Vendor Central vs Seller Central: Which Should a UK Consumer Brand Use?

Vendor Central is Amazon’s invitation-only programme in which your brand sells stock wholesale to Amazon, and Amazon becomes the retailer responsible for pricing, fulfilment and customer service. Seller Central is open to eligible businesses that register, and lets you sell directly to Amazon customers while managing your own listings, pricing and inventory.

Both definitions come from Amazon’s UK guide to selling online. In plain terms: under Vendor Central, Amazon is your customer. Under Seller Central, Amazon’s customers are your customers. In our view, the right choice depends on how much control over price and stock you need to protect your own website and retail partners. See the side-by-side table.

What is the difference between Vendor Central and Seller Central?

The one question that settles almost every row of the comparison is: who is the retailer?

Amazon puts it simply. Vendors sell products to Amazon at wholesale prices, while sellers sell directly to customers through the Amazon marketplace. People in the trade call these 1P (first party, Amazon is the retailer) and 3P (third party, you are the retailer). Those are industry shorthand, not Amazon programme names.

For wider context on costs and the operating model, read how to sell on Amazon as a consumer brand.

Vendor Central vs Seller Central at a glance

Every row links to the Amazon page it comes from.

Question	Vendor Central (1P)	Seller Central (3P)	Amazon source
Who do you sell to?	Amazon, as a wholesale supplier	Amazon customers, directly	Amazon UK: sell online
How do you get access?	By invitation only	Eligible businesses register	Amazon UK: sell online
Who sets the retail price?	Amazon, as the retailer	You	Amazon UK: sell online
Who owns the stock?	Amazon owns the inventory it buys	You, until a sale is made	Amazon UK: sell online
Who fulfils orders?	Amazon as retailer, or you via Direct Fulfilment purchase orders	You (FBM), Amazon (FBA), or you with the Prime badge (Seller Fulfilled Prime)	Amazon UK: sell online; Direct Fulfilment orders; Amazon UK: FBA
Who handles customer service?	Amazon, as the retailer	You (FBM), or Amazon for FBA orders	Amazon UK: sell online; Amazon UK: FBA
How do you get paid?	You invoice Amazon on terms agreed with Amazon	Amazon collects from customers and pays out every two weeks	Submit an invoice; Amazon UK: sell online
Brand Registry?	Yes, with your Vendor Central login	Yes, with your Seller Central login	Amazon UK: Brand Registry
Sponsored Products?	Available to vendors	Professional sellers; product must be Featured Offer eligible	Amazon UK: advertising
Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Display, Stores?	Available to vendors	Professional sellers enrolled in Brand Registry	Amazon UK: advertising
Amazon.ie	Separate Vendor Central sign-in; terms per your agreement	One European account covers Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ie and other European stores	Vendor Central Ireland; Seller Central Ireland

Quick answers

• What’s the difference between Vendor Central and Seller Central? With Vendor Central, a brand sells stock wholesale to Amazon by invitation, and Amazon becomes the retailer responsible for pricing, fulfilment and customer service. With Seller Central, a brand sells directly to Amazon customers and manages its own listings, pricing and inventory.
• Is Amazon Vendor Central invite-only in the UK? Yes. Amazon’s UK seller site describes Vendor as an invitation-only programme, while Seller Central is open to eligible businesses that register to sell.
• Can vendors run Sponsored Brands on Amazon UK? Yes. Amazon says Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Display and Stores are available to vendors, and to professional sellers enrolled in Amazon Brand Registry.

How does Vendor Central work for a UK brand?

Is Vendor Central invitation-only?

Yes. Amazon describes Vendor as an invitation-only programme. Amazon doesn’t publish how it decides whom to invite, so treat any checklist you read elsewhere as guesswork.

Who owns the stock and sets the price?

Amazon does. It purchases the inventory and becomes the retailer responsible for pricing, fulfilment, customer service and sales to customers. For a brand that also sells on its own site and through retail partners, this is the point to think hardest about. The price shoppers see on Amazon.co.uk is no longer yours to set.

How does fulfilment work, including Direct Fulfilment?

As the retailer, Amazon is responsible for fulfilment and customer service. Amazon also runs Direct Fulfilment for vendors. Its Direct Fulfilment orders documentation says vendors receive purchase orders and send order acknowledgements, and the Direct Fulfilment workflow guide sets out the steps: retrieve the orders, acknowledge them, get the shipping label and confirm the shipment. Whether it fits your range is something to agree with Amazon.

How do vendors get paid?

