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December 22, 2022 by InsightLeap
Setting up an Amazon seller account starts at sell.amazon.com. Click Sign up, then work through five steps in order: business information, seller information, billing information, store and product information, and identity verification. The forms are often finished in a few hours, and verification of the primary contact usually takes three business days or less. The sections below cover what to gather before you start, what the account costs, what each step asks for, and what to configure once you're approved.
Registration is one sitting if the paperwork is already in hand, so pull these six things together before you start. Otherwise you'll end up hunting for a routing number with the form half-finished.
Two costs matter before you register: the plan fee and your category's referral fee.
The Individual plan costs $0.99 for each item sold, with nothing due until something sells, and the Professional plan costs $39.99 a month no matter how much you sell. Since $39.99 divided by $0.99 comes out just over 40, Professional becomes the cheaper plan once you expect to move more than about 40 items a month; below that, Individual keeps your fixed costs at zero.
The plans also gate features: Amazon's comparison has Individual sellers listing one product at a time and setting static prices, with the bulk tools to list, price, and manage inventory reserved for Professional. If you're launching with a catalog of any size, that difference can matter more than the fee.
Referral fees apply on both plans whenever an item sells: each category carries a percentage of the total sales price or a per-item minimum, whichever is greater. As of August 2026, Amazon's pricing page lists full-size appliances at 8%, automotive and powersports at 12%, compact appliances at 15% on the portion up to $300 and 8% above it, and Amazon device accessories at 45%, all with a $0.30 minimum; media items also carry a $1.80 closing fee per item. Look up your category on Amazon's pricing page before you set margins.
One aside while you're there: Amazon advertises new-seller incentives (per Amazon, as of August 2026, over $50K in credits and bonuses, including 10% back on your first $50,000 in branded sales). Those are time-boxed promotions, so read the current terms on the page instead of planning around them.
Start at sell.amazon.com and click Sign up. Amazon shuffles its screens now and then, but the information it asks for is stable, and it maps to the five steps below.
Set your business location and business type. The type list includes "None, I am an individual", so you can register without an LLC or any registered business. If you do have a registered company, you'll enter its company registration number here; per Amazon's guide, that number is not the same thing as an EIN.
This step covers the primary contact. Take the details straight from a government-issued ID: full legal name, citizenship, country of birth, date of birth, and residential address. Add a phone number, then declare whether you are a beneficial owner or a legal representative of the business. Amazon defines a beneficial owner as someone who directly or indirectly owns more than 25% of the company's shares or voting rights, or who owns the business by other means; when nobody clears that bar, a senior manager can stand in as the beneficial owner.
Enter the credit card and the bank account from the checklist. The rules from up top apply here: card on an accepted network and internationally chargeable (someone else's name is fine), bank account in your name or the business's name, routing number in hand. Sellers outside the US can enter a non-US bank account and get paid through Amazon Currency Converter.
Name your store and answer Amazon's questions about your products. The store name must be unique across Amazon, and it does not have to match your registered business name. For products, Amazon asks about product IDs: these are GTINs, usually printed near the barcode, most commonly a UPC, with ISBN, EAN, and JAN as the other common forms. If your products need new GTINs, GS1 is the place to get them; Amazon grants GTIN exemptions only in rare cases. Brand owners can also enroll in Brand Registry: enrollment is free, and it requires a pending or registered trademark.
Upload two documents: the government-issued ID and a proof of residential address dated within the last 180 days (a bank or credit card statement works). Amazon is specific about document quality, so check before uploading: color images or scans, all four corners visible, legible text, signed documents, and no screenshots. Then pick one of two verification routes: take a photo of your face while holding your ID, or join (or schedule) a video call where an Amazon associate reviews your documents. Either way, verification usually completes within three business days.
If you're a brand, take a moment to confirm this is the account type you mean to set up. Registering at sell.amazon.com creates a Seller Central account: self-service, third-party selling, where you list products, set prices, and sell to customers directly. Vendor Central, Amazon's other program, is invitation-only: businesses sell wholesale to Amazon, and Amazon retails the products itself. Many brands end up selling through both at once, the hybrid model. For the full trade-offs between the programs, see our comparison of Amazon Vendor Central, Seller Central, and hybrid selling; this guide stays with Seller Central.
Approval gets you into Seller Central, where the rest of the selling work happens. Three things are worth handling before the first listing:
With the account configured, the next job is the catalog. Our guide to listing your products for sale on Amazon picks up from here with the details each product needs.
No. The business-type list in step 1 includes "None, I am an individual"; no LLC or registered business is required to open a seller account.
You pay the plan fee plus selling fees. The Individual plan is $0.99 for each item sold, the Professional plan is $39.99 a month, and referral fees apply to every sale at rates that vary by category. Amazon's pricing page has the full category table.
The registration forms are often done in a few hours when the checklist documents are ready. Identity verification of the primary contact usually takes three business days or less.
Some of them. An account created on sell.amazon.com covers the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Brazil; Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East and North Africa each require a separate account.
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