seller
- What changed
- Amazon's portal for third-party sellers to run their business
- When
- Updated October 2026
- Who it affects
- Third-party sellers, brand owners and their teams
- What to do
- Set a daily routine around account health, inventory and ads
Key takeaways
- Seller Central is where 3P sellers manage listings, stock, orders, ads and payouts.
- Check Account Health first every day; it protects everything else.
- Give team members their own logins through user permissions, never shared passwords.
- 1Account Health
Ratings and notices
- 2Orders
Messages within 24 hours
- 3Inventory
Stock and inbound
- 4Advertising
Spend vs sales
- 5Catalog
Fix suppressed listings
What is Amazon Seller Central?
Seller Central is the control panel for third-party (3P) selling. You list products, set prices, send inventory to FBA or ship orders yourself, run ads, answer buyer messages and get paid through it. It is different from Vendor Central, the invitation-only portal for brands that sell wholesale to Amazon. Our comparison of Vendor Central vs Seller Central explains that choice.
If you do not have an account yet, follow our Amazon Seller Central registration guide.
The main Seller Central menus
The navigation menu groups tools by job. Names shift slightly over time, and you can bookmark the pages you use most.
- Catalog: add products, manage listings and fix listing quality issues
- Inventory: manage inventory, FBA shipments and restock recommendations
- Pricing: automate pricing and view fee previews
- Orders: manage orders, returns and buyer messages
- Advertising: campaign manager, A+ Content, coupons, deals and promotions
- Stores: Brand Store builder for brand-registered sellers
- Growth: Product Opportunity Explorer and growth recommendations
- Reports: business reports, fulfillment reports and payments
- Performance: account health, feedback and A-to-z claims
- Brands: Brand Analytics and brand tools for registered brands
Seller Central costs
Seller Central access comes with your selling plan: $0.99 per item sold on Individual or $39.99 per month on Professional, per Amazon's pricing page. On top of that you pay referral fees, typically 15% in many categories and as low as 8% in some, plus FBA fees if you use Fulfillment by Amazon. Amazon's 2026 fee update raised average FBA fees by about $0.08 per unit from January 15, 2026. See our Amazon FBA fees guide.
Seller Central costs
Account health: the page to check first
The Account Health page shows your Account Health Rating, policy compliance and performance metrics such as order defect rate. Amazon targets an order defect rate under 1%, and sellers who fulfill their own orders also need low late shipment and cancellation rates and valid tracking. A falling rating can lead to deactivation, so check it daily. Our guide to Amazon account health explains each metric.
Reports that matter most
Seller Central has dozens of reports, but a few answer most questions. The Business Reports detail page by ASIN shows sessions, page views, conversion rate and sales. The Payments reports show what Amazon paid you after fees. FBA inventory reports show stock, inbound units and aged inventory. Advertising reports show spend and sales by campaign and search term. Amazon has also added a Profit Analytics dashboard showing unit economics per product.
- Business Reports by ASIN: traffic and conversion
- Payments and date range reports: fees and payouts
- FBA inventory and restock: stock health
- Advertising search term reports: wasted spend
- Brand Analytics: search query performance
A simple daily Seller Central routine
- Check Account Health and any performance notifications
- Review orders, returns and buyer messages within 24 hours
- Check inventory levels and inbound shipments
- Look at advertising spend against sales for the day
- Fix suppressed or inactive listings
- Note any price changes from competitors on key ASINs
Giving your team and agency access
Never share your main login. Seller Central lets you invite users with their own logins and set view or edit permissions by area, and service providers now get access through Amazon's role-based authorization flow. Our guide to Seller Central user permissions covers setup and the 2026 changes.
Settings worth reviewing once
A few settings pages are easy to forget after registration but cause problems when wrong. Account Info holds your legal entity, bank details, deposit method, tax information and business address, and Amazon may ask you to reverify them. Shipping Settings controls your delivery templates if you fulfill orders. Notification Preferences decides who receives performance warnings, so make sure they reach someone who reads them daily. Fulfillment by Amazon settings control options such as inventory placement and repackaging of returns.
Review these pages every quarter, and immediately after any change to your business, bank or team.
- Account Info: entity, bank, tax, address
- Shipping Settings: templates and handling time
- Notification Preferences: who gets warnings
- FBA settings: placement and returns options
Seller Central mobile app
The Amazon Seller app lets you check sales, answer messages, manage inventory and scan products to check whether you can sell them. It is useful for daily checks, but bulk work such as listing uploads, advertising changes and reports is easier on desktop.
When Seller Central becomes too much
As catalogs grow, Seller Central work multiplies: more listings to maintain, more campaigns to optimize, more inventory to plan. Many brands bring in specialists at that point. Read how to increase Amazon sales and our guide to choosing an Amazon account manager.
How PPC Spider helps
PPC Spider runs Seller Central accounts for brands. SpiderOS monitors bids, budgets, search terms and stock every day, and target ACoS is set from product margin after fees. PPC plans start at $995/mo and full service at $1,950/mo. See Amazon account management or start with a free Amazon audit.
Sources
- Amazon: Sell on Amazon pricing (sell.amazon.com/pricing)
- Amazon: Sell on Amazon registration requirements (sell.amazon.com/sell)
- Amazon Selling Partners: Update to U.S. referral and FBA fees for 2026 (sellingpartners.aboutamazon.com/update-to-u-s-referral-and-fulfillment-by-amazon-fees-for-2026)
- My Amazon Guy: User permissions in Amazon Seller Central (myamazonguy.com/user-permissions-in-amazon-seller-central/)
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