The primary difference between Vendor Central and Seller Central, is who is going to be selling your items. With Vendor Central, Amazon does all the retailing for you. With Seller Central, instead of doing all the work, you’re just a middleman selling your wares to Amazon’s customers directly.
Both types of sites have advantages and disadvantages, but in my opinion, I would suggest that you use a site that offers both types of services. Here are a few reasons why:
One of the biggest benefits of using an Amazon vendor central is the additional marketing tools that are provided. Because this is an amazon site, they provide the excellent customer service that is so much needed when it comes to running an online business. It is almost like having an assistant at your beck and call 24 hours a day. They have a complete selection of marketing tools including, free templates, rich media, videos, audio and much more.
Another major advantage of using an Amazon vendor central is the inventory capabilities. You are given the ability to create an entire inventory of your inventory from scratch, without the need of stocking or warehousing your items. You also get to have an inventory available on the day that you begin selling. They even allow you to have images uploaded of your items for potential customers to see. If you want to take care of all of these details yourself, without relying on someone else, this is definitely not the best option.
Amazon Vendor Central Vs Seller Central Fulfillment
Many new affiliate marketers have been overwhelmed by the many offers on the Internet regarding Amazon vendor Central. They may be wondering if using this avenue of Internet marketing really works, or whether it is just another gimmick or scam. Both questions are fair ones to ask, but often get mixed up when beginning an affiliate marketing campaign with Amazon.
The basic difference between Vendor Central and Seller Central really is who is actually going to be selling your items. With Vendor Central, Amazon basically takes over and purchases your items from a wholesale distributor and then resells them to their consumers. With Seller Central, you’re simply selling directly to Amazon’s customers. This is a great way for someone just starting out to get started, or for those who have had success but want a higher level of visibility. If you want to go from nothing to full-time sales with an Amazon storefront, then this is probably the best direction to go.
So what are the pros and cons of both methods? The biggest pro of Vendor Central is that the majority of the work is done for you. However, this can work against you, as many large distributors have very high minimum order amounts, which can drive your business into the ground if your order limit is not met, and usually these large fees are per item, which could create an imbalance in pricing. In addition, you could lose sales to larger distributors, as well as drive customers to your website through them instead of Amazon, creating another imbalance in pricing.
Furthermore, it is important to realize that this does not have to be done exclusively with Amazon, as third party fulfillment companies can perform the same tasks. Whether or not to utilize a third-party fulfillment is ultimately a decision you must make based upon your company’s needs and its relationship with Amazon.
What is an Amazon Vendor Central?
There are a lot of affiliate marketers who are trying to find out which one is better for them, the Amazon vendor or the Seller Central. For those people who are new to Affiliate Marketing, they will find that neither of these is a bad idea for them to get started. But if you have been doing affiliate marketing for some time, you will see that there is more to the Central than just selling stuff on Amazon. The reason is that there are many other things that an affiliate marketer needs to do in order to grow their business.
So what does the Amazon vendor central have to offer over the other kind of model? Basically, the basic difference between Vendor Central and Seller Central is that with Vendor Central, Amazon actually purchases and sells your products to their own customers. With the Seller Central, you’re selling directly to Amazon’s customers. Here is what I mean by a hybrid model.
A hybrid model is when an affiliate uses the Amazon vendor central to list their products, but they also have access to the tools that the actual Amazon has to offer. For example, the Retail Pricing Control is one of these tools that an affiliate can use. This pricing control will allow an affiliate to set their own retail pricing.
As an affiliate gets more sales from their clients, they can actually request tools like the retail pricing control to be added onto the list of features that they are offering to their clients. This way, as their numbers rise, so will the number of features that are available to the merchant client as well.
