Eva Answers / Amazon
How Do You Get Access to Amazon Vendor Central?
Answered by Hai Mag, Founder & CEO, Eva Commerce, with 20+ years in eCommerce transformation, marketplace optimization, and AI-driven automation.
Last reviewed: October 30, 2026
Short answer: You cannot apply for Amazon Vendor Central. Amazon says an invitation from Amazon is required to be a vendor, while anyone can sell as a third-party seller through Seller Central. The practical path is to sell well as a third-party seller with a registered brand, and if Amazon invites you, compare the wholesale terms SKU by SKU with your Seller Central margin before you accept.
Vendor Central vs Seller Central at a glance
| Vendor Central (first party, 1P) | Seller Central (third party, 3P) | |
|---|---|---|
| How you get in | Invitation from Amazon only | Anyone can register |
| Who is the seller of record | Amazon. Amazon buys your products and sells them to customers | You. Amazon is the marketplace |
| How you get paid | Amazon issues purchase orders at a wholesale price and you invoice Amazon | You sell at your own price, minus Amazon’s selling fees |
| Who sets the retail price | Amazon | You |
| Typical cost lines | Chargebacks, shortages, co-op and other deductions | Plan fee, referral fees, FBA and storage fees if you use FBA |
| Brand Registry | Available; you sign in with your Vendor Central login | Available; you sign in with your Seller Central login |
How to position your brand for a Vendor Central invitation
- Sell as a third-party seller first. Register in Seller Central. Amazon asks for a government ID, a chargeable credit card, a bank account, tax information and business details. This is the only door you can open yourself.
- Enroll in Brand Registry. It needs a registered or pending trademark, and the same Brand Registry account works later with a Vendor Central login, so protecting the brand now does not have to be redone.
- Build a track record Amazon’s retail team can see. Consistent sales, healthy stock and good reviews on your own listings. Amazon does not publish what triggers an invitation, so this is about being a brand worth buying, not hitting a stated threshold.
- If an invitation arrives, model it SKU by SKU before you sign. Compare the wholesale margin, net of chargebacks, co-op and other deductions, with your third-party contribution margin after referral, FBA and storage fees and advertising. Some SKUs will be better off in each model.
- Plan how you will police deductions. Shortage claims, co-op charges and post-audit adjustments come out of vendor payments and are only recoverable if they are disputed before they close.
Exceptions
- Pricing control and MAP. As a vendor, Amazon sets the retail price after it buys your product, so you cannot enforce a Minimum Advertised Price on Amazon’s own offer. Brands with strict retail MAP agreements often prefer Seller Central for that reason.
- Thin-margin categories. For low-margin consumables such as snacks and specialty food, the third-party fee stack can leave less margin than the wholesale model, so being a vendor is not automatically worse.
- Existing vendors moving out. Leaving Vendor Central is a 90 to 180 day project for most enterprise brands in Eva’s planning, because purchase orders wind down while third-party inventory and ranking are rebuilt.
- Offers to “get you onto Vendor Central”. Since an invitation can only come from Amazon, treat any third party that promises access as a red flag and verify directly in your Amazon accounts.
When a brand is weighing 1P against 3P, Eva builds a per-ASIN P&L that compares effective 1P margin, net of chargebacks, co-op, deductions and compliance cost, with 3P contribution margin, net of referral fees, FBA fees, storage, advertising and labor, and sorts SKUs into migrate, stay 1P or hybrid (the full 1P to 3P playbook). For brands that stay in Vendor Central, Eva’s vendor deductions recovery audits shortage claims, co-op and pricing deductions and disputes invalid ones, for a flat 20% of recovered funds with no setup fee or monthly minimum.
Follow-up questions
Can I apply for Amazon Vendor Central?
No. Amazon describes vendors as companies invited into a retail relationship with Amazon, and says an invitation from Amazon is required to be a vendor. There is no public application form. Anyone can register as a third-party seller in Seller Central instead.
How hard is it to become a vendor on Amazon?
Hard to plan for, because the decision is Amazon’s. You cannot apply, so the practical path is to build a brand that sells well as a third-party seller and enroll it in Brand Registry. Amazon does not publish invitation criteria, so treat any invitation as a possibility, not a goal you can schedule.
Can I be on Vendor Central and Seller Central at the same time?
Yes. Running both is called the hybrid model: some SKUs are sold to Amazon through Vendor Central and others are sold directly through Seller Central. It works when each SKU is assigned to one model on purpose, because you then manage two account interfaces, two inventory flows and two fee structures.