In short: Amazon is where a large share of US online shopping happens, and it's often the first place shoppers and retail buyers look. Brands that sell there directly control their price, their listings and their data, and keep more of the margin. Resellers and Vendor Central can work, but both hand over control. In our experience, most brands are better served selling direct for most or all of their catalog.
A lot of manufacturers end up on Amazon without ever deciding to. A distributor lists the product. A wholesale customer starts reselling it. Amazon's retail team sends a Vendor Central invitation. A few years later, the brand's biggest online storefront is being run by someone else.
We sell our own products on Amazon and run Amazon accounts for brands, so we've seen each of these setups from the inside. This guide covers why Amazon matters, what you give up when someone else controls your presence there, and the honest trade-offs between the ways to sell.
Why Amazon matters
It's where a large share of shopping happens
E-commerce was 17.1% of all US retail sales in the second quarter of 2026 (seasonally adjusted), according to the US Census Bureau, and it grew 12.2% year over year while total retail grew 6.7%. Within e-commerce, Amazon is the largest single storefront. eMarketer expects Amazon to account for nearly 40% of US retail e-commerce sales by 2028.
It can be a profitable channel
Amazon charges real fees, and advertising costs add up. But when pricing, fees and ad spend are managed against your actual margins, Amazon can be one of the most profitable channels a brand has. The key is knowing your numbers before you spend. Our break-even ACoS calculator is a good place to start.
It tells you what customers want
Brands enrolled in Amazon Brand Registry, whether they sell direct or through Vendor Central, get access to Brand Analytics: what shoppers search for, which searches lead to your products, how your listings convert, and what else customers buy. That's market research most brands can't get anywhere else, and it can inform product development, pricing and packaging well beyond Amazon.
Retail buyers watch it
In our experience, retail buyers and their suppliers increasingly read Amazon performance alongside their own point-of-sale data. Sales velocity, search demand, reviews and pricing on Amazon have become a public signal of how much demand a product has. Strong Amazon performance helps a brand show demand when it's pitching new retail accounts or asking for more shelf space.
The three ways a brand ends up on Amazon
- Resellers sell it. Distributors, wholesale customers or independent sellers buy your product and list it on Amazon themselves.
- Vendor Central (first-party, or 1P). Amazon buys your product at wholesale and resells it as "Ships from and sold by Amazon.com." This is by invitation.
- Selling direct through Seller Central. Your brand is the seller. You list, price and sell your own products, usually with Amazon handling fulfillment through FBA.
| Question | Resellers | Vendor Central | Selling direct |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who sets the price? | Each reseller | Amazon | You |
| Who controls the listing? | Shared, often messy | Amazon's retail team has the final say | You, with Brand Registry |
| What you earn per unit | Your wholesale price | Your wholesale price, less co-op, allowances and chargebacks | The retail price, less Amazon fees, ads and your costs |
| When you're paid | Your normal wholesale terms | Commonly 60 to 90 days | Funds released 7 days after each order is delivered |
| Customer and search data | Little to none | Vendor retail analytics and Brand Analytics | Brand Analytics and full seller reports |
Why brands sell direct: trust, profit and protection
Trust: protect the retailers who carry you
Your retail partners watch Amazon prices, and some match them. Best Buy, for example, will match the price of an item sold directly by Amazon.com. When a reseller undercuts your minimum advertised price, or Amazon's pricing on a Vendor Central item drops, your retail partners feel it: their margin shrinks, shoppers walk out to buy online, and the buyer starts asking why your product is cheaper on Amazon.
Amazon doesn't enforce MAP policies for brands. When you're the seller, you set your own offer's price consistently with the rest of your channel, so retailers aren't undercut by your own listing. Other sellers on the same product page still need a clear channel policy, which is why selling direct and a reseller policy go together. That consistency is what keeps buyers confident in your line.
Profit: keep more of the margin
Between your wholesale price and the price a shopper pays on Amazon, there's margin. When a reseller or Amazon sells your product, they keep it. When you sell direct, you keep it, less the cost of running the channel.
A simple illustration. A product retails for $40 and you sell it at wholesale for $18. Sold direct, Amazon's referral fee (around 15% in many categories) takes $6, FBA fulfillment might take about $6.50, and advertising at 10% of the price is $4. That leaves $23.50 per unit, $5.50 more than wholesale, before your own costs of shipping stock into Amazon and running the account.
Illustrative numbers only. Fees vary by category, size, weight and price. Heavy, low-priced items can earn less selling direct, so run your own numbers first.
Protection: control your brand
- Listings. On a shared listing, other sellers can suggest changes to titles, images and descriptions. Brand Registry gives your content priority on the product page, and selling it yourself means you're the one keeping it accurate.
- Brand messaging. Your story and your images, instead of whatever a reseller uploaded.
- Customer experience. Reviews belong to the product page, not the seller. If a reseller ships old, damaged or poorly stored stock, the bad review lands on your listing.
