How to sell on Amazon as a reseller, in short: register a seller account (you can do it as an individual, no LLC needed), pick the Individual plan ($0.99 per item sold) or the Professional plan ($39.99 per month), list items by matching an existing product page or creating a new one, choose who ships (you or Amazon's FBA), and pay a referral fee that is 15% in the "Everything Else" and video game rows of Amazon's fee table. All figures below were checked on November 6, 2026 on Amazon's own seller pages. Fees and rules change, so recheck before you buy inventory.
This guide is the Amazon side of our eBay vs Amazon comparison, written for people who flip collectibles, trading cards, vinyl and video games. It isn't a promise of what you'll keep: prices move, items come back, and some stock doesn't sell.
Amazon seller plans: Individual vs Professional
Amazon's pricing page lists two plans:
| Individual | Professional | |
|---|---|---|
| Plan fee | $0.99 per item sold | $39.99 per month |
| Referral fee on top | Yes, by category | Yes, by category |
| Amazon's own guidance | "Under 40 items per month" | Pays off at higher volume |
Amazon's FAQ says: "If you plan to sell fewer than 40 items a month, the Individual plan may be best for you." The arithmetic agrees: $39.99 divided by $0.99 is about 40.4, so from 41 items a month the Professional plan costs less in plan fees than paying $0.99 each. Amazon also says you can switch or cancel your plan at any time after registering.
Its sell page adds one detail: if you register for Professional, you pay a one-time registration fee, then the monthly subscription is waived until you list your first product. The page gives no amount for that registration fee, so we don't state one.
The FAQ also says some categories "require a Professional selling plan." If you want a category like that, Individual may not be enough.
How much does it cost to sell on Amazon?
On top of the plan, Amazon charges a referral fee: "a percentage of the total price or a minimum amount, whichever is greater." Rows from Amazon's table that matter to resellers:
| Category row | Referral fee | Minimum |
|---|---|---|
| Everything Else | 15% | $0.30 |
| Video Games and Gaming Accessories | 15% | none listed |
| Video Game Consoles | 8% | none listed |
| Toys and Games | 15% | $0.30 |
| Media (books, DVD, music, software, video) | 15%, plus a $1.80 closing fee per item | none listed |
| Sports and Outdoors | 15% | $0.30 |
Source: Amazon's seller pricing page, checked November 6, 2026.
There is no trading card, collectibles or vinyl row on that page. Music only appears inside the combined Media row. We won't guess a rate for cards or vinyl: Amazon shows the exact fee for your category when you list an item. For eBay's rates on the same products, see eBay seller fees 2026 and the reseller fees guide.
Worked example: a $50 item
Illustration with made-up inputs. Assumptions: category "Everything Else" at 15%, the buyer pays $6 shipping, no sales tax, and the percentage applies to the $56 total. Amazon's page says "total price" without spelling out shipping, so treat this as an estimate.
| Individual | Professional | |
|---|---|---|
| Referral fee (15% of $56) | $8.40 | $8.40 |
| Plan fee on this sale | $0.99 | $0 (the $39.99 is a monthly cost) |
| Fees on this sale | $9.39 | $8.40 |
Now subtract what you paid and what shipping costs you. If you bought the item for $30, the buyer's $56 minus $30 minus $9.39 in fees leaves $16.61 on the Individual plan, and the $6 shipping you collected still has to cover the actual postage and packing. That leftover is the number to check before you buy stock, not the sale price.
How to register as an Amazon seller
Per Amazon's registration guide and sell page, the key takeaways are that you'll need:
- a government-issued ID,
- a credit card,
- a bank account (in your name or your business's name; Amazon says a US bank account isn't required),
- a business license or registration,
- proof of residential address,
- tax information.
Amazon lists five steps: business information, seller information, billing information, store and product information, and identity verification. For identity verification you upload your ID and proof of address dated from the last 180 days, such as a bank or credit card statement, then take a photo of your face with the ID or join a video call.
Two points reseller guides often get wrong. Amazon says you "don't need to be an LLC or registered business" to sell, and the business-type menu includes "None, I am an individual." And on timing: the page says that in many cases you can finish the process in a few hours, and that verification usually takes three business days or less.
Category approval: which products need it?
