AMZ Seller Financing   •   November 12, 2018

Becoming successful as an Amazon seller is not as easy as showing up, but it can definitely be done. If you do the right things and take the right steps, you can become a top seller on Amazon.

How do you do this? Well, the most important thing is to have a vision. You really need to know exactly what you want to achieve with your Amazon business. Otherwise, you’ll just run around in circles.

The first thing you need to ask yourself is whether or not you’re doing this professionally. Many people fail to understand how important this is. When you decide on that, everything will become much easier.

What does this mean, exactly? Here’s the thing. If you’re selling on Amazon only as a hobby, or a side gig, you probably won’t invest a lot of time and energy into it. As a result of this, your sales will not be huge. You might do well, but it will definitely be far from major business results.

Now, on the other hand, if you approach Amazon seller as a career, your entire attitude will change. And this will lead to much better business results, because your sales will sky-rocket. This is why you need to make the choice early on.

One of the most important choices every Amazon sellers faces is – whether to choose a professional or an individual seller plan on Amazon. This is a tough choice for many, because they still don’t know what they want to do with their Amazon business. Again, vision is everything.

Professional or Individual Seller Plan on Amazon: Which to Choose

Individual Seller Plan

Individual plan, or individual seller account, is best-suited for those people who are only interested in selling things occasionally, or consider selling on Amazon as a side gig. If this is you, then it’s best to opt for the individual plan.

What are the benefits?

The major benefit is that you won’t have to pay the monthly subscription fee of $39.99. For many people who are just starting out, this is way above their current budget. That’s why so many choose the individual plan, and it’s perfectly normal to do so.

Therefore, you won’t have to pay the big fee, only the small one, and this one is obligatory – $0.99 per item sold. This is the basic fee, but there may be some additional fees if you use FBA (fulfillment by Amazon) for packing and shipping your products.

If you don’t expect to sell a lot of items during one month, then you should definitely go for the individual plan. Even Amazon says this:

“If you plan to sell fewer than 40 items a month, the Individual plan may be best for you. There is no monthly subscription fee. Instead, Individuals pay $0.99 per item sold plus other selling fees, which vary by category.”

In a way, this is very limiting, because it doesn’t allow you to grow your online store. For example, you are not allowed to have more than a single listing, you can’t add new products that are not under your current listing details and you can only sell in a couple of approved categories.

When starting out, there are so many things you need to face, and it’s really not a problem if you don’t have enough money to cover the professional fee right away. But if you have bigger plans, then you should definitely work on signing up for the professional plan. You can easily make the switch.

Professional Seller Plan

The professional plan on Amazon really offers you a lot more. First of all, you can create multiple listings. This will greatly increase your chances of sky-rocketing your sales.

You will be able to sell in multiple categories, as long as your products meet the required criteria. Yes, you will have to pay the monthly subscription fee of $39.99, but there are no additional fees, and $0.99 fee is waived. If you plan on selling a lot of products per month, this is definitely the way to go.

What’s also great about Amazon’s professional plan is that you get the chance to take part in sponsor ad campaigns. This is one of the key factors for increasing sales and further developing your online business.

You are also eligible for Buy Box, something that individual Amazon users aren’t. The Buy Box is something every aspiring Amazon sellers want to get, because it can really take your business to a whole new level. You will be one step ahead of the competition and get the much-needed attention of your customers.

And if we add to this the option of using third-party services (again, something that individual sellers don’t have), it’s clear why the professional plan is a better option – if you’re serious about making it on Amazon.