- Data. When you're the seller, the sales history, search data and customer insight are yours.
The risks of giving up control
When other sellers run a brand's Amazon presence, the problems tend to come together:
- Pricing. Sellers race to the bottom for the Buy Box, and your price on Amazon stops matching your price anywhere else.
- Listings. Inconsistent titles, wrong images and duplicate listings confuse shoppers and lower conversion.
- Brand messaging. The story shoppers see is written by someone who doesn't own your brand.
- Sales data. You can't see who buys, what they searched or why they chose you.
- Margin. Someone else keeps the difference between wholesale and retail.
- Retail relationships. When Amazon prices fall below your MAP, your retail partners notice first.
What about Vendor Central?
Vendor Central isn't wrong for everyone. It's a different trade, and it helps to see both sides clearly.
What it does well
- Amazon buys in bulk through purchase orders, which can feel familiar to brands built on wholesale.
- Amazon handles retail pricing, fulfillment, customer service and returns.
- Listings carry "Ships from and sold by Amazon.com," which some shoppers trust.
- Vendors don't pay referral or FBA fees on each sale, and once Amazon buys the stock, Amazon carries the retail inventory risk.
- Vendors get access to some Amazon programs that aren't open to sellers.
What it costs you
- Pricing control. Amazon sets the retail price and can lower it at any time. Retailers that match Amazon's prices will feel that too.
- Cash flow. Payment terms are commonly 60 to 90 days. On Seller Central, funds are released 7 days after each order is delivered.
- Margin. Co-op, marketing allowances and compliance chargebacks come off the top. Industry estimates put total trade terms in the high teens as a percentage of sales.
- Content control. Listing changes go through Amazon's retail team.
- Stability. It's invitation-only, terms are renegotiated every year, and Amazon has been reported to scale back relationships with smaller vendors.
How to decide
| Vendor Central can fit when | Selling direct fits when |
|---|---|
| You sell very high volumes and your operation is built around wholesale purchase orders | Price consistency with your retail partners matters to you |
| You're comfortable letting Amazon set the retail price | You want the margin and the customer data |
| You can absorb long payment terms and annual negotiations | You're launching new products or growing a catalog |
Many larger brands run a hybrid: Vendor Central for a few high-volume core products, and Seller Central for launches, bundles and margin-sensitive items. The right mix depends on your catalog, your retail partners and how much control you need.
How to take control of your Amazon presence
- Register your trademark and enroll in Brand Registry. It's the foundation for listing control, brand protection tools and Brand Analytics.
- Audit who sells your products today, at what prices and with what listing content.
- Set your channel policy. Decide who is authorized to sell online and put a MAP policy in writing. Distribution agreements and reseller restrictions have legal considerations, so involve your attorney.
- Open or clean up your Seller Central account and fix your listings: titles, images, A+ Content and your Brand Store.
- Plan inventory and fulfillment, usually through FBA.
- Advertise against your margins, so growth is profitable from the start.
- Talk to your retail partners about your Amazon pricing plan before they hear about it from a shopper.
This is the work we do every day, for our own products and for the brands we partner with. See account management, listing optimization and profitability audits.
Common questions
Should a brand sell on Amazon itself or let resellers do it?
In our view, most brands are better off selling directly. Selling direct gives you control of pricing, listings and customer data, and keeps the margin that would otherwise go to resellers. Resellers can still play a role, but without a clear channel policy they often undercut each other and your retail partners.
Is Vendor Central better than Seller Central?
Neither is always better. Vendor Central suits very high-volume brands built around wholesale orders that are comfortable letting Amazon set prices. Seller Central suits brands that want control of price, content and data, faster payment and more of the margin. Many larger brands use both for different products.
Can a brand stop other sellers from selling its products on Amazon?
Not entirely. Genuine products can generally be resold. Brands manage this through distribution agreements and authorized reseller and MAP policies. Amazon's Brand Registry tools are for counterfeits and genuine intellectual property violations, not for removing sellers of authentic products, and misusing them can put your own account at risk. Talk to an attorney about the right approach for your brand.
Will selling on Amazon hurt my relationships with retailers?
It can when prices on Amazon fall below what retailers charge. Selling direct with pricing that's consistent with your MAP usually reduces that conflict, because you set your own offer's price instead of leaving it entirely to resellers or Amazon. A reseller policy covers the other offers.
Sources
- US Census Bureau, Quarterly retail e-commerce sales, 2nd quarter 2026 (released August 18, 2026).
- eMarketer, Amazon will account for nearly 40% of US retail ecommerce sales by 2028 (February 2026).
- Feedvisor, Amazon Vendor Central: what 1P really costs you in 2026 and Amazon 1P vs 3P.
- SupplyKick, Brand control on Amazon.
- SlashGear, Best Buy price match policy explained (September 2025).
- Novadata, Amazon DD+7 disbursement schedule (2026).