Amazon's FAQ says: "some categories are open to all sellers, some require a Professional selling plan, some require approval from Amazon, and some can't be sold by third-party sellers." Its sell page adds: "In some cases, you'll need to apply to sell a product, category, or brand."
Which categories are gated for you is something we couldn't confirm. The Seller Central help pages that list categories requiring approval returned no readable text when we opened them, so we won't tell you whether trading cards, collectibles, vinyl or video games are gated. Check inside your own Seller Central account, under the help section on categories requiring approval, before you plan inventory around Amazon. If a product or brand needs approval, apply through Amazon. Don't list around it: that's a fast way to lose an account.
How to list an item on Amazon
Amazon's FAQ describes two routes: "You can match offers to existing product detail pages... or you can create new detail pages."
- Existing product page (ASIN). If the exact product is already in the catalog, you add your offer to that page. You compete there with other sellers on price and condition, and the buyer sees one page for the product. This is how most resold new items work.
- New product page. If the product isn't in the catalog, you can create it.
For a reseller, this is the biggest difference from eBay. On eBay you write your own listing with your own photos. On Amazon, for most existing products you attach an offer to a shared page. We couldn't open Amazon's condition-rules page with readable text, so we don't quote the new-versus-used rules here. Read them in Seller Central before listing used items, especially games and collectibles. Our video game selling guide covers condition on eBay for comparison.
FBA vs shipping it yourself
When you list, Amazon asks you to "select a fulfillment method for each product: Fulfilled by Merchant or Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)."
- Merchant fulfilled: you pack and ship each order.
- FBA: you send inventory to Amazon. Its FBA page describes it as "a program that lets you outsource order fulfillment to Amazon and offer customers free, two-day shipping through Prime," and says "costs for FBA depend on the products you sell and the exact services you use," split into fulfillment and storage costs. The page also says "FBA might be a more cost-effective choice if you sell 40 items or more per month with a Professional plan."
We didn't pull Amazon's FBA rate card, so we don't give per-item FBA fees. FBA adds fulfillment and storage costs on top of the referral fee, so run it through Amazon's own fee calculator before you ship stock in.
How Amazon pays you
Per the FAQ, Amazon sends money to your bank account by ACH, and "it can take up to five business days for the money to appear in your bank account after Amazon initiates a payment." It cannot pay to a credit card or online payment system. We didn't find a payout schedule on the pages we read, so we don't state one. Compare that with eBay's payout setup.
Where Amazon is stricter than eBay for collectibles
For the products our readers flip, the differences come down to this:
- Signup: Amazon asks for ID, a bank account, proof of address and a verification step. eBay's account opens faster.
- Approval: Amazon says some categories need approval or the Professional plan. eBay lists in these categories from a normal seller account, subject to its policies.
- Fees: Amazon charges a plan fee plus a referral fee. eBay's fee page shows a 13.25% trading card rate; Amazon's page shows no card row.
- Listing style: Amazon matches offers to shared product pages. eBay is built around your own listing.
- Where it fits: new, sealed items with an existing product page suit Amazon. One-off, used or vintage items often suit eBay. Many sellers use both, since the fee math changes by item. Our guide on finding products that resell shows how to compare them, and the eBay vs Amazon comparison has side-by-side numbers for $50 and $150 sales. For the eBay steps, start with how to sell on eBay.
Account health and what can go wrong
We couldn't open Amazon's account health pages with readable text, so we won't quote its metrics. In general terms, the risks for resellers are: buying stock for a category that turns out to need approval, price drops after you buy, returns, and fees that eat a thin margin. Check the fee math on your own item first. For real-time deal information, our Lowkey Flips channel is one place members look at what's worth buying.
Sources (checked November 6, 2026)
- Amazon: Seller pricing
- Amazon: How to sell on Amazon
- Amazon: Seller registration guide
- Amazon: Seller FAQ
- Amazon: Fulfillment by Amazon
All worked examples are our own arithmetic on labeled assumptions, not Amazon figures. Results vary by item, shipping cost and tax.
Amazon is a trademark of Amazon.com, Inc. eBay is a trademark of eBay Inc. Friends & Family is an independent reselling community and isn't affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Amazon or eBay. This is educational, not financial or tax advice, and resale prices aren't guaranteed.