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While selling on Amazon can definitely turn out to be the greatest choice one has ever made for some, for others, the decision doesn’t turn out to be as lucrative.
However, if you want to downgrade or cancel your Amazon seller account, you should know that the process is actually more convoluted than you expect.
Quick Summary
In this post, we will discuss:
- The differences between a professional and an individual seller account
- How you can downgrade from a professional to an individual seller account?
- How you can upgrade from an individual to a professional seller account?
Let’s get into it.
The Difference Between Professional and Individual Seller Accounts
As a seller on Amazon, you have two choices when it comes to the type of seller account you want to have: Individual or professional.
Individual seller accounts have fewer benefits than professional seller accounts but the former is free while the latter costs $39.99 per month.
Let’s delve deeper into the two account types to see why you’d want to upgrade or downgrade from one to the other:
Individual Seller Account
The individual seller account is meant for individuals that are just getting started on Amazon and testing the waters or for people who don’t sell too many items on the platform per month.
It’s important to note that while you don’t pay a monthly subscription fee when it comes to an individual seller account, you do, however, pay $0.99 for every item you sell.
This is why individual seller accounts are perfect for people who don’t sell too many items. The $0.99 fee is not too bad if you’re not selling a whole lot of items. However, when you sell a high number of items every month, this fee can add up. That’s when you want to switch to a professional account.
If you sell more than 40 items per month on Amazon, you should switch to a professional seller account. If you sell less than that, it’s a good idea to stick with your individual seller account.
You can make as many product listings as you want with the individual seller account for free.
Please note that aside from the $0.99 fee for every item sold, the individual seller account also has many other restrictions such as:
- You cannot use third-party tools such as Inventory Lab, Repricers, etc.
- You cannot sell items in restricted categories on Amazon
- Your seller account will not be eligible for the
Professional Seller Account
The professional seller account on Amazon is meant for, well, professional sellers. By that, we mean sellers who are selling a fairly high number of products on the platform.
If you sell more than 40 items on the platform every month, you should switch to a professional selling account.
The professional account costs $39.99 per month which is charged as a subscription fee to the plan.
It’s important to note, however, that the $0.99 fee that is charged to individual sellers for every item they sell is not charged to professional sellers.
So, you won’t have to worry about rising costs when your items start selling well.
Along with this, you also get a ton of other benefits with the professional Amazon seller account such as:
- You can utilize spreadsheets to upload several items at once through Seller Central
- You can use third-party tools such as Repricers and Inventory Lab
- Your seller performance reports are more extensive and can help you make better decisions on how to run your online business
- Your account becomes eligible for the Buy Box
- You can sell items in restricted categories on Amazon
For more information on how professional and individual seller accounts differ from each other, check out this chart compiled by Amazon:
Courtesy: Amazon.com
You can upgrade or downgrade your seller account any time you want.
How to Downgrade Your Professional Account
In case you’re taking a break or stopping selling on Amazon altogether, here’s how you go about downgrading your professional account to an individual account:
Please note that this step is essential if you’re canceling your Amazon seller account. If you don’t perform this step and only deactivate your product listings, then you’ll still have to keep paying the $39.99 monthly subscription fee.
Step 1: Log into your Amazon seller account:
Step 2: In the top-right corner of the Seller Central dashboard, hover your cursor over the Settings tab and click on Account Info in the drop-down menu as shown below:
Step 3: Next to the Your Services section heading, click on the Manage link as shown below:
Step 4: In the section that says “Sell on Amazon”, click on Downgrade as shown below:
Step 5: Read through the warning that Amazon provides you with and then click on Proceed in order to confirm the downgrading of your professional account as shown below:
That’s pretty much it. Your professional account has now been downgraded to an individual account.
How to Upgrade Your Individual Account?
If you’re an individual seller that wants to upgrade to a professional account, then follow these steps to do so:
Step 1: Log into your Amazon seller account:
Step 2: In the top-right part of the Seller Central dashboard, go to the Settings tab and click on Account Info in the drop-down menu as shown below:
Step 3: In Seller Account Information, find the Your Services section and click the Manage link right next to it as shown below:
Step 4: In the section that says “Sell on Amazon”, click on Upgrade as shown below:
Step 5: Read through the terms of having a professional seller account on the next page and then click on Proceed in order to confirm.
You now have access to an Amazon professional seller account and you can start reaping the benefits of it immediately.
Use a New Email When Becoming an Individual Seller
We’ve made a separate section for this because it’s highly important: Make sure you make a new email when signing up for an individual seller account on Amazon.
Why?
Because if you already have an Amazon account and click on the Start Selling button to set it up as a seller account, Amazon automatically initiates the process to set it up as a professional account, not an individual account.
Thus, even if you intend to be an individual seller on the platform, you will still be asked for the $39.99 subscription fee with you having no idea why this is happening.
This is especially poor design by Amazon and while this was a problem the last time we checked, we hope it is fixed soon.
So, if you use your existing Amazon account to set up a seller account, the only choice you’ll have is to pay the subscription fee, downgrade it using the steps we showed above, and then ask Amazon for a refund.
Rather than going through this convoluted process, we think it’s a much better option to just make a new email and then set up your seller account using that email.
You won’t run into this issue when you use an email that is not already associated with Amazon.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. What are the restricted categories on Amazon on which Individual Sellers Can’t Sell Products?
You need to be a professional seller on Amazon in order to sell in the following categories:
- Automotive & Powersports
- Jewelry
- Watches
- Sports Collectibles
- Video, DVD, & Blu-ray
- Collectible Coins
- Entertainment Collectibles
- Fine Art
2. Can Individual Sellers Use Amazon FBA (Fulfilment by Amazon)?
Yes.
Individual sellers can choose to ship products to buyers themselves (Fulfilment by Merchant) or they can choose to use Amazon’s FBA (Fulfilment by Amazon) services.
Amazon Seller Account – Wrapping Things Up…
We hope you don’t have any confusion anymore about how you can downgrade (or upgrade) your seller account on Amazon.
It’s important to know which selling plan works best for your Amazon business so you can maximize your profit margins.
Which type of seller account do you use? Let us know in the comments below.