Vendors invoice Amazon. Amazon’s invoicing documentation says payment terms sent in an invoice should match the payment terms agreed with the Amazon buyer. Those terms are negotiated, not published, so be wary of any article that quotes a standard number of days.

How does Seller Central work for a UK brand?

Who can register?

Seller Central is available to eligible businesses that register to sell on Amazon. Amazon calls it the portal to your Amazon business, where you manage your selling account, add product information, update inventory and manage payments.

Who sets the price and owns the stock?

You do. Seller Central sellers manage their own pricing and retain ownership of inventory until a sale is made. That gives you the lever to keep Amazon prices in line with your other channels.

Which fulfilment options do sellers have?

Three, according to Amazon’s UK FBA page:

1. Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA). Amazon handles the complete fulfilment process, with shipping, returns and customer service outsourced to Amazon.
2. Fulfilment by Merchant (FBM). You store, pack, ship and deliver products to customers yourself.
3. Seller Fulfilled Prime. You ship from your own UK warehouse while still showing the Prime badge, once you pass a trial period.

How do sellers get paid?

Amazon collects payment from the customer and pays you available funds every two weeks.

What does Seller Central cost?

Unlike vendor terms, seller costs are published. See Amazon’s UK selling fees for the current figures for your category and fulfilment method.

Do vendors and sellers get the same brand and advertising tools?

Mostly, with one difference worth knowing.

Amazon Brand Registry is a free programme that needs a pending or registered trademark for your brand name or logo. If you already have a Seller Central or Vendor Central account, you use the same username and password to create your Brand Registry account.

On advertising, Amazon says Sponsored Products are open to professional sellers, vendors and agencies with no Brand Registry requirement in most cases, though a seller’s product must be eligible for the Featured Offer. Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Display and Stores are available to vendors, and to professional sellers enrolled in Brand Registry. So a seller without a registered or pending trademark can’t use the brand-led formats. A vendor can.

If you also run paid media outside Amazon, plan the two together so Amazon ads and your own site aren’t bidding against each other for the same shopper.

What changes for Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.ie?

Amazon.ie launched in Ireland on 18 March 2025.

On the seller side, Amazon’s Ireland Seller Central page says that with one account you can reach customers across its European stores, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.ie included, and manage all your listings and inventory in Europe. Amazon’s UK global selling page says an EU/UK account reaches Amazon customers in 28 countries, with Ireland among its European stores.

On the vendor side, Amazon runs a separate Vendor Central sign-in for Amazon.ie, alongside the one for Amazon.co.uk. Amazon doesn’t publish how vendor terms work across the two stores. That sits in each vendor’s agreement with Amazon.

Which model fits your brand? Odla’s view

There’s no universally better model. For an established consumer brand, the right one depends on how much control over retail price and stock you need to protect your own website and your retail partners. Everything below is our opinion, drawn from running both models, not an Amazon rule.

If price consistency across channels is a priority, Seller Central gives you that lever. Under Vendor Central, Amazon becomes the retailer responsible for pricing. That’s a trade-off to weigh, not a flaw.

Vendor Central suits brands that are happy to hand Amazon the retailer role, including pricing, stock and customer service, and to run Amazon like a wholesale account.

Some brands run both: Vendor Central for core lines, and Seller Central for newer products, exclusives or lines where they want pricing control.

We’d also decide the model and the marketplace together. Odla runs both models across Amazon marketplaces, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.ie included, and our advice is to choose per market and per range rather than once for the whole business.

Whichever model you pick, fix the shelf before buying traffic. Catalogue, account health and retail readiness come before ad spend.

Five questions to settle it:

1. Has Amazon invited you? If not, Seller Central is your route today.
2. How much does price consistency across your website and retail partners matter? See the pricing row in the table.
3. Do you want to own stock risk and fulfilment, or hand them to Amazon? See the stock and fulfilment rows.
4. Do you have, or can you get, a registered or pending trademark? It’s the key to Brand Registry and the brand-led ad formats.
5. Are you selling to Ireland as well as the UK? See the Amazon.ie row.

If you’d like help choosing and running either model, that’s the work we do.

Talk to us

Odla runs Seller Central (3P) and Vendor Central (1P) accounts across Amazon marketplaces, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.ie included. We can help you pick a model per market and per range, then run it day to day. See Amazon marketplace management for UK and Irish brands, or talk to us about your Amazon set-up.

David Sharkey is Chief Operating Officer at Odla, an Amazon partner that runs Seller Central and Vendor Central accounts on Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ie and other Amazon marketplaces.