Check out our updated Ultimate Guide to Amazon Selling: Vendor Central & Seller Central blog post for the most recent tips and insights!
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This week, we’re revisiting a topic we hit on a while ago: Amazon Vendor Central. We’ve been writing a lot about resellers lately, and now we think it’s worth thinking about Vendor Central in more concrete terms.
Namely, how does selling with Vendor Central differ from working with Seller Central? What about with Whitebox?
In fact, there are more costs than you’d expect from Vendor Central. Some of them are more obvious costs, like smaller margins, but others crop up in places you might not expect. Some of them are even fees related to some of Vendor Centra’s best features. Here are some of the ways you might expect to pay for the conveniences of Vendor Central.
Generally, clients who come to us see increased margins. We pay you on the sale price of each product minus our fee and all applicable selling fees. There are no hidden fees that pop up later. Generally, the ~30% total fee you pay selling through Whitebox is much less than the cut Amazon takes if you sell directly to them when all is said and done.
Incomplete data means it’s possible to miss out on seasonal or unexpected rushes since Amazon is the one in charge of stocking the item. It’s up to them to re-order, and your product may experience out of stock days.
Co-op fees are a way for Amazon to recoup some of their operating costs and make a profit… but they definitely don’t help your overall profits when selling through Vendor Central.
So, there you have it folks: some of the extra costs of using Vendor Central. If you are simply comparing what Amazon buys your product for and Whitebox margins, you are only scratching the surface of what Vendor Central is actually costing you. If you’re still feeling like you don’t quite understand the differences between Seller Central and Vendor Central, check out our most-viewed blog post to date, Ultimate Guide: Why Amazon Seller Central is Better Than Vendor Central.