholesale: its algorithms determine needs, place orders roughly twice a week, and Amazon alone sets the resale price, logistics and customer service. In exchange:
- Your products are sold and shipped by Amazon.
- You have a better chance of winning the Buy Box.
- You gain access to advanced marketing tools (Vine, AMS, A+ Content, analytics).
What changed in 2026
Here’s the most important update: Vendor Central has become markedly more selective. Amazon has carried out major vendor « purges, » excluding brands generating under 5 to 10 million dollars in annual revenue from its 1P ecosystem. Marketing co-op fees have also risen, now representing 8 to 12% in most categories, just to keep vendor status.
Another structural difference not to underestimate: on Seller Central, you keep detailed, real-time access to your sales data by product (ASIN), a level of visibility Vendor Central doesn’t offer.
Seller Central or Vendor Central: which to choose?
In 2026, the shift is clearly working against mid-sized vendors: unless you have substantial business volume and the cash flow to absorb rising Co-op fees, Seller Central is once again the safer default choice for most brands: control over margins, access to data, and a place in the Amazon ecosystem no longer challenged every year by Amazon itself. That margin control matters even more during peak events like Prime Day, when CPCs and competitive pressure spike sharply.
Agathe Blaise
Sources: Amazon Seller Central vs Vendor Central – SellerMetrics, 2026, Amazon Vendor Central vs Seller Central – AMZ Dudes, 2026.