Selling on Amazon 2023: choosing between the professional and individual plan

How much does it cost to sell on Amazon? In addition to platform referral fees and logistics costs—the first choice to make is between the Individual account and the Professional account.

In this article, we will explain the main differences between the two.

How much do the Amazon Professional and Individual plans cost?

First of all, let's look at the cost of the two solutions.

The Professional plan involves a monthly fee of €39 + VAT, while with the Individual plan, Sellers do not incur any fixed costs. On the other hand, the basic plan has a fixed per-item fee of €0.99 for every unit sold.

From a purely mathematical point of view, the individual plan would seem more cost-effective if a Seller makes fewer than 40 sales per month.

However, as we will see, price is not the only variable that should be considered. In fact, the individual account has several limitations that can represent a real obstacle to your growth on Amazon.

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Main limitations of the Amazon Individual account

As mentioned, the individual plan may be cheaper for selling on Amazon, especially for Sellers who have just opened their account and make fewer than 40 sales per month.

Conversely, while it has no fixed costs, it can significantly impact account performance and represent a real barrier to sales.

So, what are the main limitations of the basic account?

The most important ones are likely:

• It is not possible to obtain the Buy Box, which we discussed in this article;

• You cannot create advertising campaigns, which we discussed here.

These two limitations should be enough on their own to discourage sellers from choosing a basic account. In fact, a product without the Buy Box will appear without a price to the public; this, besides significantly discouraging buyers from completing a purchase, will also penalize the product's search ranking.

Furthermore, for products without a displayed price, users must click an extra button to complete the purchase. While appearing minor, in such a dynamic market, this can truly make a difference.

Advertising campaigns, as explained in the article, are becoming increasingly essential to ensure product visibility. Not having access to them could result in obtaining no sales at all.

Other features reserved for users with an Amazon Professional plan include:

• Selling products in certain restricted categories;

• Uploading products in bulk via Excel files;

• Access to many marketplace reports;

• Eligibility for placement at the top of search results;

• Creation of secondary users;

• Other functionalities.

In this table, Amazon lists the complete set of limitations:

When is it worth having an individual plan?

As we have seen, the individual plan can significantly hinder your growth on Amazon and, as an agency, we generally always advise against it. Even Amazon itself keeps adding more limits for non-professional users. The question we are often asked is: "so, should the individual plan always be avoided?"

Generally speaking, for anyone wanting to start selling on Amazon, the answer is yes. However, there are some circumstances where the individual plan may be the best solution. For example, if you want to start opening a Seller Central account but don't have products available yet or are not ready to sell, the basic account might be right for you. In fact, it would allow you to start setting up your catalog, optimizing product pages, and familiarizing yourself with the platform without paying any fixed monthly fee. As soon as you are ready to sell, you can simply upgrade the account to a Professional plan.

A similar situation could be if, for some reason, you were forced to suspend sales for a period of at least 1-2 months. In this case, you could temporarily switch to an individual plan and then upgrade again later.

How to switch from an Individual plan to a Professional plan on Seller Central

As suggested, in some cases it may be useful to upgrade or downgrade the professional account. But how can you do this through the Seller Central account? It's very simple!

1. Access "Account Info" from the settings screen;

2. In the "Your Services" section on the left, you can see the currently active plan. To modify it, click on "Manage" at the top right;

3. Click on "Change selling plan" and perform the upgrade/downgrade;

Note: The plan upgrade will be immediate. As for the downgrade, however, Amazon will keep the professional plan active until the end of the current billing cycle.

Conclusion

To sell on Amazon, Sellers must choose between an Individual plan and a Professional plan. While the latter involves a fixed fee, the former is free. However, the individual plan has a series of limitations that make it rarely worthwhile.

Do you have other questions regarding the costs of selling on Amazon or, more generally, about selling on Amazon?