Selling on Amazon can be a great way to make some extra income. But, like any business, it takes time and effort to get started.
If you’re not ready to commit to being a full-time seller, you may want to consider downgrading your Amazon Professional Seller Account to an Individual Seller account.
Fortunately, it’s easy to downgrade your Amazon account. So, if you’re an Amazon seller who wants to downgrade their Amazon Seller Central account from a Professional to an Individual plan, there are a few things you need to know.
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Amazon Professional Seller vs Individual Seller Account
There are two Amazon Seller account types to select from – Professional Seller Account and Individual Seller Account (also known as the pay-as-you-go plan).
These two differ in several aspects. Some of these include:
Monthly subscription fee
A Professional Selling Plan would require you $39.99 per month.
While Individual Seller Accounts are free and have no fixed monthly subscription but you will have to pay $0.99 per item sold.
Number of product listings
A Professional Selling Plan will allow you to sell an unlimited number of products for free.
On the other hand, an Individual Selling Plan will only allow you to sell up to 40 products.
Access to restricted categories
If you sell on Amazon with a Professional plan, you can apply to sell products belonging to restricted categories.
Amazon Accounts that are on individual plans, on the other hand, can only sell items that are outside of these restricted categories.
Advanced features: tools and reports
For Professional accounts, their access provides a more extensive report as well as access to advanced inventory management tools which can help manage and streamline processes, giving you an edge over competitors.
However, you can always subscribe to external Amazon tools that can help you get ahead in selling on Amazon.
Promotions and gift services
When you sell on Amazon and want to enable promotions and gift services, you need to have a Professional selling plan as these services won’t be available on a lower plan.
Shipping charges
For Amazon sellers who have the Individual Plan, it is Amazon that sets the shipping rates for the orders and determines which shipping service levels they can offer to buyers.
This differs from a Professional account where sellers can set their shipping rates.
User permissions
You may set up several user access if you have a Professional Seller Account. And this feature might be useful to you especially if you have multiple people helping you to manage your Amazon Seller Central account.
How to determine the right selling plan for you?
In determining the right account type and selling plan for you, the first step is to evaluate your business and assess where you are currently.
If you’re just getting started on Amazon, or you’re not selling many products, then the Individual Seller Account is most likely the best option for you.
This is because you don’t have to pay the $39.99 monthly subscription fee, and you can list up to 40 products for free.
Although, note that other benefits that come with a Professional Plan will no longer be available to you.
On the other hand, if you’re selling more than 40 products, and you’re looking to take your business to the next level, then the Professional Seller Account is the better option.
This is because you have access to more powerful tools and features that can help you grow your business.
Obviously, there are other factors you still need to consider given that there are lots of other benefits a Professional Selling Plan has which might be useful for you.
So make sure to also assess if it’s something that the business needs in order to operate efficiently.
Why cancel your Professional Amazon Seller Account and switch to Individual Plan?
While there are benefits that come with having a Professional Selling account, there are a few reasons why Professional Sellers might want to downgrade their Amazon account.
The most common reasons include:
- Sellers who are just starting find that the professional seller fee is too high and it’s something they’re not willing to pay.
- Another reason why it would make more sense to downgrade your Seller Central account to an Individual plan is if you don’t have more than 40 products to sell.
- Some sellers also downgrade their Amazon Professional account if they’re taking a break from selling.
- Lastly, it can be as simple as wanting to save on operational costs.
Whatever your reason for wanting to downgrade, the process is relatively simple.
Steps on how to downgrade an Amazon Seller Account
If you want to downgrade your account from a Professional selling account to an Individual seller account, there are a few things you need to do.
Here’s a quick summary guide to help you navigate through the Seller Central dashboard settings and be able to downgrade your professional account to an Individual plan:
Step 1: Log into your Amazon Seller Central account.
Step 2: Go to the Account Info Page.
On the top right corner, go to the Settings tab and select Account Info from the drop-down menu to go to the account info page.
Step 3: Manage Your Services.
On the Seller Account Information page, find the Your Services section and click the Manage link.
Step 4: Downgrade account.
From the Seller Account Information page, you’ll be directed to My Services page. Find Sell on Amazon row and click the Downgrade link. You will then be taken to the Change Selling Plan page.
Step 5: Confirm account downgrade.
On the next page, you’ll need to confirm the account downgrade by clicking the Proceed button.
That’s it! You’ve successfully downgraded your Amazon seller account from a Professional account to an Individual account.
Now, it is also important for you to know how the account downgrade will impact how you sell on Amazon so you can manage the changes and transition smoothly to your new Amazon Seller Central account plan.
How will the plan downgrade affect my Seller Account?
Several things may affect your account once you’ve decided to downgrade your selling plan and some of these include:
Effectivity of new Amazon selling plan
Your Professional Seller Account will not change immediately to Individual Seller Account. This will, instead, take place on the next billing cycle.
Once this happens, it is expected that your payment cycle will also change.
Buy Box Eligibility
Since only Professional Seller accounts are eligible for the buy box, you will no longer have this on your listings when you downgrade your account.
Advertising & Promotions
Sellers operating from an Individual account won’t have access to marketing tools like Amazon PPC and promotions.
Tax Calculation Service
Amazon sellers downgrading their Amazon seller account to an Individual Selling Plan will cancel their enrolment on the Tax Calculation Service.
What this means for you is that all tax calculation settings and functionality will be removed.
Additionally, all previous Tax Reports in the Document Library will no longer be available. Thus, it is recommended that you have a backup of all the Tax Reports that you need before doing any changes to your account.
To conclude
Downgrading your Amazon Seller account from a Professional account to an Individual account is a pretty straightforward process and it can be done in just a few steps.
However, making that decision to downgrade, especially for new sellers, is the difficult part.
It really comes down to what is best for your Amazon business.
Weigh out the pros and cons to see what makes the most sense. Also, don’t forget to consider how the above-mentioned account changes will impact your business so you can prepare ahead.
Remember, you can always re-upgrade your account whenever you’re ready.
If you need help in managing your Amazon business you can check out our membership options inside Brand Builder University.
